2023 Rookie Minicamp / OTAs / Training Camp

[squire12]

Snippets from today....

 

General:

• There is a new twitter list at the bottom that temporarily includes the Patriots beat reporters.

• Bakhtiari won't do team today; the "plan" is for him tomorrow.

Injuries: CB Eric Stokes (PUP-Knee/Foot), TE Tyler Davis (ACL)

Not Practicing / Limited: OL David Bakhtiari (Rest), EDGE Rashan Gary (Knee), RB Lew Nichols (Shoulder), RB Tyler Goodson (Shoulder), OL Caleb Jones (Ankle), OT Luke Tenuta (Ankle), Tariq Carpenter (Back), DL Kenny Clark (Back), ILB De'Vondre Campbell (Ankle), Bo Melton (Hamstring)

Offense:

• Don’t see WR Bo Melton, who has been having a good camp.

• Starting O: Yosh - Jenkins - Myers - Runyan - Tom | Watson-Doubs | Musgrave-Deguara | Love-Jones

• Few yard run to the right by Jones. Musgrave lead blocker.

• Love likely sacked by Judon. Decent protection but no where to go with ball. Dumps it off to Dillon for nothing.

• Dillon for nothing

• Dillon not much again. Patriots run defense stout so far.

• Play-action, quick pressure from NE by blitzing nickel. Musgrave was the blocker.

• Love complete on a slant to Watson. Nice read and throw.

• Sean Clifford at QB: Quick pressure by NE. Sack.

• Really nice run by Emmanuel Wilson inside.

• McCrary for nothing. Middle clogged up on run.

• Love checkdown to Dillon on a swing pass for about 5.

• Jabril Peppers just made Musgrave look every bit the rookie he is in pass pro.

• Love Play-action, throws to Dillon in flat. Heath out there with Watson and Reed.

• Beautiful run by Aaron Jones off left side. Nice juke in the backfield. Defender maybe would have made a better play in an actual game.

• Draw to Jones. Few yards.

• Play-action, AJ Dillon just blocked a Patriots defender blitzing Jordan Love and laid him flat on the ground. Love finds Doubs in flat for 7. 4/4 for Love so far but lots of short throws.

• Patrick Taylor for nothing. Pats run d looks legit.

• Packers bring in their secret weapon and McGough uncorks a gorgeous fading away throw rolling to his left for a big gain to Tucker Kraft on a deep corner route.

• Couple runs on both sides of the field don’t go anywhere.

• False start Packers.

• Another Packers run for nothing.

• Love deep down field for Watson, awesome ball, not sure if Watson didn’t see it but went right through his hands. Watson beat the CB and Love threw it perfectly between corner and safety.

• Love laser to Reed on a quick slant from the slot left. Tough to stop that.

• Love misses Heath right after. Looked open but not sure Heath saw it either. Could exactly tell.

• Love steps up in pocket, finds Jones alone in flat for 10.

• Love to Reed for a short pickup. 7/9 now.

• Reed sits down in zone. Love hits him. NE there to limit pass.

• Myers beat, pressure on Love, throw slightly behind Watson over middle. Another ball that hit 9 in the hands, juggled, incomplete.

• Great job by Heath pulling in a ball from Clifford that was behind him and not breaking stride. Tough play, made it look easy.

• Looks like Love might have been sacked. Throws over the middle to Watson. Ball gets tipped away.

• Clifford to Heath on a slant.

• Clifford to Heath on a crosser for a nice pickup.

• McGough incomplete.

• McGough sacked, finds Kraft on a checkdown tho.

• Wow. Royce Newman just got walked all over on and dominated at the line. So much so that Luke Butkus came over and chewed him out.

• Not gonna be surprised if there’s a fight today. On a play to Watson, a DB horse-collared him down. Watson walked away before it could escalate.

• Got some red zone ish work coming up.

• Jones run out of the gun, short gain.

• Musgrave beats Dugger down the seam and Love finds him for a TD. Nice ball to clear the coverage. Went up to get it cuz he’s a 6-6 freak.

