Belichick: No time to re-write the playbook

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FOXBORO -- In the words of Bill Belichick, Tuesday was a Friday at Gillette Stadium, as the Patriots deal with a short week and prepare for the New York Jets on Thursday night.

It makes sense. But it also means their preparation time is limited.

"It's about as quick as you can turn it around," said Belichick on Tuesday. "So, the Colts game's behind us. We're already right in the middle of the Jets preparations, and as we know, there's a lot to get ready for there."

So how do you cram it all in?

"We just review the situations," said Belichick. "These are the things we've seen them do, these are whatever happen to be their plays, their coverages, their blitzes. We talked about things that they like to do situationally, first down, second down, red area, kickoff return, kickoff coverage, those kind of things. And just consolidate it and boil it down. We were going to show 40 plays. Now, maybe we show them 10 or 15 in that particular situation this week. We just don't have the time."

Factoring into that shortened week of preparation is the loss of tight end Rob Gronkowski, who broke his forearm on Sunday.

When asked how big of a loss Gronkowski is to the Patriots offense during this shortened week, Belichick was unsure as to how it would all play out.

"Other people are going to have to contribute," said Belichick. "We'll see how it goes. I don't know. We'll see how it goes."

Belichick then sounded confident in the way his offense runs as a whole, with or without any specific individual. But then again, he has to be confident in this offense. Because there's simply not enough time to re-write the script before Thursday night.

"We're not going to put in a whole new offense in a day and a half," said Belichick. "We may make some adjustments, but we've done what we've been doing for a while, and we've had some success with it. So, we'll find a way to continue to do the things that we know how to do, and if we have to make some adjustments, we'll make some. But we can't try to change everything in a couple days."

Whether that's a good thing or not for the Patriots, remains to be seen.

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