Image courtesy of Sports Illustrated

While chatter will continue throughout the year – especially if the Patriots start slow – it doesn’t appear there’s an end in sight for Bill Belichick any time soon.

During his media availability on Wednesday morning, Belichick was asked what keeps him going 49 years of coaching?

“It’s what I do,” he said.

That answer came following a question about the mystery of opening day and how he prepares for a first game of the season.

“Well, it’s the same in that it’s so different, right?” Belichick said. “I mean it’s the same, but you look at a team like Philadelphia, you get 20 games from last year, got a handful of games from this year where not a lot of players are playing that we’re going to see on Sunday. So, there’s certainly a lot of unknowns. I’m sure they’ll make a few adjustments and subtle changes like every team will do. I’m sure they’ll have a couple things cooked up for us that they think we’re vulnerable on. So, there is some of those that won’t show up until gameday. There probably will be a change or two in the lineup from what we think it’s going to be for whatever reason. So, we’ll be ready for those types of things, but that’s all a part of opening day, so in that sense it’s the same but very different getting ready for these guys compared to getting ready for Miami last year or whoever it was in years before that. Each team has its own unique situations and set of circumstances. Especially with two new coordinators here at Philadelphia, understanding that coach Sirianni’s talked a lot about how much they’re going to keep it the same and how familiar they are with what they’re doing, so forth and so on.

“Still, it’s two new coordinators, I’m sure that will still bring some element of change. What exactly that is? Well, we’ll have to see. In that sense it’s the same but it’s so different getting ready for the Eagles than it was getting ready for any other teams because it’s different players, different coaches and different schemes.”

While Belichick has been through plenty of days like this coming Sunday before, he won’t be considering it work at all. In fact, he hasn’t ‘worked’ a day in his life since beginning his NFL career.

“I enjoy it,” he added when asked why he’s still doing this. “It beats working. It beats working for a living.”