With preseason over, the Patriots are now focused on the regular season.
Bill Belichick.FOXBOROUGH -- It's time to turn the page.
That was the overriding theme in the New England Patriots' locker room Sunday morning. Deion Branch is gone, things didn't go perfect during the preseason and no one knows if guard Brian Waters is going to play this year -- but none of that matters now.
The season starts Sunday in Tennessee and all systems are moving ahead with whoever is currently on board.
"It just shows it's pretty crazy seeing your friends go but that's last week now and just focus on the game now, Tennessee," tight end Rob Gronkowski said. "Just going to be preparing hard, mentally, physically getting ready."
For some those preparations began long ago. Head coach Bill Belichick said that he started preparing for the Titans since the schedule came out this winter and he began preparing his team for the game as soon as the preseason ended.
His players just don't know it yet.
"We'll probably start soon, we're always doing little things," Cornerback Devin McCourty said. "For us, as players, I think sometimes we do things for teams that we don't even know. We're just out there doing what coach says."
Gronkowski, in particular, is starting become over anxious for the start of the season. The last time he was on the field he was playing on an injured ankle, relegated to serve as little more than a decoy during the Super Bowl.
He's now ready to pick up where he left off after last season and prove that his ankle is fully healthy following offseason surgery .
" Definitely anxious," Gronkowski said. "You dig in big, physically, mentally, everything. It's game-time now. this is what counts. This is what starts the season is this game. Everything from here on our matters."