• Love throws long for Reed but I loved the throw. Looked like Reed got caught up a little at the top of the route. Good coverage too.

• Dillon gets hit up the middle harder than I think he expected, and probably more than the Packers want. He wasn’t expecting that and coughed up the ball. Pats recover.

• Love TD to right to Doubs. Toe drag. Close call. Another awesome throw and catch. Defender upends him and he maintains control through the ground. Ref initially signals out of bounds but looks like he overturns it. Crowd erupts.

• 2s in now. Start with a toss to Taylor for a couple.

• Bootleg from Clifford to Heath for a handful. Heath has been active today.

• McGough sacked.

• Back to the 1’s: Love play action. Nowhere to go. Fires low to Doubs but was basically a throw away.

• Dillon inside for about 5.

• Love gets the defense to jump. The hard count is fantastic.

• Ok Jayden Reed ended up out of bounds. But holy **** the jump ball that Jayden Reed just won in the back of the end zone against Marcus Jones. Great ball from 10, amazing catch. But no glory.

• END AROUND TO LUKE MUSGRAVE IN THE RED ZONE. Dude is so damn fast. Picks up about 7 from the 10.

• Great defense on a throw to Deguara. Would have been short of the end zone anyway.

• Clifford back in. False start Deguara.

• Clifford would have been sacked but fires for a touchdown to Allen on a crosser.

• Run goes nowhere.

• McGough tipped at the LOS. Falls incomplete.

• 1s on offense. Looks like a true move the ball period. 1st & 10.

• Good deep ball from Jordan Love, but Romeo Doubs couldn’t hang on. Doubs got behind Patriots DB Jack Jones on a deep corner to the right, and Love put it where it needed to be, but incomplete. Was so close to an amazing throw but just ever so slightly overthrown. Don’t hate the ball at all. Almost a huge play.

• Run for Jones for few yards up middle

• False start offense. 3rd and 12 now.

• Really good protection. Love fires deep to Reed over the middle who tries to make a sliding catch. Ball probably slightly underthrown or might have been tipped. Reed stays down after the play but pops up and walks to the sideline holding his chest a bit. Hopefully just got the wind knocked out of him.

• OL gets beat for quick sack. Tough to tell but looks like came from right interior (Myers, Runyan)

• Incomplete, throw to Dillon in flat.

• Jordan Love has all day goes deep to Christian Watson on a corner to the left sideline, and Watson doesn’t miss it. Watson hit the throttle to run past Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez and Jalen Mills, and Love’s pass was on the money. 75 yard TD. VIDEO

• Out route to Toure for 10+ yards.

• Sean Clifford time. Wilson inside. Tough sledding.

• Wilson off tackle. Tough sledding.

• Clifford to Watts for a first down.

• Wilson hit at LOS

• Incomplete to Taylor in flat. Slightly ahead of him.

• Complete to McCrary in flat. Defender there.

• Initial reads not there. Finds Chrest on shallow crosser. Few yards.

• Packers starting offense (2 min drill tie game 1 timeout ball at own 25):

• Doubs gets a lot of separation on slant. Good for about 20.

• Incomplete to Doubs down left sideline. Overthrown. Good coverage.

• Watson sits down in zone over middle. Good YAC opportunity.

• Nice contested catch by Watson over middle.

• Incomplete to Watson on corner route. Under pressure.

• Connects with Doubs on slant again. Big gain.

• Quick out to Doubs. Gets out of bounds

• Quick out to Watson. Throw high.

• Carlson no good from 40 as time expires.

• Packers QB Jordan Love picked on Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones almost exclusively over his final drive today. Gonzalez allowed 2 catches on 3 targets, Marcus Jones allowed catches on both targets. Worth noting Jaden Reed was not in on that 2 minute drive. At least that I saw. He was banged up earlier.

• Clifford in 2 min. 1:30 left.

• Watts sits in zone. Complete.

• Taylor in flat gets out of bounds.

• Clifford buys as much time as he possibly can and finally scrambled 10 yards for the first down on 3rd.

