INDIANAPOLIS – It’s been well documented over the years that Bill Belichick leaves nothing to chance when preparing his New England Patriots for a football game. He’ll not only cover every possible move by an opponent, but have his team practice in the pouring rain or snow to get acclimated to bad weather.

But this week, as the Patriots prepare to play the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium, he may have outdone himself.

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With only seven holdovers remaining from New England’s last Super Bowl team, Coach Bill Belichick decided this week that it was worthwhile to "practice" the long halftime break. The Associated Press

Knowing that the halftime show is considerably longer than usual — 30 minutes as opposed to a 12-minute halftime during the season — Belichick actually stopped his practice earlier this week for, you guessed it, 30 minutes.

“I think (the halftime) really gets into a whole restarting mentality,” said Belichick in his final press conference before the game. “It’s not like taking a break and coming out in the second half. It’s like starting the game all over again. It’s like playing a game, stopping, and then playing a second game.

“It’s like a doubleheader in baseball, if you will. I think that makes it a little different and we tried to simulate that in practice on Wednesday, where we had the players go through that process of restarting.”

With such a young team this year — 18 Patriots are in either their first or second NFL season — Belichick felt he needed to do more than just talk about what the halftime break would be like. So he stopped practice on the field and had the team practice what half time would be like “in terms of corrections, adjustments and restarting our bodies, both mentally and physically.”

The Patriots are well known for making half-time adjustments, so Belichick wanted to show just how those adjustments might take place over a 30-minute break, rather than a 12-minute break.

“We just tried to go through that process on a time frame more like it’s going to be this week than what it’s been in other games this season,” he said.

BELICHICK WASN’T through with new practice tricks Wednesday.

According to the pool report provided by the NFL, Belichick, who earlier in his career was a special teams coach, participated in special teams drills. He lined up as an offensive lineman and tried to draw the punt coverage team offsides by placing his hand on the ground just before the ball was snapped.

Then he and Scott O’Brien, the special teams coach, lined up as defensive linemen when Stephen Gostkowski was attempting kicks.

Belichick was pleased with Friday’s practice, which was an hour-long walk-through. Tight end Rob Gronkowski participated and was listed as questionable on the team’s injury report. That means he has a 50-50 chance of playing.

NEITHER TEAM is going to move to a different hotel today, a practice several teams have used in past Super Bowls. That surprised many because both hotels are located downtown, or near it, where fans are congregating and partying.

The Giants’ hotel is located right across the street from the Indiana Convention Center, site of the NFL Experience. But Giants Coach Tom Coughlin said he had no plans to move, that security was fine, and that no one had complained about the noise.

Besides, asked Pat Hanlon, the Giants’ senior vice president of communications, in a tweet, “Where we goin’? Chicago?”

OF NOTE from Commissioner Roger Goodell’s State of the NFL address Friday:

The NFL Network is adding five Thursday night games to its schedule next season. The Thursday night schedule on the NFL Network will include 13 games, starting in Week 2 and continuing through Week 15, skipping Week 12. All 32 NFL teams will now play a prime time game, and every club will play one Thursday game following a Sunday game.

Goodell noted that “there are issues that obviously are going to have to get resolved” involving plans for a game between the Patriots and St. Louis Rams in London next season. So hold off buying airline tickets just yet.

GIANTS COACH Tom Coughlin had a great line in his final press conference, speaking about what it means to be in another Super Bowl.

“You have to have a great appreciation of this,” he said. “Anybody who goes through this experience and doesn’t grab a hold of it or grasp the significance of it doesn’t understand that there are great, outstanding coaches and players who haven’t been to a Super Bowl game … you thank God for this opportunity and you never, ever tire or even possibly think this happens on a normal basis.”

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com

Twitter: MikeLowePPH

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