FOXBORO — A bomb cyclone hit the region on Thursday, bringing in hurricane-force winds and blizzard conditions. On this day, if you were to take a left from Route 1 to the parking lot in Gillette Stadium, all you would see was white.
Nevertheless, the Patriots day went on as scheduled.
Bill Belichick wasn’t going to let something like a massive nor’easter stop his team from preparing for their playoff run. Over a foot of snow and sloppy travel conditions? That didn’t matter on Thursday.
“Every day is a work day,” Belichick said
The Patriots coach did take a little pity on his players as practice was moved from outside to inside the Empower Field House.
“Felt like that was the best thing for us to do,” Belichick said.
Typically, Belichick has his team practice in different weather conditions that may apply to a future game. On this day, however, the coach gave his players a break in their final practice of the playoff bye week.
“I like to prepare our team for the game the best that we can,” Belichick said. “A lot of things go into consideration of that. Take them all in; make the decision that’s best for our football team. That’s what we try to do.”
Injury report
The Patriots are getting healthy at the right time.
On Thursday, the Pats were missing just Mike Gillislee (knee) from practice, which took place inside the Empower Field House. Eric Lee (ankle) returned after being absent on Wednesday. The defensive end played in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the New York Jets.
This week also marked the return of Alan Branch (knee) and Rex Burkhead (knee) to practice. Malcolm Mitchell (knee) and Chris Hogan (shoulder) have also been back with the Patriots. Hogan was named one of the practice players of the week from his work last week, which is a good sign for the receiver’s availability come the playoffs.
The fact that the Patriots were only missing one player, who happens to be injured, also suggests that no Patriots players were late due to the snowstorm. In 2013, Brandon Spikes got in trouble with the team after his SUV got stuck in his drive way. In 2009, Bill Belichick sent four players home — Adalius Thomas, Randy Moss, Gary Guyton and Derrick Burgess — for being late to a team meeting during a snowstorm.