• Sean Clifford overthrows a well-covered Malik Heath on the right sideline. Incomplete, but Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers was apparently impressed. Turned around and started talking about Clifford’s arm strength. A dart. Just a flick of the wrist.

• Incomplete on a slant to Watts. Good contest by DB.

• Possible sack in live tackle but Clifford finds Wilson on quick out.

• Goes through reads, finds Wilson over middle for some YAC and gets out of bounds. Great block by Bonds.

• Nice blitz pick up by Taylor. Clifford finds Chrest on left sideline for 8 yards.

• Incomplete to Deguara on sideline. A bit high. Good coverage by NE. Initial reads not there.

• Taylor with a great blitz pickup, Sean Clifford throws another dart to Malik Heath down the right sideline, and this time he does not miss. Dropped it into a bucket from 31 yards over Patriots CB Jack Jones for touchdown (might have been called short), ending the backup 2-minute drill. Clifford has backup QB job all but locked.

• Carlson misses again at end of No. 2 two-minute. He came up short — yes short — from 43. Looked like he just popped it up. This one was a run-on-the-field with the clock running attempt. .

Defense:

• ILB De’Vondre Campbell is not practicing today because of an ankle injury.

• Starting D DL: Wyatt, Slaton, Wooden OLB: Smith, Van Ness ILB: Walker CB: Douglas, Nixon, Valentine S: Savage, Moore

• And they just subbed Jaire out and put Valentine in before they got started. So maybe no Jaire in team.

• Mac Jones leads the first 11s period. Heavy under center run/play action. JuJu Smith-Schuster caught a crosser on Mac’s first pass.

• Patriots complete on a comeback on the other side. SJC in coverage.

• Mac Jones all day to throw. Finds a checkdown for a decent pickup.

• Patriots find a big hole, looked like Stevenson for a big gain.

• Pats WR screen for a few.

• The Demario Douglas show continues for NE. Nice run by him. Didn’t see if it was a pop pass or reverse. But big gain.

• Valentine all over a deep throw.

• Rasul Douglas with one of those savvy, vet plays he’s known for. Peeled off an underneath WR to cover Pats TE Hunter Henry on a corner route. Douglas had a leaping INT from Mac Jones in his hands, but couldn’t complete the catch. Dropped and did a few push-ups for dropped pick.

• Mac Jones’s second run in 11s wasn’t as smooth. But he hit Kayshon Boutte on a deep out that was what you want to see. Great anticipation and ball placement.

• Mac Jones tried to test rookie CB Carrington Valentine deep. Threw a go ball down right side to DeVante Parker. Valentine was all over it, blanket coverage. That pass had no chance.

• Really nice pass rush from Cox. Likely a sack.

• Coverage sack. Hooper, SJC, Leavitt, Thomas, Sapp in defensive backfield.

• Thomas beat on crossing route

• Arron Mosby just bull rushed the OT into the ground.

• Another nice pass rush rep by Karl Brooks.

• Heavy safety rotation today. A lot of different combos being used.

• Great push by second/third teams IDLs. Bailey Zappe would’ve taken 5 sacks on his last 6 snaps in a game setting working behind the backup O-line. Some pressure was instant, other “sacks” were on him for clutching the ball.

• Pats just miss a deep shot to Thornton. Had a couple steps on Moore.

• Jaire is back in team and immediately breaks up a pass for Bourne

• Patriots offense in red zone: Hollins and Smith at edge. Jaire at CB. Moore and Savage at S.

• Incomplete pass. Walker close in coverage.

• Nice job by Walker and McDuffie to get outside, limiting ball carrier who was trying to get to edge.

• Good pass rush reps by Smith and Hollins. Incomplete.

• Starting defense back on field: Nice job my McDuffie filling open running lane.

• 5 or so yard run right by NE.

• Good protection. Jones finds TE in end zone from 10. Couldn’t tell who was in coverage. Possibly Moore?

• NE RB gets to boundary. Defense lost contain.

• Starting defense kept Patriots starting offense out of end zone on 5 reps from 10 yards and in. Jaire Alexander forced an incompletion on a Mac Jones pass to DeVante Parker in the end zone. Sticky coverage, Parker couldn’t come down with the football.

