Mohamed Sanu got an opportunity to hit the pause button as he acclimated to the New England Patriots’ offensive system. He hasn’t spent the last week learning a weekly game plan. But he’s definitely not taking a break.
Sanu, who joined the team in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons on Oct. 22, has surely been studying the playbook during the bye, but it’s just a slightly different body of material than he studied in his first two weeks with the team. During the Patriots’ bye week, Sanu — along with a handful of other in-season acquisitions — absorbed as much of the foundation of the offense as possible. Because the Patriots develop a new game plan every week, they have to teach their players the plays that are most important to that particular game plan. It’s like starting at step 2,000 and cherry-picking the important steps for that particular week. The bye week is an opportunity to go back a few hundred steps, even if it’s likely impossible to start at the beginning at this point in the season.
“(The bye) definitely gives those guys a chance to catch up a little bit,” Bill Belichick said on Wednesday during a press conference at Gillette Stadium. “There’s no game plan, per se, so getting a better foundation on terminology, fundamentals, some nomenclature, just some basics. It’s a good chance to go back and get those. It’s a little bit less of a cram than it is during a regular weekly preparation schedule.”
He added: “You can’t put 14 weeks into four days either. It’s good but there’s a long way to go. But (Sanu) has worked hard at it. He’s smart — he’s picked up a lot. That’s been good.”
That much was clear in Week 9 when Sanu’s involvement skyrocketed with 10 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown against the Ravens in Baltimore. His breakout game came after a two-catch, 23-yard performance in Week 8 when he looked like he didn’t quite have a hold on the playbook. Considering the progress he made between Weeks 8 and 9, the bye should have helped him take an even larger step forward.
