FRANKFURT, Germany — Bill Belichick sauntered into a packed press conference Friday on little sleep, with dozens of eager reporters spread over six rows of chairs and close to 20 cameras armed and ready at the back.

The Patriots had landed hours earlier on a redeye from the U.S. Belichick took his seat behind a microphone on a small stage and stared down at a reporter in the first row. He was puzzled.

“Pretzels for lunch?” Belichick asked. “Seriously?”

Then, he beamed. He joked. He laughed.

Belichick fielded questions and supplied thoughtful answers for nearly 20 minutes, even if those answers meandered to the same dead ends they usually do. At the end, he even apologized for a lackluster response.

Twice! Belichick smiled again. And he wasn’t alone.

After their practice Friday at the DFB campus, home to the German National Soccer Team, six Patriots players spoke in the same media room that briefly housed an unusually loose Belichick. Maybe they were all punch-drunk tired from the flight. Or Belichick’s German joy was contagious.

Judge for yourself.

After practice, a joking Ezekiel Elliott dropped behind the same microphone. What off-field value did he see in this trip?

“It’s a chance to be able to spend a little more time together at night, and for the guys to get some beers together,” he cracked.

New England Patriots running back Ezekiel Elliott attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany on Friday. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Fifteen minutes later, Mac Jones listened to a reporter fumble a question, subbing the word “balding” for “bonding” while asking about team camaraderie. The famously robotic Jones burst into laughter and chortled with reporters for 10 seconds. At the end, he admitted he’d lost his train of thought.

“Sorry, what was your question?” he asked.

After that, Jones said the Patriots were going to put on “a good show,” a rare declaration from the face of the franchise. Finally, it was old man Matthew Slater’s turn.

He, too, smiled and clutched a German National Team jersey in his right hand as he took a seat. Asked about the jersey, Slater revealed it was a prize for winning a sports trivia contest set up by a local German media outlet. Slater joked, too; several times in fact.

About the jersey, playing in Europe and multiple times about the toll football and time have taken on his 38-year-old legs. And you know what?

Good for him. Good for them.

Bill Belichick addresses ‘personal’ Patriots player absences from Germany trip

The Patriots should embrace joy abroad amid an increasingly miserable 2-7 season, an oasis of brats and beer in this desert of defeat. Who knows what happens Sunday. For now, who cares?

The season is lost. Oddsmakers have only fortified the Colts’ position as favorites this weekend, widening the spread from a 1-point difference to a 2.5-point gap as recently as Friday. They might win by 15 or 20.

But they can’t touch what happened Friday, a 48-hour window opened that players should cherish for the rest of their lives.

The Patriots will kick off the third NFL game ever played in Germany. They will grow the game in a way that is impossible without dropping it in right front of someone, all of the visceral sights and sounds, collisions and violence and spectacular shows of athleticism. Sunday will mark a moment, a real moment, in franchise history.

Slater was born into football, the son of Hall of Fame offensive tackle Jackie Slater, but confessed he never could have conceived the sport’s power reaching places like Frankfurt.

“I think back to my dad’s playing career, and not for one minute, did I ever think that a team would fly to Europe and play games or fly to Mexico and play games during the regular season. It’s been remarkable to see the growth of our game and to gain support internationally,” Slater said. “It really is a beautiful thing.”

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Bill Belichick addresses ‘personal’ Patriots player absences from Germany trip

A beautiful thing. Amen.

It beats the hell out of “business trip,” the trite cliche players typically use to stamp out the significance or special nature of these games. As if any outsider believes 53 players and a dozen or so coaches ever choose to vacation together and travel with full equipment just for kicks.

Of course it’s a business trip. But that doesn’t mean it must be all business. There is no promise of a return to Germany for any of these players. More than half, it could be argued, might not be Patriots next year.

Not even Belichick is guaranteed next season. But he is guaranteed a game Sunday, and all the joy the surrounding Frankfurt experience can bring if he and the Patriots choose to embrace it. If they take their own advice.

“We’ve got to be where our feet are,” Jones said.

At least for one day, it seems they are.