It looks like we’re going to have a real, competitive training camp here folks.

Seemingly every day last summer, it was the offense looking inept and the defense owning them regularly. Through just one practice on Wednesday in front of a surprisingly huge crowd, the offense looked competent and the defense was strong. For about an hour and a half, it was mostly red zone work, which makes sense given how bad (worst in the league, literally) it was a year ago.

Time to crank up the sights & sound pieces again for the next couple weeks, here’s how it looked and sounded behind Gillette…

-Rookie kicker Chad Ryland was the first one out by at least 20 minutes or a half hour. On his birthday, Deatrich Wise was the first position player to make his way up the steps and run towards the fans.

-Bailey Zappe made his way out with Kody Russey about two minutes before Mac, who got the loudest ovation of the day aside from Matt Judon.

-Judon sprinted out in a red hoodie, tossed his helmet towards one of the sidelines, then ran around the stands playing catch with various kids as he usually does. He did it for quite a while, having to sprint over to team stretching when it was about to start.

-Mr. Kraft made his way out dressed in all black shortly thereafter. Instant thought was he looked like a bad ass Johnny Cash. He watched the whole practice from in between both fields on the sideline.

-It was rather stunning to see how big the crowd was today. Given the heat, the fact that pads don’t come on until next week and the lack of buzz seemingly surrounding the team, I expected it to be 3/4 full. The stands were fully packed and there was a good crowd in the end zone too. It’s clear people still give a damn about this team, even without the star power.

-Trent Brown, Lawrence Guy, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton and Jack Jones were all present. The only somewhat big name absence was Mike Onwenu who is on PUP to start camp. Mr. Mini-camp Marte Mapu was still in a red jersey.

-At about 10:10, Ryland was already booting field goals into, on top of and over the family section. Nick Folk was stretching pretty much the entire practice and I think that’s a legitimate competition. At some point, Folk is just going to be too old and the Pats took Ryland high in the draft. It’s only a matter of time.

-During this same time, receivers were going through their drills and after taking the very first rep, Smith-Schuster was jumping up and down firing up the crowd. That group is coming into the summer with a whole lot of doubters, especially after the team was in on the Hopkins sweepstakes. They brought the energy all day long whether it was with a nice grab, getting the fans riled up or dancing. There’s a lot of swagger in that room.

-In the first bit of red zone work at 10:15 without a defense, Max went to Mike Gesicki, JuJu and Kendrick Bourne.

-With punter Bryce Baringer and Corliss Waitman rotating throughout the few times the team worked on punting (that’s another sneaky big competition, I hope/think it’ll be Waitman) Marcus Jones, Myles Bryant and rookie Demario Douglas received. Douglas just looks like he could be a sneaky weapon in the return game, but I’ve said that about JJ Taylor for years now and he’s made me look like a moron.

-I took a look around during a slight bit of down time at this point to get a feel for some of the popular jerseys kids were wearing. After all, it’s tough to actually name a “face of the franchise” at this point. Edelman, Judon, Brady, Jack Jones, Bruschi (the sick 90’s blue ones) and Mac led the way.

-The first bit of 7-on-7 red zone work started at 10:37. The very first pass Mac threw (intended for Gesicki) was picked off by Dugger in the back of the end zone. The next throw was also intended for Gesicki and broken up (didn’t get the number) and a TD to Ty Montgomery. Montgomery had at least four TD’s today (all during red zone stuff) from each of the three QB’s.

-Mac is the clear starter and worked with the one’s regularly, but the snaps were distributed pretty evenly during each red zone period, with McSorely getting the last two or three each time. Zappe had a pass broken up his first throw, hit Montgomery for a TD against Mapu and another one to Anthony Firkser.

-Around 10:45 there was a brief special teams period again where Bill and Folk had a little chat.

-At 10:50, it was time for 11-on-11 in the red zone. Mac had a pass broken up by Bryant, Josh Uche would have had a sack if it was live, JuJu caught a short slant for a TD and Hunter Henry had a nice grab in the back of end zone over Dugger. Zappe went incomplete to Firkser, Anfernee Jennings had a would-be sack and he wrapped up with two incompletions to Montgomery and Firkser. With McSorely at QB, CB Isaiah Bolden had a sick pass break up in the back corner of the end zone, lunging to knock a ball free from (I think) Firkser.

-Mac went back in again and hit Rhamondre Stevenson for a TD and Jabrill Peppers would have had a sack.

-Rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez and Jon Jones were the top two guys for the majority of the day with Bryant in the slot. Gonzalez looks like he belongs already. Obviously there’s no pads yet, but he seemed to be locked in on everything and comfortable.

-Having said that, Henry beat him on a slant for a TD during the extended 11-on-11 period on a ball from Mac and Adrian Philips had a PBU against Henry.

-Special teams work right around 11 and guys were running and diving on a blue mat while knocking down a soccer ball. Joe Judge was front and center during all special teams drills and he could be heard loud and clear most of the time.

-The teams had about 10 minutes of sprints on both fields before going back to some very light walkthrough work in the red zone. After that, the team huddled together and broke it down. The quarterbacks all went to throw for an extra 15 minutes or so while other guys ran over to their families and pulled their kids out onto the field. Some guys signed autographs for a while.  Fans also took time to sing Happy Birthday to Wise.

All in all, it was much more normal than last season. From the very first day in camp a year ago, something felt off. Whether it was the crispness of the drills or just the tone of players talking to the media after practice, it looks, feels and sounds like a functional organization again. The buy-in is there early from everyone.

The team hits the field at 9:30 again on Thursday morning with practice free and open to the public.