An Independent Patriots Blog
The Patriots opened mandatory minicamp on Tuesday and yes, that means that Tom Brady was in fact in attendance. As aa credential-less blogger, I’m relegated to living vicariously through those who were there to watch it go down.
Here are the tweets that stood out and my thoughts on them.
Oh yes, another season with the GOAT, how lucky we are.
[Read more…] about Tweets of Note: 2019 Patriots Mini-camp Practice #1
Real-ish football is finally back tonight with the Patriots taking on the Redskins at 7:30pm. No, the game doesn’t really count and all that truly matters tonight is avoiding injuries, but it will be fun to finally see the new and young guys have to deal with tackling. We’ll finally get a sense of who might be the guys who just rise to another level in game action.
I had a chance to catch five training camp practices so far, each time scribbling down furious notes on the roster and often forgetting to mention bits and pieces that I might’ve caught but didn’t warrant a full article.
To help get through today, here are a bunch of rapid-fire notes and things I left out of my last couple weeks of writing.
For as much as I love it when training camp opens, it really doesn’t feel like football is back until we see the team in uniform in a game, albeit a meaningless one with mostly backups likely to play the majority of the game. Still, there’s a sigh of relief knowing that important players like Tom Brady and Dont’a Hightower won’t take the field and won’t potentially get injured because all that truly matters in these four games is not getting anyone injured.
Last year was a catastrophic situation with Julian Edelman tearing his ACL. There’s just nothing worse than losing a player for the season in a game that doesn’t even matter. Hopefully, the Pats can survive Thursday night and we can start to get a real sense of how good the new guys are in an actual game with hitting and tackling, something we still have not seen. But the most important guys should not be risked here in week one.
It’s hard to judge much of anything without real football, despite our best efforts. So now, we can really start to figure out how the bottom half of the roster looks and who might rise to the occasion under the bright lights with people trying to really hit them.
Here are five areas of emphasis that I’ll be focusing on. I’m not making any offensive or defensive gameplan sections because we can expect to see a vanilla bean scheme on both sides of the ball. It’s not about the Redskins, it’s just about the Patriots and seeing how players handle themselves without having to overthink about disguise and adjustments.
[Read more…] about Patriots Gameplan: 5 To Watch vs. Redskins
The Patriots welcomed back the remaining members of the PUP squad meaning that they’ll open the season with no one getting a free pass behind the scenes until Week 6. Cyrus Jones, Jonathan Jones and Nate Ebner all returned to practice, donning full pads meaning their time being physically unable to perform were coming to an end.
For the Joneses, it’s a good sign that they’re back before the first preseason game. Jonathan could insert himself into the slot conversation over rookie Duke Dawson, while Cyrus faces a make or break year where the Pats could really use his punt return ability. He’s a bit of a wild card as a cornerback, especially with a loaded depth chart but maybe just maybe he could be a factor.
As for Ebner, he’s just about a roster lock for his special team prowess and is a good presence to have back on the field for Bill Belichick’s favorite phase of the game.
More on the brewing battles and what went down at Tuesday’s practice in the Tweets of Note.
[Read more…] about Patriots Clear Off PUP, Tuesday Tweets of Note
The Patriots have a day off today so it’s a moment to catch our breath. As you probably heard by now Isaiah Wynn caught a second punt attempt and won the team a day off. It won’t do them much good in NFL Power Rankings, but it was a welcomed break after five-straight days of work.
If Rookie OL Isaiah Wynn catches this punt the #patriots get tomorrow off! #nopressure 😧😬😃 pic.twitter.com/k2jg5f9bSu
— The Camera Guys (@NBCSCameraGuys) July 31, 2018
Belichick pulls this all the time in camp — Matt Light, Vince Wilfork caught punts, Stephen Gostkowski kicked a night off-winning field goal. But every time I can remember, all did it on the first try. I’m pretty sure Wynn was the first to drop one, but that doesn’t hurt his spot on my rookie power rankings after five training camp practices because he looks like a beast.
Another great time getting a behind-the-scenes glimpse courtesy of the Patriots today. This will be my only time playing a real journalist this training camp but I still plan to hit up a few practices from the fan stands, where I’m more comfortable anyway and am still able to see just as much as from the sun-baked hill in front of the media tent.
Anyway, here’s a few things I left out from the video, while also expanding a bit on some of the five main takeaways.
— Berrios is stocky but reps are really limited for him right now.
— Patterson made another tough catch today, he’s making one per day now and earning trust. He’ll be a valuable player and the Pats are using him in a variety of ways on offense. He took some punts after practice and they were ugly.
— Brett Bielema is an active voice that stands out. I heard him often yelling coaching points to Jomal Wiltz for whatever that is worth. Wiltz did have a nice pass break up on Chris Hogan but has otherwise been quiet. Bielema’s presence is noticeable, especially to former Arkansas players like Trey Flowers and Dietrich Wise I’m sure.
[Read more…] about Video: Patriots Training Camp Practice #4 Report
Great to finally see some football today at a muggy second practice! As we try to get Patshow Season #2 going I’m going to try and use my video producer skills to bring some more video content. Let me know what you guys think!
A few other things I forgot to mention in the video:
— Marcus Cannon did leave practice early, walking off under his own power. LaAdrian Waddle slipped into his reps. Hopefully Cannon is back sooner than later, though his injury history is starting to add up.
— Stephon Gilmore had an AFC Championship-sealer-esque diving pass break up over Julian Edelman. Gilmore is on the left side this year and is the a clear-cut number one cornerback.
— As much as I wanted to notice him nothing about Sony Michel really stood out to me. Again, IT’S NO PADS, DAY TWO. All the backs had their share of work, including Burkhead, Gillislee and Hill, and I can’t say any of them really stood out, though Burkhead always looks shot out of a rocket.
— As I mention, Edelman looks like Edelman, and it’s such great news.
— On and by the way, Brady is still Brady. Yikes.
[Read more…] about Video: Patriots Training Camp Practice #2 Report