• Second defense: NE tries end around, nice play by Mosby staying home to make play.

• Fade to back left corner. Incomplete. Valentine in coverage. Overthrown.

• TD NE from the 5. Quick out.

• Mac Jones scrambles for a first down. Actually showed off some wheels. Holding on the offense though.

• Quay all over a screen.

• Packers defense all over a draw play. Keshawn Banks gets into backfield quick for tackle attempt on RB.

• Quick out. Complete. Hooper in coverage.

• First team, second team, third team, the Packers edge rushers have looked really good today.

• Patriots complete over the middle to tight end. Rudy Ford in coverage.

• Really nice run stop by Jonathan Ford

• Likely sack by Enagbare.

• False start Enagbare next play.

• Jonathan Ford with another run stuff. He’s made such a jump from last year.

• Enagbare with a would be sack on Mac Jones but they didn’t call it.

• Who cares - Wyatt and Brooks blow through the line for a sack on the next play. Had to count that one. Karl Brooks is constantly in the backfield. Think they got something there.

• Jones buys time. Nice contested catch over middle with Valentine in coverage.

• Another big completion over the middle. McDuffie tackle.

• Scramble by Jones followed by a spike.

• Jones incomplete short.

• Fg unit on for the win. Kick is good. Pats win that on the fg.

• Not a whole lot down the field for the Patriots O. But underneath stuff has been there.

• Pats 2’s finish a 2 minute drive with a fg that clearly went in but the refs say no good. Some bizarre stuff at the end of practice.

• per a pats reporter Mac had 5 “sacks” today, Zappe 8 and Packers CB Rasul Douglas dropped 2 Mac INTs.

Special Teams:

• Carlson from 33 - good. Carlson 40 - good. Carlson 42 - good. Carlson 48 - good. Carlson 50 - good A 5/5 day!

• Whelan just punted one to the moon

• DBs Jalen Mills and Ameer Speed have to be separated from Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks during a punt return rep. Joint practices, baby! Wicks gets ping-ponged between two guys, who push him down. He gets heated after words, until Watson calms him down.

• Carrington Valentine is doing work on special teams too. Covering punts and jamming for punt returns.

• Dontayvion Wicks with an awesome block on PR.

• Jayden Reed the primary punt returner today. He looks so smooth catching the ball on punt returns. Packers basically did an Amari Rodgers re-do and I think they crushed if this time.

• Nixon got some return reps as well towards the end.

Media:

• Quadzilla drill Video

• Gary and the OLBs Video

• DuBose Comeback Video

• Love drills Video | Video2

Interviews:

LaFleur Presser:

• LaFleur says he reached out to Bill Belichick during the offseason to schedule these joint practices with Patriots: "He's highly regarded as one of the greatest coaches of all time, so why not try to steal a little piece of how they do things?"

• “I’ve been really impressed with Grant.” LaFleur on DuBose. Adds that he’s been very sharp in the class room and is taking advantage of opportunities right now. He’s playing fast and has “aggressive hands.”

• LaFleur on Carrington Valentine, who's been running with the ones in team with Alexander sitting out: "He’s super talented and he’s just maximizing those opps." Matt says they have to look at something to get Carrington Valentine on the field. He wants to see him keep progressing but says he’s “worthy of getting some snaps for sure.”

• LaFleur said they are trying to find the best five in the secondary and said he hasn't ruled out moving CB Rasul Douglas to safety. He said it depends on how things pan out with the rest of the secondary.

• LaFleur said he's talked to his players about keeping their cool and avoiding scrums and he reference Peaky Blinders. "You know when Tommy Shelby comes in and says no fighting ...?"

Belichick:

• Bill Belichick on practicing at Lambeau Field complex: "Third oldest sporting field behind Fenway and Wrigley so it's very moving to walk out of the locker room and down on to the field. Think about all the great players and coaches that have done that ... honored to be here."

