Watch: UNC LB Andrew Simpson Speaks to the Media Before Practice

Opening Statement: "We're kind of grinding through the last week of camp here. We've got some practices this week, and then obviously preparations for TCU (begin). So, it's kind of our last chance to really nail down the fundamentals and some of the pillars that would take us through the season, both individually and individual fundamentals and some foundational things offensively, defensively and in the kicking game that will come up probably in every game, or elements will in every game.

"So hopefully, getting a little bit of heat this week looks like starting to warm up. That's good. This last week of training camp here, we'll merge into game preparations here starting next week. But we're just kind of getting through the final stages of our training camp, the preparations for the season."

Q: With the game less than two weeks away, how would you characterize the excitement in the program now that you guys are so close?

BELICHICK: "Yeah, the excitement for us is honestly every day, you know. Our meetings, our practices, our opportunities to get better and improve things. With training camp ending and classes starting, we're on a different schedule practicing in the afternoon and so forth. We have a little less time with the players, a little different schedule, but trying to make the most of that time.

"We're on the 20-hour rule now; different from training camp. It's a little adjustment but we're ready for it. It's time to get into preparation for games and start playing games here in less than two weeks."

Q: With the opener on a Monday night and the next game five days later, when you get into next week, are there challenges in terms of the actual game prep where it's not a normal week leading up to a Saturday?

BELICHICK: "It will be similar to what we had in the NFL when we had Sunday-Thursday games. Every team in the NFL had a Thursday game. That goes all the way back to some Thanksgiving games, really at the beginning of my career we had those. So… It happens one time, so it will be a big different than all the rest of the weeks.

"We'll try to make the most of that opportunity in compliance with our time constraints and rules and travel and so forth. It is what it is. We've talked about it, we've planned for it, but we're not worried about it right now. We'll deal with that when we get to it. The Monday night game, since it's the opening game, we just pretend like it's a Saturday game and back everything back on a daily basis to make Monday look like Saturday. It'll be the next short week that'll have a bigger adjustment."