TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Early arrival gives Patriots extra day of practice

Staff photo by BOB HANSEN

Ronde Barber along with most players looked well rested after their plane arrived in London.

ADVERTISEMENT

By ROY CUMMINGS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2009

Updated: 10/23/2009 08:16 pm

The kickoff for Sunday's NFL International Series game between the Bucs and Patriots is still a day away and yet the Patriots already have a lead on the Bucs in one critical area.

By beginning their work week a day earlier than usual and arriving in London on Thursday, the Patriots were able to work two extra practices into their preparation schedule that the Bucs didn't get.

"I definitely think it's an advantage for them,'' said Bucs center Jeff Faine, who arrived in London with the rest of the Bucs players and coaches shortly before midnight on Friday.

"It's unfortunate that's the way it worked out, but any time you're able to prepare an extra day that's something we can't catch up on. We just have to hope we can catch up mentally and be ready on Sunday.''

The Patriots put in about an extra half day of work and got in a short practice on Tuesday before going through another full workout Friday at the Brit Oval, a storied London cricket stadium.

The Bucs stuck to their normal workout schedule, practicing Wednesday and Thursday, but cut out their usual Friday workout in order to fly to London. Both teams will go through a walkthrough of plays on Saturday.

"We feel great because of how our bodies are going to be able to adapt,'' Bucs coach Raheem Morris said upon his arrival here. "We have a lot of experience with our ownership coming over here and how they feel.

"We'll have a nice long extended walkthrough [today] in the stadium and get some extra meetings in, so we feel pretty good about how we chose to travel and how it's going to play out.''

The Bucs decided to leave early and arrive late Friday in an effort to keep their biological clocks on something of an Eastern Time frame. Faine admitted after arriving here at approximately 6 p.m. Tampa time that may be a challenge.

"I'm wide awake,'' he said. "The biggest problem is going to be getting to sleep and waking up tomorrow morning and having to deal with that. That's the biggest issue.''

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT