Just a few weeks after working out with the Raiders in Las Vegas at what Bill Belichick marveled was the “Taj Mahal” of football facilities, the Patriots are prepping for Sunday’s regular season opener against the Dolphins on makeshift football field in which they had to erect their own goal posts.
No disrespect meant to tiny Palm Beach Atlantic University, but as Belichick might describe it, it is what it is.
It’s a Division II school with no football team. It’s a far cry from an NFL facility.
And yet this week it’s home to Belichick, Mac Jones and the six-time Super Bowl champion Patriots as they prepare to kick off the 2022 season at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
After saying his team had a “smooth” Tuesday trip to the Miami area in order to spend five days getting acclimated with the heat and humidity it will face on Sunday, Belichick was asked if the facilities at Palm Beach Atlantic were enough for New England to get its work done this week.
“Should be good,” Belichick said simply.
Given that the small school doesn’t have a football team or a locker room befit an NFL squad, New England is dressing for practice at its hotel before bussing to the field that is generally home to soccer.
“It just worked out. We looked at several options. This is the best one,” Belichick said.
When planning for the trip began earlier this year, New England’s football operations department apparently found limited options for their stay, given that most schools are in the midst of football season and are using their own higher-level facilities.
This is far from the first time the Patriots have spent a week of preparations on the road at an unfamiliar facility. New England does it often when prepping for back-to-back West Coast games, as it will again later this fall when facing the Cardinals and Raiders.
New England has also flown to Miami early to get acclimated to the conditions in the past, though never as early as Tuesday.
But in many ways this a unique week of preparations for the Patriots.
“We looked things over to see what are options are. This wasn’t as obvious a stay as the Arizona-Vegas situation will be. Monday night game to Sunday, but we’re here. It’s good,” Belichick said. “We’ve been away for a week during the season multiple times in the last few years. If it works out, it can be a good experience. I think this will.”
