The New England Patriots incinerated the Miami Dolphins 43-0 on Sunday afternoon. Thanks to Bill Belichick’s willingness to borrow a novel idea from an old friend, the Patriots also weren’t the ones getting incinerated on the sidelines, either.
Belichick told reporters after the game that he spoke to ex-defensive coordinator and current Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia during joint practices this summer, and one of the topics that came up was the Patriots’ early-season trip to Miami Gardens in Week 2. Noting the possibility of extremely high temperatures and humidity, Patricia evidently made a friendly suggestion to his former boss, per NBC Sports Bostons’ Darren Hartwell:
“The canopy thing was something that Matt [Patricia] did last year when he went down and they played the Dolphins in Miami,” Belichick said during a Monday conference call with reporters.