Bill Belichick must’ve loved what he saw on Tuesday.
Not the performances (defense dominated the day), but the off-and-on downpours provided the team with the first true test of ball security and overall execution in bad weather. The Pats were in pads for two hours in the rain and the lack of healthy offensive line bodies continues to make things difficult. 11 down, one to go before real football on Thursday night. Here’s everything we saw from the soggy hillside…
-Chad Ryland and Bryce Baringer first out again. I’d say it’s been like, 8/11 days those two are out extremely early. Deatrich Wise was the first player out.
-No red hoodie for BB during his presser today. It was short and sweet for the HC of the NEP as he answered a handful of questions, deflected on Jack Jones and Matt Judon and that was that.
-Referees were on hand for the first time for the team periods and 1-on-1’s.
-Really good crowd given the fact it was 1 PM on a Monday and really crappy out. Just under 3/4 of the bleachers still and kids still braved the elements for autographs after. Credit to media members who stood in the monsoon for interviews after, particularly John who stuck around for us so I could get home and start writing.
-Still no Slater, Jon Jones, Cole Strange, Ty Montgomery or Calvin Anderson. Trent Brown was there and in pads but limited. Strange was walking around towards the end of practice with a helmet in his hand, so he’s probably still just getting the cautious treatment. Slater and Montgomery are worrisome.
-Same passing groups as Sunday during indy periods. Douglas could be a factor Week 1 and Gesicki is starting to become more noticeable daily, he made a sick grab plucking a ball high above his head during this period (watch out Andy Hart), but it was actually another rookie wideout who had the play of the day (maybe all of camp) later on…
-Got a rare 1-on-1 period early on. So tough to keep up with it all, but saw Adrian Phillips with a PBU against Gesicki, Thornton deep catch over Rodney Randle, Marcus Jones PBU on a deep ball (didn’t catch receiver it was intended for), Marte Mapu had a great PBU against Johnny Lumpkin, Douglas beat Mack Wilson clean over the middle, Anthony Firkser snagged an out in front of Kyle Dugger, Kendrick Bourne dropped a well-thrown deep ball by Mac.
-RB’s, LB’s, WR’s and DB’s worked on open field stuff for about five minutes at this point. Some light walkthrough-ish 11-on-11 followed briefly and then kick off return. Marcus Jones is absolutely going to break one this year. I’ve said it about JJ Taylor for years but I’m really confident in this one. O-line worked on hand stuff and the wideouts worked on some quick position drills during this. Waitman kicked off a bit along with Folk too, something he did during the in-stadium practice on Friday night.
-First bit of 11-on-11 around 1:55. Trent Brown stood with his helmet in his hands behind his back during this. Mac: Jack Jones PBU vs. JuJu on the sideline, Davon Godchaux sack, quick hitch JuJu, Judon sack, incomplete to the flat, sick jump ball grab by Parker on the sideline against Bolden. Zappe: Barmore sack, Thornton drop (ball behind him and I think Keion White would’ve gotten there for a sack), Wise sack, Guy sack.
-Another drive each in 11-on-11 for each guy but with music blaring this time. Mac: handoff Stevenson, quick out to Bourne, Carl Davis sack, handoff Stevenson, quick hitch JuJu. Zappe: Dump to Pierre Strong, handoff to Kevin Harris, quick slant Thornton, Firkser hauls in a deep cross (great ball), swing pass to Taylor.
-The offense then came out of their own end from the 15ish yard line but only alternated a couple times. Malik Cunningham then got his first looks at QB. The defense and offense had been going off cards a bit in previous periods, indicating a little bit of game-prep for Houston. Cunningham actually got a fair amount of work in towards the latter stages of practice, as did Trace McSorely, who we’ll probably see a lot of on Thursday. It’ll now be interesting to see how much Cunningham – if any – we see at QB after he had strictly been a wide receiver in minicamp and early in training camp.
-Red zone 11-on-11 time late in the day. Mac: Wise sack, quick out Bourne, quick pass to Taylor (Gonzalez locked up JuJu here), handoff to Strong, combine sack Wise and Judon, overthrow of (I think) Henry in the end zone, Folk field goal. Zappe: Handoff Harris, batted ball by Lawrence Guy, incomplete to flat, Shaun Wade PBU on fade to Thornton (under thrown), handoff Taylor, TD Taylor, Folk field goal.
-Later in this same period with Cunningham at QB, Kayshon Boutte made an absurd, Odell-esque one-handed catch that drew a “ohhhh” from both the fans and the media tent. Truly a ridiculous grab.
-Two minute work to close out the day and a bit more scout team work for Cunningham and McSorely before the team huddled up and stretched as the rain intensified.
Wednesday is the final day of practice before training camp officially ends and we hit the preseason part of the summer. The team will be back out at 1 PM and the session is open to the public.