Fresh off a road loss in a premier matchup with the Green Bay Packers, the New England Patriots didn't waste any time getting to the scene of its next bout: an AFC showdown with the San Diego Chargers.
The Patriots flew out to the West coast Sunday night to stay for the week instead of going home in preparation for the next game.
Coach Bill Belichick explained the team's thinking Tuesday during a conference call with reporters.
"It's kind of a two-combination thing there," Belichick said, via Patriots.com. "One was the travel, going from Green Bay back to Foxborough and then to turn around and come back here probably on Friday [is] just a lot of travel for the team at this time of year.
"We were able to get in here Sunday night and really have kind of a pretty normal day yesterday and a normal Tuesday today without too much – any more than normal type of fatigue. And just being acclimated to the conditions that we're going to be playing in, so [we'll] get in the conditions out here and go through it for a few days and play on Sunday as close as we can get."
Belichick also noted the bonding benefits of the trip.
"I think it is a good opportunity to be together as a team: players, coaches, young players, veteran players, offense, defense, so forth. I think it's a good environment for us to prepare for the game and a good opportunity to spend a little bit of extra time together, however that exactly works out.
"I think it is a good opportunity to be together as a team: players, coaches, young players, veteran players, offense, defense, so forth. I think it's a good environment for us to prepare for the game and a good opportunity to spend a little bit of extra time together, however that exactly works out.
"Hopefully, it will be all in a positive way for our team and that we have a great week of preparation for the Chargers, which is what we're here for and that's what our focus is. But as a byproduct of that, if it's teambuilding and opportunities to build relationships within the team, I think that's good too."
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