New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is leaving no stone unturned to prepare his players for Sunday.

During the practice session on Friday, Vrabel sent his players off to the locker room while playing Bad Bunny’s music on the stadium speakers. The players were made to wait before coming back to resume their practice. 

This was an attempt to replicate the halftime scenario on game day, as the Super Bowl halftimes are significantly longer than regular ones. The usual NFL halftime is 12 minutes. But during the Super Bowl, this can stretch to almost 30 minutes with all the staging equipment needing to be removed.

After Vrabel led the team from a 4-13 record in 2024 to a 14-3 Super Bowl season, the players are taking this new preparation method seriously. More importantly, it's a tried and tested.

Former head coach Bill Belichick famously stopped practice for a 30-minute break during the 2012 Super Bowl to simulate the conditions on match day. Belichick even delivered a full halftime address, sharpening the players' focus during the break.

As per former New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley, "Coach Belichick is a genius. He's special. That was coach Belichick doing his thing. We were sitting in there, and we had a halftime talk, like it'll be Sunday. He wanted this to be like a game experience, as close as we could get."

In fact, this prep even won Belichick a Super Bowl.

Former Patriots Safety Recounted How Belichick’s Practice Turned the Tide

As per Devin McCourty, Belichick made them practice halftime breaks for 25 minutes during training sessions.

He said this was a major factor in their famous 28-3 comeback against the Atlanta Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl.

"I think without actually practicing halftime and guys knowing, we would have went into that locker room and would have been just defeated, which Atlanta did... They went in the locker room and they just celebrated like they won because they were so stuck in the moment."

Having played as Belichick’s linebacker and winning 3 Super Bowls with the coach, Vrabel understands how to prepare players for high-pressure situations. Fans will hope this will help the players lift the trophy this Sunday.

You can read more at the Cleveland Browns Community!

Written by

Shyam Hari

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar