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Q: Does it ever become an easy day for the coaching staff to reduce the roster to 53 players?
BB: No, never. It never is because there are always things that are in flux. This week is a little bit different because today is a game-plan day for us. Today is Wednesday before Indianapolis. Everybody else doesn't have Wednesday until Wednesday, so it's the same for us and the Colts, but it's different for those two teams and the other 30. You have a lot of names coming through the transactions. You have the normal personnel-type conversations. Everybody has players that are a little less than 100 percent, and that affects the decision on the various lists that they can be on or the makeup of your team. How your team is going to look in one week and how it might look in two or three or four weeks could be a lot different based on what happens in the coming weeks and also players who may be available then that aren't available today. All those things come into play, and the improvement of your younger players is also something you have to make an estimate of. You don't know where a young player is going to be six weeks from now. At this point in time, a veteran player might be a little bit ahead of him, but six weeks from now that may change or six weeks from now it may not change. Maybe he's hit the peak, and there is not going to be much improvement from here on. You just won't know that, and maybe those veteran players will always be ahead of that particular guy. Maybe another guy will really take off and ascend in his performances and experience and become, with a little more confidence and some playing experience and so forth, he might be a lot better in four, five or six weeks than he is now or halfway through the season. So, you're trying to project that, not just where your team is today, but where it's going to be in October, where it's going to be in November. Those things all affect the decisions, and there is no scientific way to do it. You have to take the information you have, do the best you can with it and probably adjust it as we go forward. I'm sure that whatever we do today, there will be some adjustments to the roster in coming days or coming weeks. That wouldn't surprise me at all, either. It usually goes that way. Then when you add potential injuries on to that, it may force you to do it. I'm saying, even if you didn't have that you still might have some adjustments as you get a little bit more information. It's always a hard day, a hard time, then you have the veteran factor of players who have been in your system, played for you, won for you, that sometimes you have to move on from for one reason or another, and that's never an easy scenario. Even the guys that aren't veterans, the guys that have been here, that have worked hard, that have given you everything they've got, and you have to make a decision. You can't keep everybody. We had 74 players last week. We have to reduce to 53, so not everybody can be here. That's not a pleasant thing because we would love to keep everybody here. We just can't do it.
Q: Since today is like a Wednesday, is there an injury report that comes out today?
BB: [The report comes out every] Tuesday at four. That's a league rule. Whatever their rules are, we can follow them.
Q: Have you told the players who are cut that they have been cut?
BB: It's not final until four o'clock, so some yes, some no. It depends on the situation.
Q: Is there a possibility that someone could go out and practice today and then find out they have been cut?
BB: It depends on the situation. It depends on some of the circumstances that are involved. Even though we have to cut our roster to 53, there will be more than 53 players here with the Patriots beyond today. We know that. Everybody knows that, so part of it is just what we feel like could be the best flow. We're trying to take a lot of things into account. It would be a much cleaner situation if we were playing on Sunday, but we're not. So, we will deal with what we have and try to do the best we can with it. It probably won't be a perfect scenario for everybody, but that's the way it is.
Q: Who tells a player he has been cut?
BB: Usually what happens, it's not always the same because the circumstances aren't always the same, but normally what happens is the player is brought to someplace where we can sit down and talk to him. He's talked to by people in the organization. Scott [Pioli] and I talk to them. Then other people, the position coach, depending on the relationship, but different coaches will talk to them based on how much of a relationship they have had with them. If it was a big special teams player or if it was a position coach, depending on where the guy had come from. We explain to them what is going on, and it varies from player to player. Some players you release and you kind of tell them, 'We probably wouldn't bring you back. We just feel like you need to move on or we need to move on.' Other players you might have interest in bringing back, depending on the situation. You let them know that. Other players you tell them, if they want to know what the situation is or what they need to work on, sometimes they ask about that. Some guys are emotional. Some guys see the writing on the wall, maybe, and halfway expect it, or might even be relieved by it to a degree. All those things vary. That would be a normal situation, but not everything is normal, so they don't all happen that way. Sometimes the timing is different for one reason or another. I think the main thing is to try to be honest and up front with a player and tell him not what he wants to hear, me going in there saying, 'Well, I really wanted to keep you, but Pioli wanted to get rid of you so that's why we're cutting you.' One of those shots. We're not big on that. We just try to be honest and up front with the guy and let him know what really the situation is here, for better or worse, even though that might not be what they want to hear.
Q: Do you ever get overruled as far as cutting a player?
