Patriots Bringing Back Old Trend With Combined Practices

When I first started covering the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an NFL beat on a regular basis a little over a decade ago, they routinely scheduled a few days of combined practice sessions with the Miami Dolphins. Each year, the teams would alternate sites, training up in the Tampa/Orlando area either at the University of Tampa, the Citrus Bowl in Orlando or Disney's Wide World of Sports, and then down in South Florida at the Dolphins' practice facility.

Those sessions always were the most entertaining of training camp because of the increased intensity, and it gave the coaches a chance to see different things in terms of defensive alignments, offensive play-calling and different types of players. A handful of teams still schedule these kinds of workouts. But the New England Patriots have expanded it this year, and judging by coach Bill Belichick's reaction, it looks like it could be here to stay.

Prior to their preseason opener last week, the Patriots practiced against their opponent, the reigning Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. Belichick described it as the best practice he had ever been involved in over his entire coaching career. That says a lot -- and now this week he took his team south to Georgia early, in order to get in some practices with the Atlanta Falcons before the two teams play each other Thursday night at the Georgia Dome.

Belichick agreed to follow Atlanta's practice structure and schedule in Flowery Branch, being as his team was the visitor. He also got an up-close look at the Falcons' impressive, self-contained practice facility while catching up with Atlanta's general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who used to be with the Patriots as their director of college scouting from 2003-07.

Quarterback Tom Brady seemed energized by the change in atmosphere and by being able to practice against the Falcons, though he hinted he could do without the high temperatures.

"Welcome to Atlanta. It's a little humid, but it could be a lot worse," Brady said after Tuesday's practice. "It's a little different. It's nice. They have a 'Cool Zone' down here with water breaks. We don't have any of that. It wasn't too hot out. I think we brought some of the Boston weather down here."

The Falcons also held combined practices with the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, and Dimitroff believes that with the league trying to go to an 18-game schedule and reduce the number of preseason games from four to two, this could become a growing trend.

"That's something where there is the potential we're going to see a lot more of this," he said. "Quite honestly I'm happy we're on the front end of the curve here and one of the first teams that's doing this with two teams. In my mind it could possibly into a situation where these combined practices will be in lieu of two preseason games."

We can forgive Dimitroff for his little bit of revisionist history as far as being on the front end of the curve, but he could be on to something should the league indeed go to an 18-game season.