FOXBOROUGH – There’s a long way to go until we can officially say that the Patriots should be the talk of New England again, but Wednesday was a big step towards getting back there.

With over 10,000 fans at Wednesday’s joint practice with the Washington Commanders, there were scuffles, a bloodied Mike Vrabel, encouraging progress for the offense and most importantly, real, aesthetically pleasing football.

There was also a ‘this is big day’ feel around Foxborough feel with a jam-packed media tent full of national, local and DC reporters – including legends Mike Silver and Dianna Russini – and names like Bon Jovi, Patrick Chung and Jayson Tatum all watching the two hour session.

“Yeah, we definitely think positive. When you’re moving the ball and feel like you had some good plays, it’s positive,” Drake Maye said after practice when asked if he and the team walked away feeling good about the day. “And coming out here, not like you didn’t execute, didn’t move the ball well, so it’s always positive…I thought we moved well. It was good playing against another team, having all our guys out there and kind of getting the rhythm, build some plays together, and move the ball. I thought we did some good things offensively and wish we would have ended it better, tip ball down there, but hey, that happens, that’s football, and that’s why you practice those.

“But overall, I was proud up front. The guys up front, they battled hard. So, I’m looking forward to getting things going as we get into Minnesota and Friday night.”

Pop Douglas and Mack Hollins stood out, regularly getting open (particularly over the middle for Pop) early in practice during initial team periods. The Patriots defense took on the Washington offense on the ‘far’ field from the fans, while the Pats O and Washington D went at it closest to those packed shoulder-to-shoulder in the bleachers.

The O-line held up well early and throughout the day too, as Maye was only ‘sacked’ one time. Juxtapose that with the Philadelphia joint practice a year ago where he was ‘sacked’ 15 times.

After the lengthy opening team period, the offense, defensive backs and linebackers did some 7-on-7 while the O-line and D-line had 1-on-1’s.

While briefly watching the defense, Harold Landry’s speed showed up again, Christian Barmore dominated a rep and Truman Jones had at least two wins. Offensively, Maye targeted Stefon Diggs on his first three throws, completing two of them. Other than that, Diggs was relatively quiet.

TreVeyon Henderson dropped an easy touchdown on a drop-in-the-bucket by Joshua Dobbs, but the rookie running back continues to pop as he had a pretty good day overall, responding with a TD grab from Maye on his second ‘series’ and has made a case to be RB1 against the Raiders in a few weeks.

Things really got fun in the first team red zone period.

First, Kayshon Boutte had arguably the highlight of the day, hauling in a great back shoulder TD from Maye against former Everett star Mike Sainristil and Hunter Henry also had a wide open TD catch. Fans should be most encouraged with how open guys were regularly, which speaks to the McDaniels offense.

Joshua Dobbs hit Austin Hooper and Antonio Gibson for touchdowns. Then, all hell broke loose.

Rhamondre Stevenson was stuffed on a run (possibly by old friend Deatrich Wise) and there was a mini scuffle. That one was quickly broken up and Mack Hollins caught a TD pass from Maye off play action. After a Maye scramble for a TD, there was clear PI on Diggs in the end zone. Henderson and a Washington defender wrestled to the ground with Henderson in pass protection and the pig pile was on.

Ultimately, Vrabel was one of the first guys at the bottom trying to break things up and came out with a cut on his cheek.

Talk about leadership by example.

“No, I feel – like I said, that’s what we’re trying to build, I think – and it starts with the coach – starts with the head coach. The intensity, bringing it every day, taking no crap when we’re out there on the field,” said Maye. “But also, it comes to a time where, with our guys offensively, and getting over there and getting some tussles, and kind of having some penalties, and extra after the whistle can get us in trouble. But for mentality, I like it. I think that’s what you want. I mean, I almost got in there, but I think maybe another day, maybe. So, we’ll see.”

“That shows a lot. He’ll do anything for us…that’s love,” added Douglas.

Once things settled down, Dobbs hit Javon Baker for a TD on a slant to finish off an otherwise empty final series of the period.

In a live field goal period that followed, Andy Borregales went 4-4 while Parker Romo was 3-4.

The only real blemish for Maye on the day was during the final team red zone period. Bobby Wagner made a great play to tip a ball up and Sainristil made a diving interception in the end zone. Dobbs did finish things off on the right note for the Patriots with a touchdown to Hollins in the back right corner.

Defensively, Keion White and Barmore got pressure on Jayden Daniels during Washington’s final series with the ones, with Alex Austin closing things out with a PBU in the end zone.

From a local college angle, it was great to see so much New England talent on the field, especially rookies Jack Conley, Truman Jones, Alec Lindstrom, Kam Arnold, Will Harris and Tyler Ott. Jones and Conley continue to get meaningful reps and look more and more like they could be part of this team for the long haul. Sainristil was quite a popular guy with a bunch of Everett folks after practice. To his credit, he did interviews and signed autographs for at least 30-45 minutes.

It’s one day in August and New England will have another test coming up with joint practices scheduled in Minnesota next week, but if you were one of the 10,000-plus fans on hand hoping to see a glimpse of a bright future for the Patriots Wednesday, you went home very, very happy.