ATLANTA — There’s a singular question you can ask most of Bill Belichick’s assistant coaches with the New England Patriots that will, surprisingly, make them respond in a similar way.

Ask them if they’ve ever “padded games” for Belichick — the process of watching the coaches’ all-22 game film that shows all the players on the field, and taking uber-detailed notes — and their eyes will widen. Then, they’ll nod as their sleep-deprived memories come flooding back. And finally they’ll chuckle, with an amused-but-knowing look, and remark.

“Oh my God,” safeties coach [and Bill’s son] Steve Belichick said.

“Padding? Oh wow,” said linebackers coach Brian Flores, who calls the Patriots’ defensive plays. “Well, I tell you what … it’s not a lot of fun, [if I’m] being honest.”

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Fun or not, padding games is a task that Belichick has historically given his young assistants as a means of not only helping them learn the game better, but also helping them learn how he views the game.

Belichick’s top two assistants — Flores and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels — both told Yahoo Sports this week that they have padded games for the coach, and more current and former members of Belichick’s often-raided staff have, as well, with many gratefully pointing to their “padding years” as an invaluable, but demanding, moment that significantly expanded their football knowledge.

“That’s my dad’s Football 101,” Steve Belichick says.

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What is padding, and what makes it arduous?

When padding games, assistants are required to watch tape of a given game and — on every single play — draw the offense and defense on a sheet of paper, and map out the movement and assignment of each player on the field. They’re also asked to note everything from receiver and offensive-line splits to tendencies and protections, along with deeper observations about what players on each side are trying to accomplish on the play.

And when you consider that young assistants can be tasked with padding four or five games of an upcoming opponent — and NFL games average well over 100 total plays — it’s a task that is as intensive and difficult as it sounds, especially when Belichick’s famous predilection toward attention to detail is factored in.

For instance, all five Patriots assistants polled by Yahoo Sports this week said the task of padding a single game — especially in the early learning process — can easily last anywhere from seven hours to even a couple days.

“[You better] get a lot of sharpened pencils, with some caffeine and patience,” joked special teams coach Joe Judge, who joined the Patriots as a special teams assistant in 2012. “When you’re young in it and you’re getting used to the hours, it pushes you to the brink.”

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To a man, all the assistants were adamant that they were extremely grateful for the task because it helped them become far better coaches. Not only did they learn the hows of each play because of padding, but the whys as well.

“I believe young coaches coming into the league should do it — I really do,” said cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer, who padded his share of games when he first joined the Patriots as a defensive assistant in 2006. “I would say, it was very beneficial for me to do it.”

McDaniels, who joined the Patriots’ coaching staff as a defensive assistant in 2002, even cites the padding he did over a three-year period as the No. 1 thing he attributes that improved his ability to pay attention to details.

“I think the most important thing young people have got to understand is, it’s not a punishment,” McDaniels said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to learn how important everything is at this level.”

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