We’re on to Wednesday. In the Patriots’ world, that means a new week is kicking into gear — beyond all the work being done behind the scenes to move ahead.

There’s a game plan to be installed, and a fresh opponent to study.

But first, Bill Belichick will address his team, as he does every Wednesday morning at Gillette Stadium.

By 8 o’clock, the players are in their seats in the squad room. It doesn’t take long before their attention is completely fixed on the head coach, who’s up at the podium.

It’s at this very point in the week CBS analyst and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason says he’d most love to be a fly in the room and tune in.

Because this is the day Belichick delivers what many who have played the game consider the most important speech for the week. It’s when Belichick warns his team just how they could lose this week and gets all 53 players working as one and focused on stopping the upcoming opponent.

“Belichick has all of these lunatics buying into the unselfish nature of trying to win a football game,” Esiason said. “I’d say four-fifths of the league is dealing with crazy people who have no clue what it means to win and how to be a team.”

Like Esiason says, he values that Wednesday morning atmosphere, and the message being sent, because it might be Belichick at his most impactful.

“I wish somebody could bottle, not his pregame speech,” Esiason said, “but that Wednesday speech.”

Setting the tone

What’s the secret? What makes that one stand out above the rest?

“Wednesday sets the tone for the week,” said former NFL head coach Herm Edwards.

“Every coach is different how they go about it,” Edwards said of the Wednesday talk. “I wasn’t a big script guy. I always had notes on what I was going to say. But it usually came from my gut.”

Belichick? He’s not a script guy, either. But he’s a prep guy.

By the time he steps to the podium, he has poured over countless hours of film in preparation of this speech. Mostly, he’s trying to find every possible way the upcoming opponent can hurt his team, and how to counter that. He comes in armed with the kind of evidence that would have most lawyers going undefeated in court.

Former Patriot Heath Evans said Belichick tirelessly prepares himself, almost literally from the moment one game ends, so he in turn can best prepare the team for the next one on the docket.

“The prep time he puts in from wrapping up a Sunday game on Monday afternoon . . . to when he gets in there Wednesday morning, that 48 hours time, or 40 hours time, whatever it is, the amount of tape he’s digested, and amount of study he’s already put in,” said Evans, “by the time he’s up there addressing the team, he really has a great feel of what that (next) team is capable of and what they’re all about.”

Case in point, today, Belichick will be pumping up the Rams, who visit the Patriots Sunday, and telling his team all the ways a 4-7 team will tear them apart. He’ll make rookie quarterback Jared Goff, starting just his third game, and his receivers sound like Kurt Warner and “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

“He just finds a way to trigger a preparation mindset by showing you everything that team does well,” Evans added. “Now, by the end of the week, you know that team’s flaws, too, or their weaknesses, and how you’re going to attack them. But on Wednesday, he sets the tone for, ‘If you don’t do such and such . . . you’re going to get embarrassed.’ ”

Belichick delivers facts, figures, visuals of the points he’s trying to deliver. Sometimes the presentations are as short as 15 minutes, sometimes they can go 45 minutes or longer.

“Yeah, and he’s really good at it. He’s the best at making sure you’re well-prepared and know the strengths and weaknesses of your opponent,” said former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison. “He’ll say, ‘Hey guys, this is what we’re dealing with. This is what we need to take away. This is what we need to do in order to win. And all week, we’re going to practice situational football, and put ourselves in situations where we know what’s happening when they do it.’ ”

Former Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo, who was in that Wednesday meeting as recently as last season, says Belichick pulls no punches.

“It’s pretty high-level. Bill goes over the last three weeks and how (the upcoming opponent) has won those games, or lost those games and how we can make them play our game,” Mayo said. “He breaks it down, and talks about situations. And then we go over those situations every day after that.”

Study starts early

Belichick’s message is then reinforced by his assistant coaches in positional meetings before the players head to practice. But there’s a catch.

On many teams, players are just beginning to learn about their upcoming opponent on Wednesday morning. On the Patriots, Belichick expects his players to already have begun studying the prep work he and his coaches have made available.

“Tuesday’s a day off for players, but it’s not a day off because you have to study and be prepared to answer questions on Wednesday,” said Mayo. “So it’s not brand new stuff.”

If Belichick asks questions about the nuances or specific players on the opponent, Patriots players don’t want to be embarrassed.

“Yeah, because he’ll ask you everything,” said Mayo. “I mean, you can do what you want on Tuesday, but you should have some type of high-level understanding of the next opponent.”

Or catch the ire of the Hoodie for being unprepared.

This isn’t quite the norm around the league.

“For us, Tuesday is just as much a work day as any day. Personally, being at other places and other teams, that’s not necessarily the case,” said wide receiver Danny Amendola, who played four years with the Rams before joining the Pats. “Knowing the opponent, already knowing the roster, knowing what coverages they play in our (wide receivers) room, that’s what’s required of us.

“In other places, you’re getting your body right on Tuesday, then you talk about (the next team) Wednesday,” he went on. “But here, I’m already onto the next team on Tuesday.”

Harrison, who played for the Chargers before playing for Belichick, concurred.

“That Wednesday speech wouldn’t have had the kind of impact that it does,” said Harrison, “if he wasn’t preparing us Monday and Tuesday, all those days before.”

And yet, Belichick —whom Harrison called a “fantastic” orator — still commands the room and gets the message across whether players have done their homework or not.

“He just has a great way of communicating his message,” said Harrison. “I don’t care if you’re a rookie, I don’t care if you’re a 10th-year player or been to 10 Pro Bowls . . . you buy into it because you know he knows what he’s talking about.”

All about the team

Not every head coach gets players to buy in and sacrifice individual goals for the team mission.

With the type of money players are now earning, with so much to be gained as individuals who stand out from the pack, the team concept is not always the easiest sell.

Belichick, however, is one NFL head coach who has managed, for the most part, to keep the egos checked at the door and aligned toward the common goal during his 17 seasons as head coach of the Patriots. And if a player isn’t going to buy in, he won’t last long.

“Bill’s message? If you want to be a superstar, buy into the team,” said Evans, “because if the team is successful, there’s going to be a whole bunch of superstars on this team.”

There have been a few uprisings of late in wake of Jamie Collins’ departure via trade to Cleveland. But that still hasn’t changed the message.

“Really, just throw your personal stats out the window and focus on what you can do to help win the game,” Amendola said, “rather than be focused on how many balls you catch, how many sacks you can get, or how many tackles. That’s how it is around here.”

And every Wednesday morning, the players are reminded of what they need to do as a team so they won’t be embarrassed and so they can win on Sunday. Belichick delivers the roadmap, and by the end of the week the team can be confident in the steps he’s laid out that should make it easier to win.

“He’s always on point. There was always a message to be sent that this team could beat you, and you better play your best game. And if you don’t, you lose,” said Evans. “But after he’s done with all the ‘what ifs’ he devises a plan for you to go whup ’em.”