FOXBOROUGH – On a night that felt a little bit like fall (finally), the Patriots returned to the field inside Gillette Stadium.

After a one year hiatus, the Pats held their annual season ticket holder and Foxborough resident practice/scrimmage for a little over an hour on Friday. There was some good and some ugly, but it was competitive, which is always a good sign.

There were glimpses of what could be creativity wise in the new Josh McDaniels offense, but the defense came up with four interceptions, two off Drake Maye. The fumble issues returned for Rhamondre Stevenson too.

Ultimately, with a big-plays-based scoring system for both sides of the ball, Team White ‘won’ 47-38. An Alex Austin interception of Maye during a two-minute situation sealed the deal on the game’s final play. Austin actually could have ran it back for a pick-six, but stopped shy of the goal line killing the rest of the clock, a good indication that the staff is already getting through to guys when it comes to playing smart football.

A few players (Kendrick Bourne, Caedan Wallace and K’Lavon Chaisson) all got a bit banged up, but the team stayed healthy otherwise with Mack Hollins, Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis III, Keion White, Vederian Lowe, Garrett Bradbury, Antonio Gibson, Jahlani Tavai, Joshua Farmer and Sidy Sow all sitting out.

Before practice, Mike Vrabel had a press conference and revealed that the staff held a draft to select Team Blue and Team White.

Zak Kuhr was Team Blue’s head coach while McDaniels was the OC. Thomas Brown coached Team White with Terrell Williams as the DC. Maye, Christian Elliss and Jaylinn Hawkins were Team Blue captains. Hunter Henry, Jabrill Peppers and Brendan Schooler held the role for Team White.

“So, there’s things that I need to try to create and may extend drives with a phantom illegal contact or roughing the passer that probably, hopefully, didn’t happen in tonight’s practice. But, I’ve already told the team those are things that may happen so that we can continue to get whatever we need to get done, get some red zone, get some end of game, two minute, and really just have fun,” said Vrabel. We had a draft. Those coaches drafted. There was a coin flip. And I’ll let you figure out who won the coin flip and go from there.

“So, the players are excited. We split the coaches up. And me and Stretch (John Streicher) are the only ones that are impartial. Everybody else is going against each other.”

The fans got some excitement on the very first drive, with a little trickeration ending in a TD to Kyle Williams from Maye. Team White responded quickly when Joshua Dobbs hit Pop Douglas for a 60-yard touchdown.

Later on, Stefon Diggs was targeted three straight times by Maye on a drive. After two completions, the third ricocheted off of Diggs’ hands and into the waiting arms of Robert Spillane. Hawkins answered that turnover with an interception of his own soon thereafter, playing centerfield and grabbing a jump ball deep near the end zone.

Stevenson’s fumble followed on the next snap with Myles Bryant recovering. That possession ended in an eight-yard TD run for Lan Larison, who had a nice little jump cut before finding his way in.

At one point, both teams got the ball just outside the red zone at the 25. Maye’s series ended in a 36-yard field goal for Andy Borregales. With it being a controlled scrimmage, Vrabel actually had him boot another one and he hit that too. Team White’s possession ended in another Hawkins INT when a ball went right through Larison’s hands.

A late Maye drive was littered with roll outs and throw aways as pressure got to him pretty easily. Borregales ended up knocking down a 52-yard field goal.

Dobbs got the first two minute drive to wrap up the night. Jeremiah Pharms had a would-be sack and Dobbs had completions to Henry, Ja’Lynn Polk, Pop, and Kayshon Boutte before killing the clock with a handful of seconds remaining. A PI call during the drive helped too before Parker Romo hit a 33-yard field goal to close it out.

Following two short completions to Stevenson for Maye in his two-minute work, a miscommunication with Kyle Williams led to a great jump by Austin for the easy pick to end it before Vrabel called the team up.

For about 20 minutes following the breakdown, players circled Gillette Stadium to sign autographs for hundreds of kids. Maye, Diggs and Will Campbell drew the loudest shrieks from the young fans. Fittingly, Truman Jones (Harvard), Jack Conley and Alec Lindstrom (BC) signed as a trio along the sideline, continuing to carry the New England college football torch.

This first little taste of 2025 Patriots football wasn’t always what you’d like to see for a team looking to get back to where it once was, but it was a nice little appetizer ahead of the Brady statue reveal next week prior to the Commanders preseason matchup. Before that, Washington is here for a joint practice on Wednesday, which will provide the first big test of the summer.