BB: Our decisions are really made collectively. I don't think there's a lot of independence where one guy does something and everybody else finds out about it, whether it's a game plan or a personnel decision or whatever. We try to plan things out and work them out and get everybody's input. Everybody may not agree with the final decision, I'm not saying that, and there's a time and a place for people to voice their opinions and then at some point somebody has to make a decision or collectively we make a decision. Then everybody goes forward with it, whatever that decision is, it doesn't make a difference what it is. I think there is a time and a place to discuss them, but at some point you have to pull the trigger and do whatever it is you're doing and move forward. So, when those days come that's what we do. That goes for everybo
BB: No, never. It never is because there are always things that are in flux. This week is a little bit different because today is a game-plan day for us. Today is Wednesday before Indianapolis. Everybody else doesn't have Wednesday until Wednesday, so it's the same for us and the Colts, but it's different for those two teams and the other 30. You have a lot of names coming through the transactions. You have the normal personnel-type conversations. Everybody has players that are a little less than 100 percent, and that affects the decision on the various lists that they can be on or the makeup of your team. How your team is going to look in one week and how it might look in two or three or four weeks could be a lot different based on what happens in the coming weeks and also players who may be available then that aren't available today. All those things come into play, and the improvement of your younger players is also something you have to make an estimate of. You don't know where a young player is going to be six weeks from now. At this point in time, a veteran player might be a little bit ahead of him, but six weeks from now that may change or six weeks from now it may not change. Maybe he's hit the peak, and there is not going to be much improvement from here on. You just won't know that, and maybe those veteran players will always be ahead of that particular guy. Maybe another guy will really take off and ascend in his performances and experience and become, with a little more confidence and some playing experience and so forth, he might be a lot better in four, five or six weeks than he is now or halfway through the season. So, you're trying to project that, not just where your team is today, but where it's going to be in October, where it's going to be in November. Those things all affect the decisions, and there is no scientific way to do it. You have to take the information you have, do the best you can with it and probably adjust it as we go forward. I'm sure that whatever we do today, there will be some adjustments to the roster in coming days or coming weeks. That wouldn't surprise me at all, either. It usually goes that way. Then when you add potential injuries on to that, it may force you to do it. I'm saying, even if you didn't have that you still might have some adjustments as you get a little bit more information. It's always a hard day, a hard time, then you have the veteran factor of players who have been in your system, played for you, won for you, that sometimes you have to move on from for one reason or another, and that's never an easy scenario. Even the guys that aren't veterans, the guys that have been here, that have worked hard, that have given you everything they've got, and you have to make a decision. You can't keep everybody. We had 74 players last week. We have to reduce to 53, so not everybody can be here. That's not a pleasant thing because we would love to keep everybody here. We just can't do it.
Q: Since today is like a Wednesday, is there an injury report that comes out today?
BB: [The report comes out every] Tuesday at four. That's a league rule. Whatever their rules are, we can follow them.
Q: Have you told the players who are cut that they have been cut?
BB: It's not final until four o'clock, so some yes, some no. It depends on the situation.
Q: Is there a possibility that someone could go out and practice today and then find out they have been cut?
BB: It depends on the situation. It depends on some of the circumstances that are involved. Even though we have to cut our roster to 53, there will be more than 53 players here with the Patriots beyond today. We know that. Everybody knows that, so part of it is just what we feel like could be the best flow. We're trying to take a lot of things into account. It would be a much cleaner situation if we were playing on Sunday, but we're not. So, we will deal with what we have and try to do the best we can with it. It probably won't be a perfect scenario for everybody, but that's the way it is.
Q: Who tells a player he has been cut?
BB: Usually what happens, it's not always the same because the circumstances aren't always the same, but normally what happens is the player is brought to someplace where we can sit down and talk to him. He's talked to by people in the organization. Scott [Pioli] and I talk to them. Then other people, the position coach, depending on the relationship, but different coaches will talk to them based on how much of a relationship they have had with them. If it was a big special teams player or if it was a position coach, depending on where the guy had come from. We explain to them what is going on, and it varies from player to player. Some players you release and you kind of tell them, 'We probably wouldn't bring you back. We just feel like you need to move on or we need to move on.' Other players you might have interest in bringing back, depending on the situation. You let them know that. Other players you tell them, if they want to know what the situation is or what they need to work on, sometimes they ask about that. Some guys are emotional. Some guys see the writing on the wall, maybe, and halfway expect it, or might even be relieved by it to a degree. All those things vary. That would be a normal situation, but not everything is normal, so they don't all happen that way. Sometimes the timing is different for one reason or another. I think the main thing is to try to be honest and up front with a player and tell him not what he wants to hear, me going in there saying, 'Well, I really wanted to keep you, but Pioli wanted to get rid of you so that's why we're cutting you.' One of those shots. We're not big on that. We just try to be honest and up front with the guy and let him know what really the situation is here, for better or worse, even though that might not be what they want to hear.
Q: Do you ever get overruled as far as cutting a player?
BB: Our decisions are really made collectively. I don't think there's a lot of independence where one guy does something and everybody else finds out about it, whether it's a game plan or a personnel decision or whatever. We try to plan things out and work them out and get everybody's input. Everybody may not agree with the final decision, I'm not saying that, and there's a time and a place for people to voice their opinions and then at some point somebody has to make a decision or collectively we make a decision. Then everybody goes forward with it, whatever that decision is, it doesn't make a difference what it is. I think there is a time and a place to discuss them, but at some point you have to pull the trigger and do whatever it is you're doing and move forward. So, when those days come that's what we do. That goes for everybo