Bill Belichick Gives His Thoughts on the Panthers Ahead of Joint Practice

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick met with the media before today's joint practice with the Panthers.

This morning, the Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots will hold the first of two joint practices in Foxborough ahead of Friday night's preseason game.

Minutes before taking the practice field, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick took questions from the media and was asked about his thoughts on this roster the Panthers have heading into the 2022 season.

"This is a team that certainly is more than very competitive. We had our hands full with them down there last year," Belichick stated. "The moves that they've made to strengthen their team, they're going to be very good and they're going to challenge in a lot of ways. Defensively, they're as good as anybody we see. Offensively, they're very explosive. They've changed coordinators in the kicking game. The acquisition of [Johnny] Hekker and [Andre] Roberts I'm sure will impact those units dramatically. So, this is a great opportunity for us to work against a good, quality football team that has a lot of good players and that's well-coached."

Belichick mentioned that he and Matt Rhule worked on scheduling a joint practice in the past but it didn't work out. He's known Rhule for quite some time, dating back to his days as the head coach of Temple. 

"I have some connections to Temple. And then at Baylor, of course, they had players there. And then when he came into the National Football League, we talked then. We've talked multiple times through the years. Ton of respect for Coach Rhule. His consistency of producing outstanding teams in multiple organizations; Temple, Baylor, and you can see where they're going in Carolina."

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