FOXBORO -- Word of the day for Patriots rookies?
"Excited."
Fridays in the Patriots locker room are usually loose, but there was a palpable current running through New England's freshman as they got suited and taped up for practice.
A trio of players -- Tavon Wilson, Nate Ebner, and Brandon Bolden -- took a quick survey before heading out to the last practice session at Gillette.
How are the nerves going into Week 1's matchup?
WILSON: "First game, so I'm excited about it. I'm excited to get the opportunity and play, so I'm going to do everything I can do to help my team win. Just go out there and do my best. "
EBNER: "I'm just excited to get out there and put what we've done in practice out there on the field to see what it's all about.
How was this week different as opposed to the preseason?
WILSON: "As a rookie, you approach every day like it's a game. The difference now is that it counts. That's the biggest difference right now because through training camp and through preseason games I kind of treated it like a game already so, the biggest thing now is it counts in the win-loss column.
"As a competitor, every time you get out there and play you want to compete to win, so that's what I take pride in."
BOLDEN: "Really not a lot of difference. We're studying the team inside and out, making sure we know everything -- things like that."
How does it compare to a college game week?
BOLDEN: "It's a lot different. A lot more film to study and a lot more notes to take. It's a big difference from a game standpoint."
EBNER: "I try to keep everything the same, how I get ready every time -- any season, any sport, preseason, whatever game it is -- I try to keep doing what I'm doing.
"I don't want to change anything about the way I do stuff. I'm just going to keep doing it the way I do it and when it comes time to play, play the best I can."
Has the atmosphere in the Patriots locker room gotten amped up now that the regular season has begun?
WILSON: "I feel like our locker room is always amped up. It's always an exciting locker room to be in. I don't really see too much difference in here. All these guys are excited that the season is finally here. We're just going to go out there and give it our best shot."
BOLDEN: "This group of guys they kind of take every game seriously. Even though we're not in the preseason, you can tell it's the regular season because they're a lot more serious, but it was still very serious in the preseason."
The Patriots will be wheels up for Tennessee on Saturday.