1 day, 1 step, keep moving forward

Belichick mantra endures going into 19th season

Bill Belichick has been the head coach on the Patriots sideline since the 2000 season, the year they drafted Tom Brady.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Distractions and disappointments can derail even the most focused

football team. But the Patriots, and head coach Bill Belichick in particular, arguably are better at putting distractions aside than just about anyone else.

There has been plenty of outside noise during Belichick’s tenure with the Patriots. There

was Spygate and Deflategate and the four-game suspension of his future Hall of Fame quarterback, to name just two controversies. Still, Belichick has managed to bring five Super

Bowl titles to New England since taking the helm in 2000.

He had a chance to add to that total in February, but his team was outplayed by the underdog

Eagles and lost Super Bowl LII. Moving on from that loss is one of the challenges facing his team this season.

Quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski, the team’s top two offensive players,

skipped the voluntary portions of offseason workouts. Wide receiver Julian Edelman, one of Brady’s favorite targets, was suspended for the first four games of the season after violating

the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

Several players who were keys to New England’s success — including wide receiver Danny

Amendola, cornerback Malcolm Butler, wide receiver Brandin Cooks, running back Dion Lewis and left tackle Nate Solder — left in free agency.

Belichick still has not fully explained his decision to bench Butler in the Super Bowl loss to the Eagles. Three years earlier, Butler was the hero when his last-minute interception secured the Patriots’ win over Seattle in Super Bowl XLIX.

Some key players — including linebacker Dont’a Hightower, third-year cornerbacks Jonathan

Jones and Cyrus Jones and Edelman when he is eligible — are returning from injuries. What the Patriots can expect from them is still uncertain.

For now, though, Belichick isn’t focused on any of that.

“We have a lot of new players on the team,” said Belichick, whose team added wide receiver

Eric Decker in early August. “Some we got (recently) and other guys have come to us at

different points in time during the offseason, but (it’s) good to kind of get everybody out there

and see them working. We have guys in different stages of rehab and so forth, but it’s a good step in the process. We’ve got a long, long way to go, a lot of work to do, and so we’ll just take it one day at a time and keep moving forward.

“It’s been a good group and have a lot of good leadership, a lot of young guys taking more

active roles as well as having some other guys that — Julian, Hightower — guys like that

didn’t play much last year that are obviously involved in things now. In any case, new team,

new year and, like I said, we’ll just take it one step at a time and keep moving along.

“Every day is an opportunity individually and as a team to improve and get better and take

another step toward the start of the season, and that’s what we’re all doing. All of us are in

different states, different parts of that process, but wherever we are, we’re all gaining on it.”

The players have heard that mind-set, and they tend to say the exact same thing.

“When we step on this field each and every day, the goal is to be better than what you are

the last day,” Edelman said before his suspension was announced. “So we’re going to come out here, we’re going to work, we’re going to do everything we can to get better. And we’re going to just keep trying to move forward.”

One of the Patriots’ captains, Devin McCourty, is entering his ninth season with the team that

drafted him 27th overall in 2010. He is well-versed in the Belichick Way.

“Bill always talks about that. Whether guys are injured, guys aren’t here, we only focus on guys that are here,” McCourty said. “I think that always helps us, because once you get in the season, guys will get hurt, guys might have to miss for personal reasons and you have to go on

and play.

“Things happen on a Sunday. No one’s going to say, ‘This guy’s not here, you guys don’t have to play.’ You still got to go on and play. So it’s a good time to just focus on the guys that are here and trying to get better.”

Another captain, Matthew Slater, believes that if each player just focuses on the things he can control, that will help the team accomplish its goal.

“Our focus as a football team just needs to be to worry about ourselves,” Slater said. “Every

man on this team has enough to worry about when it comes to doing his job, preparing himself

to go out and perform and compete each and every day. I don’t think anyone should worry

about what’s going on with the man next to him when it comes to that sort of thing. So every

one of us has enough to worry about when it comes to this season and preparing to compete

this year.”

At one point this offseason, center David Andrews was the only offensive captain working

out with the team. That was not an issue for him.

“We all just try to be consistent and do our job, and when we do that, a lot of good things

will happen,” Andrews said. “You can’t worry about what’s going on around you. You’ve

just got to focus on your craft.”

Because there really is only one goal for the Patriots.

“We feel what’s important to us is to win,” Belichick said, “so that’s really what we’re trying

to do.”