After a day off on Saturday, the Patriots officially wrapped up their first week of training camp with a Sunday afternoon practice.
Thousands of fans packed the stands and the ramps high above the practice fields at Gillette Stadium on what was truly a stunning, September-ish day. Saw people tailgating in the parking lot before which was awesome.
-The offense got out of the red zone today and did a little more work down the field. The pads come on Monday for the first time, so this was one final chance to fine tune some things and add a few more without the full speed, full contact periods yet.
Here’s everything from high on the hill…
-Mac was the first guy out, again getting a massive QB1 ovation. Bill Belichick was back in the red hoodie again and continues to give me 2007 PTSD.
-For the second time in three days, the team opened with a conditioning circuit for the skill guys on both sides of the ball while the linemen and special teamer did their own thing. Mac was the first guy up in each drill to set the tone. His body language and leadership have been abundantly different than a year ago at this time.
-Early special teams work followed while DB’s worked on tracking and high pointing balls, while the O-line and D-line hit the sleds and skill guys did some individual work for a bit.
-No Kayshon Boutte or Ty Montgomery today, but Christian Barmore was back after having a child. JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Jack Jones, Trent Brown and Matt Judon were all in attendance, although Judon only participated in (I think) three actual snaps during live team periods.
-As I’ve written maybe 15 times now already (fitting for his number) Corliss Waitman hits absolute MISSILES off his left foot. Not only is the hang time ridiculous, but the sound it makes is just ridiculous. At one point, the legend himself Greg Bedard and I looked at each other during one particular punt and both said “holy Sh*t.” If he doesn’t win the job over Bryce Baringer, something happened.
-During some kick off work around 1:05 Demario Douglas – who had quite a good day as a receiver too – and Marcus Jones were fielding them. Meanwhile, with the offense doing some light work from the 10 without any defense, Mike Gesicki hd a sick toe-tap catch on a ball in the back of the end zone from Mac. Rhamondre Stevenson and JJ Taylor worked by themselves in the middle of the field running angle routes while more kick off work took up the other field.
-Walkthrough speed was the case for the first hour or so and the offense worked against the D in 11-on-11 while Chad Ryland hit bombs into an over the family tent.
-During that time, it wasn’t competitive, but Zappe did hit Thornton with a deep ball and Mac found Douglas on a similar play.
-The music got cranked up and the first bit of “real” football came around 1:30 with 11-on-11. During last week, the ball was strictly in the red zone, but this time the ball was placed just over the plus side of the field. Here’s how it went…
Mac slant to JuJu, hand off to Stevenson (inside zone), dump off to Stevenson, quick throw to Stevenson (flat), handoff to Stevenson (inside zone). Following his set of reps, Mac and Belichick had a chat – one of a few I saw on the day – so for all the people trying to push the no-communication narrative, that’s dead.
-Zappe led the offense downfield next as the goal of the period was tempo. Barmore had a batted ball at the line but Zappe had a good day. There’s no true QB controversy, but he’s not falling behind or anything like that. Jack Jones jumped a wide receiver screen and just missed what would have been a long pick-six. Also saw BB teaching up Barmore at one point and gave him a pat on the chest at the end. Need a big year out of him.
-More Waitman moonshots came around 1:35 during some brief punt return work with Myles Bryant and Douglas receiving.
-Back to 11-on-11 with the music blasting around 1:45. Here’s how it went…
Mac dump off to Stevenson, short hitch to JuJu, INC to Douglas (v. Jalen Mills), heavy pressure by Josh Uche (would be sack if contact was in play, but Mac still completed it to Gesicki), Ryland field goal, INC back of the end zone for Sokol (v. Dugger), TD in the flat to Kevin Harris (mesh concepts were and have been the focal point through four days), Mac scramble with a dance at the end, TD to Stevenson in the flat.
-Zappe again was good, throwing two phenomenal TD’s to Thornton and Tre Nixon, both against Marcus Jones. Ryland booted another field goal to end the period from 35ish? yards.
-Belichick continues to be very hands on with the offense, even coaching guys up when McSorely was in there getting a few reps. Mac played catch with Nick Folk for a few at this point.
-Some red zone work followed and it was an absolute disaster for the O-line. Or, a great period for the defense, depending how you want to look at it. Uche pressured Mac and would’ve had another sack but Jones scrambled a bit. Wise came up with a sack the next snap as the secondary blanketed everyone. Christian Gonzalez just missed a pick on the goal line as Judon provided some heavy pressure. Davon Godchaux absolutely manhandled Cole Strange – who had an ugly few minutes – and then both Barmore and Godchaux forced Mac into a short throw to Gesicki with more pressure. Wise then took his turn torching Strange, focusing a throw into the ground. Ryland capped the Mac reps with another field goal.
-Zappe was picked off by Jalen Mills on the sideline when it was his turn but also had a dime to Thornton for a TD in the back corner of the end zone on a fade. McSorely had TD’s to Ed Lee and Raleigh Webb towards the end.
-The first “lap” which was really just a run to the other end of the field this camp went to Bill Murray.
-At 2:15, the team made it’s way over to the conditioning hill for the first time this camp. Conditioning had usually just consisted of the early drills and then sprints at the end, but the hill as been a staple in the organization for decades now.
-During that time, more kickoff work took place with Lee, Douglas, Marcus Jones and Bryant receiving.
-For about 15 minutes after that the teams split up and went into some red zone walk through offense, with Bill Belichick first spending time on Zappe’s side of the field before strolling over to where Mac was and watching his final few reps.
Monday will be our first chance to truly gauge where this offense is against what’s been a very good defense so far, but there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic that this offense is going to be able to figure things out this year. As we continue to say, it’s been “normal” and that’s really the best case scenario right now. This next week is a big one as the team goes Monday-Thursday before the in-stadium practice on Friday night. As always, we’ll have it covered!