Patriots Bill Belichick makes adjustments even for Madonna

Bill Belichick thinks of just about everything. Some may argue what he did this week was a waste of time. Some may view it as eccentric. I think it’s fairly brilliant. The Patriots coach timed out the extended Super Bowl halftime, so his team was able to feel exactly what it’ll be like to stop and restart their engines after Madonna completes her halftime show.

“Normally our halftime is 12 minutes and this halftime will be closer to 30, so two and a half times as long,” Belichick said. “I think it really gets into a whole restarting mentality. 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 playing a second game. It’s like a doubleheader in baseball.

“I think that makes it a little bit different and we tried to simulate that in practice on Wednesday where we had the players go through that process of restarting. It’s the kind of thing you can have a meeting about, you can talk about, and this is what it’s going to be like, this is what you need to do. But I just felt that it was beneficial for our team this year to actually put them through that. Go out there and warm up, practice, take a break, shut it down for a half hour, go into the locker room, simulate what a halftime would be in terms of corrections, adjustments and restarting our bodies, both mentally and physically to restart the game.”

Say what you like about Belichick, but the three-time Super Bowl winner will not coach Madonna’s intermission, ah, like a virgin.