Patriots entering critical phase in their Super Bowl preparation

The New England Patriots returned to the practice fields on Wednesday for their first of three straight practices leading up to Super Bowl LX. For Mike Vrabel and his team, it was a return to some normalcy and the schedule that was established during the regular season.

It also ushered in what the Patriots’ head coach referred to as a critical phase ahead of his team’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.

“We try to make it as normal as we possibly can, knowing that it’s not going to be,” Vrabel said at a press conference on Wednesday. “And we try to stay on the same routine and try to keep the meeting times the same, the treatment times. I think that these guys were able to work on Monday, have yesterday off. There was a lot of activity around the hotel, the meeting rooms, and guys are getting together and watching tape.

“I think that’s what everybody has to do to make sure that they’re ready. The next 48 hours will be critical for us, as we kind of get back into our normal routine here of a Wednesday and Thursday, and then the families come in and things just start to ramp up.”

Following their win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots took three days off before practicing on back-to-back days. They then flew out to Santa Clara on Sunday, followed by another session Monday.

With the pre-Super Bowl bye now in the rear-view mirror and the game plan installation in the books, the Patriots are now full-steam ahead. That does not mean there are no challenges to work through, either.

“We just needed to make sure they were engaged and that there wasn’t stuff that was just repetitive, and they were sitting there looking at us, like, ‘We already covered this, we went through this,’” Vrabel explained. “We want to make sure now that they’re stimulated, they’re engaged, locked in, moving forward here — first, second and third, and red zone situations. That’s why the next 48 hours, I think, will be really important.”