The Pats went two hours in the scorching heat on Friday afternoon during Day 3 of training camp. While the offense is very vanilla so far (as Mike Gesicki talked about after practice), so there’s definitely still some questions. But, as I’ve said the past few days, it’s night and day compared to last year just in terms of a professional looking practice.

Here’s everything I saw and heard from the hill…

-Moments before Bill Belichick spoke again, Chad Ryland and Bryce Baringer made their way up the steps first.

-For the second straight day, Belichick gave some fans a little PTSD with the 07 red hoodie. Belichick was very complementary of the rookie class and said Ty Montgomery was day-today with a grin (he didn’t practice). When asked about Matt Judon, Belichick said “we have players at all different stages,” and that was about it.

-Speaking of Judon, he was with the team today, but still didn’t do much. He did participate at times which was an upgrade from the first two days. After practice, Judon said he wouldn’t talk contract with the media, but went on at length about reasons why he wants to finish his career here. Judon also said Terrell Suggs is the reason he wears a hoodie or long sleeves in the summer. Judon said Suggs had a monster season that year late in his career, so Judon figured he’d do it as well going forward.

-Bailey Zappe was the first position player on the field. Mac Jones didn’t come out the usual way, sort of sneaking around to another entrance I think, but he was out pretty early again too.

-After the usual team stretch the Pats went to kickoff work with Marcus Jones receiving.

-Some walkthrough speed 7-on-7 followed for a bit, but none of it was competitive.

-Stunningly with how hot it was, the stands were completely full with some over flow up on the ramps again today. Not like, 10-15 deep on the ramp like Brady days, but there has been phenomenal attendance for each practice so far. Maybe all of the question marks are actually drawing people in instead of pushing them away.

-A good chunk of the Bryant staff was on hand, including Coach Merritt. The Patriots have been good about allowing local staffs and teams to watch practice from field level. Always good to see the Bulldogs’ staff.

-Holy Cross head coach Bob Chesney was also on hand taking it all in. Caught up with him for a few and as you’d expect he’s so fired up to start the season. Great to see the local schools taking advantage of the opportunity to continue learning and taking bits and pieces from the pro practice to implement with their teams.

-Special teams and sled work followed for a few around 10:10. Still no Mike Onwenu and Christian Barmore had an excused absence for the birth of his child (congratulations, Christian), but great attendance again from the team, including all of the question mark guys (Jack Jones, Trent Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton).

-There was a lot of walkthrough speed stuff for the first half hour or so. DB’s and LB’s worked on coverage on one field while there was more light red zone work. Nick Folk was also kicking field goals towards the media tent (coming up much shorter than Ryland has the past couple days) during this time as well.

-While the offense splits up during these individual periods, Bill Belichick was with Zappe and McSorely while Bill O’Brien and Evan Rothstein were down with Mac and the “one’s” during the light RZ work.

-Some light run game work at half speed again at 10:20ish. Long snappers were also doing a seperate drill where they’d pretend to snap, back up as if they were actually protecting, then catch tennis balls with both hands thrown by Joe Judge. During the run game work, Belichick was once again in the offensive backfield.

-The odd QB short pass/one-on-one drill in the open field for both offense and defensive guys followed again for like five minutes. At the same time, there was more kickoff work with Ed Lee and Demario Douglas receiving. The O-line and D-line also went down to their end and did one-on-ones amongst themselves in position groups (not against each other) for a very short amount of time.

-Finally, at 10:45 we got some 7-on-7 in the red zone. Mac hit Hunter Henry in the back left corner on a sick leaping grab over Jon Jones. An incompletion to Parker with Jon Jones on him followed, then he hit a quick cross over the middle to JuJu. Gonzalez blanketed Thornton on a crosser for a PBU and Kendrick Bourne just missed making a great grab on a jump ball but couldn’t come down with it. Mac’s final throw of the session was a TD in the back of the end zone to Parker.

-Zappe was up next and had his first pass broken up by Isaiah Bolden. A slant to Tre Nixon and quick out to Douglas followed. An incompletion over the head of Matt Sokol, a PBU for Jalen Mills and an incompletion ended Zappe’s session.

-While Trace McSorely took his reps (and thankfully didn’t get anyone hurt today), Belichick and Mac stood side-by-side for what felt like a minute or two chatting.

-More special teams work for the next five minutes or so.

-First bit of 11-on-11 in the red zone came at 11:00. Mac’s first snap was a play action dump off to Stevenson. Jon Jones broke up a pass intended for Parker, and then Mac dumped off to Stevenson again. On that particular play, Thornton beat Gonzalez off the line for a split second, but as soon as he tried a slant in the end zone Gonzalez recovered and completely shut him down as Mac was forced to look it off and take the check down. I know it’s only shorts and t-shirts so far, but this kid is legit already as a cover guy.

-With pressure in his face (didn’t see who), Jones threw a ball out of the end zone on a fade for Thornton with Jon Jones in coverage. Jon Jones followed with a great PBU on a jump ball against Parker. Pierre Strong had a little TD run to end Mac’s reps in this portion. Bill Belichick (once again) was closest to the huddle in the backfield with Bill O’Brien about five yards behind him. Often times, Belichick was calling out various down and distance scenarios.

-Joe Judge and Matt Slater had a chat on the opposite field during the period while Zappe and McSorely got their reps in. Didn’t keep track of Zappe for this one, had to run to the bathroom after chugging Gatorade.

-Mac came back for a second set of snaps during this 11-on-11 red zone work. Quick hitch to Parker, a scramble that drew a huge ovation (and had fans holding their breath) and a quick out to Henry followed. Deatrich Wise had a would-be sack, Jon Jones broke up a pass against Hunter Henry, Josh Bledsoe had a fantastic effort for a PBU on a jump ball against Mike Gesicki and two short completions to Douglas capped Mac’s day.

-During this point Nick Folk continued to kick some field goals while Ryland and Cam Achord chatted.

-Speaking of Gesicki, him, Thornton and Bourne have been virtually invisible for the first few days, which is a little worrisome. I’m still a believer that Gesicki will be a huge red zone factor this season, so much so that I bet Andy Hart from WEEI that he’ll have 12 or more TD’s this season. Hopefully, he doesn’t make me look like an idiot, but that’s a tough job for anyone anyways.

-Special teams closed the day as Belichick and O’Brien chatted. Meanwhile, the soccer ball kick blocking drill was back. But, Judon, Josh Uche, Mack Wilson Anfernee Jennings and DaMarcus Mitchell all worked with another coach (couldn’t tell who) on a different type of special teams blocking drill.

-Folk booted a couple field goals to wrap it up before the giant circle stretch and ensuing autograph sessions. The QB’s went to throw again late while Gesicki worked the jugs machine before meeting with the media.

The Patriots are now off on Saturday before going five straight days next week. The team is back on the practice field Sunday (12:30-2:30) and it’s open to the public again.The season ticket holder and Foxborough resident in-stadium practice is next Friday at 6 P.M. Monday will be the first padded practice and while the offense has been stifled by the defense, the normalcy and competency continues to be a pleasant departure from a year ago.