FOXBOROUGH – Another scorcher and another good day for the offense on Friday.

Jumping right into it for this edition…

-As usual, Sidy Sow and Michael Jordan are the first guys out at about 10:30.

-Busy day for VIP guests as Ian Rapoport from NFL Network, Scott Pioli (also NFL Network now) and former BC/Falcons QB Matt Ryan were all in the house to check out practice. James White was also on hand. Matt Ryan was here for a 10-year anniversary thing for the Ice Bucket Challenge as well as a charity golf tourney for Sean McDonough.

-Matt Judon was back and participated with the team in pads. Pretty big development considering without the new deal any padded rep could be his last while seeking his (probable) final big contract.

-Another long – probably 40ish minutes – indy period, which has been the case throughout camp. Spotted Robyn Glaser and Pioli chatting just after the stretch period. Also looked over and saw Bryce Baringer hitting absolute moonshot bombs for punts.

-Got another 1-on-1’s red zone period for a few minutes around quarter of 12. Same thing as Thursday with QB’s rotating between both fields. Receivers and DB’s against each other on one field, LB’s, RB’s, TE’s and safeties against each other…

*Stevenson with a grab on a short throw from Maye in front of Kyle Dugger. Stevenson has quietly had a very good camp.
*Leaping grab for Mitchell Wilcox over Josh Bledsoe for a TD (from Bailey Zappe).
*Kevin Harris snags a ball in front of Jahlani Tavai on a little Texas rout (from Zappe).
*Brendan Schooler with a PBU against Harris (Zappe at QB).
*Christian shuts down Ja’Lynn Polk (Maye at QB).
*Stevenson catches an out from Joe Milton against Raekwon McMillan.
*Nice grab for Tyquan Thornton against Azizi Hearn on a ball from Jacoby Brissett.
*Javon Baker torches Isaiah Bolden over the middle for a nice grab on a ball from Brissett.

-First team period up next. Brissett and Maye took the only team reps on Friday.

*Brissett’s drive – toss to Stevenson, short pass to Antonio Gibson, back-to-back run stuffs (first one by Davon Godchaux, team effort on the second one), Austin Hooper drops a screen pass.
*Maye’s drive – Good run by JaMycal Hasty, Shaun Wade comes up and makes a nice tackle on another run, run for Harris, short out to Wilcox, scramble.

-Rough spot here as Polk walked off to the back medical area (he soon came back) and Calvin Anderson stayed down for a while before limping off. Ultimately, he too came back and actually finished with the starters towards the end of practice. The Pats are in no position to have guys dropping already.

-Two-minute work with 1:22 on the clock and (I think) Jerod Mayo yelled “one timeout!” for more situational football…

*Brissett hits a short pass (missed who), decent run for Gibson, short out to Gibson, PBU for Kyle Dugger in the back of the end zone against Hooper (should have been intercepted and Dugger reacted as such), Gonzalez vs. Thornton to the right sideline results in incomplete pass, Hooper grabs a ball on the sideline to the front right pylon about two yards short of the goal line. Drive ends.

*Maye has a pass broken up by Hearn against JuJu (he did very little to fight for a catchable ball), scramble, short pass to Demario Douglas (he had a fantastic day), clock, short pass to Wilcox. Drive ends. Really odd that a FG or final TD pass/run wasn’t attempted at the end of either situation.

-Team breaks off into open field angle/tackling drills and then some kick off return work. Polk, Pop and Marcus Jones again.

-Red zone 7-on-7 with about 20 minutes left to go in practice…

*Brissett throws a great ball for a TD to Pop on a slot fade. Check down to Stevenson after holding the ball for a while, TD to KJ Osborn in the back right corner against Gonzalez (great ball and rout). TD in the back of the end zone to Jalen Reagor against Marco Wilson. Incomplete fade to Reagor.

*Maye hits Polk underneath, Baker leaps up for a TD grab in the back of the end zone against Jaylinn Hawkins. TD to Kayshon Boutte against Bolden. Baker and Alex Austin had to be separated chirping at each other after the play. Nice ball to La’Michael Pettway for a TD against Schooler to the right side of the end zone. Incomplete short pass to JuJu.

-Reset into the “high” red zone for a few snaps for both Brissett and Maye. Brissett hit Pop for a big catch and run, Maye had three completions to Polk, Reagor and Baker with another bad snap from Antonio Mafi in there too. Safe to say if David Andrews goes down Mafi should not be the replacement.

-More two-minute drill; this time with 1:42 put on the clock. This was not pretty by any means, but in the end the result was ideal…

*Brissett drive – short sideline throw to Gibson, sideline throw to Boutte, drop by Henry, offside for Trysten Hill, drop by Boutte, screen to Boutte (no gain, good play by Gonzalez), incomplete to Baker (over throw), Mike Onwenu false start, short hitch to Henry, clock, out to Pop (great blitz pick up by someone against Dugger), PBU for Marcellas Dial Jr. vs. Polk, Judon pressure forces an overthrow, Pop hauls in a (roughly) 20 yard TD wide open in the right seam before dunking the ball on the goal post. Overall, the drive probably took like six minutes of real time. Maye did not rep here.

-Maye and Milton get a little bit more work for the final 5:40 of practice. Maye had a completion to Hasty and a batted ball by Christian Ellis in addition to a hand off to Hasty. Milton had Hasty drop a quick out, scrambled and handed off to Hasty.

-More competition for Chad Ryland and Joey Slye. Ryland remained perfect in camp, going 5/5 while Slye missed his second (I think?) of camp, going 4/5. Ryland’s job now, but we’ll see what happens in game action next week.

-Mayo calls the guys up at 1:06, officially ending the eighth practice.

The offense is making strides. This was probably the best day overall for that side of the ball, particularly Maye and Pop. If Pop and Thornton can give you that speed element both over the middle and deep, fans may be very surprised by what they see. The offensive line is still a huge question and the pass rush hasn’t even really been able to tee off yet, but there’s reasons to be encouraged. Simply put, there’s no way in hell it’ll be as bad as last year.

The team has another open practice on Saturday (11:00) before a day off on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday’s practices are also open at 11:00 before a day off Wednesday before the Carolina matchup.