[NFLGURU]

Need to bring a kicker or two in and at least look at them.  He's having trouble with both FGs and XPs.   

How are his kickoffs?

I can see a miss here and there on FGs but your XPs need to be nearly automatic.

 

[Refugee]

2 hours ago, NFLGURU said:

Need to bring a kicker or two in and at least look at them.  He's having trouble with both FGs and XPs.   

How are his kickoffs?

I can see a miss here and there on FGs but your XPs need to be nearly automatic.

 

The trend is not going in the right direction and time is ticking. I’d like to know the back up plan, even if it’s just Mase. 

[thrILL!]

2 hours ago, squire12 said:

Snippets from today....

Dumps it off to Dillon for nothing.

• Dillon for nothing

• Dillon not much again. Patriots run defense stout so far.

• Dillon gets hit up the middle harder than I think he expected, and probably more than the Packers want. He wasn’t expecting that and coughed up the ball. Pats recover.

[Zycho32]

I fail to see how you're going to learn game-time consistency without game-time experience. Sounds like the team knew Anders would be an adventure for a while and thus far haven't elected to put further pressure on him. This would be the time to mix a cool drink of your choice and let things follow their course.

[Uffdaswede]

Things I really like:

Jordan Love with the hard count:

Nothing gave me a football woody like Rodgers forcing a jump with a hard count and throwing a tuddy on the free play. To think that soft-spoken Jordan has a good hard count down…mmmm.

Matt LeFleuer references Peaky Blinders in presser:

What the ****? ❤️❤️❤️

[Arthur Penske]

4 hours ago, Old Guy said:

 Carrington is wearing Sam Shields and Tyrone Williams number so there is a chance. 

Definitely not Josh Jackson’s…

[Refugee]

25 minutes ago, Zycho32 said:

I fail to see how you're going to learn game-time consistency without game-time experience. Sounds like the team knew Anders would be an adventure for a while and thus far haven't elected to put further pressure on him. This would be the time to mix a cool drink of your choice and let things follow their course.

Coaches and front office have a duty to field a team that can get the job done. Maybe they turn it around but if the kid blows a game or two, nobody will be sipping cool drinks. Behind closed doors there have absolutely been plan B and C conversations and that goes for everyone but specialists are on an island and it’s make or miss. Maybe we just score nothing but TDs, but a kicker missing XPs won’t have a job long. 

[{Family Ghost}]

31 minutes ago, Refugee said:

Coaches and front office have a duty to field a team that can get the job done. Maybe they turn it around but if the kid blows a game or two, nobody will be sipping cool drinks. Behind closed doors there have absolutely been plan B and C conversations and that goes for everyone but specialists are on an island and it’s make or miss. Maybe we just score nothing but TDs, but a kicker missing XPs won’t have a job long. 

Yeah, I think the kid has until final cut downs to get his act together or the Packers will add a proven guy.  You can't have some guy costing you games just because this might be a rebuilding type of season.  Players and coaches want to win as many games as they can regardless of their talent level.  You can't let a guy go out at a 70 percent fg clip in this day and age.  He's been bad enough that I can't imagine him getting claimed despite any potential talent he might have.  As of right now he's a practice squad guy.  

[Uffdaswede]

It’s funny how the game evolved from one guy being a position player plus kicker to every team needing this one not-quite-a-football-player guy to kick a ball through the uprights from half a field’s distance.

How do football coaches coach a guy up when what they do is so different from the rest of the game? Is Bisaccia looking at film and saying “You’re plant foot is turned too far left by 15 degrees”, or does he say “Figure it the **** out or we are bringing in someone who can knock the ****ing ball through the ******* uprights!”?

[AlexGreen#20]

25 minutes ago, Uffdaswede said:

It’s funny how the game evolved from one guy being a position player plus kicker to every team needing this one not-quite-a-football-player guy to kick a ball through the uprights from half a field’s distance.

How do football coaches coach a guy up when what they do is so different from the rest of the game? Is Bisaccia looking at film and saying “You’re plant foot is turned too far left by 15 degrees”, or does he say “Figure it the **** out or we are bringing in someone who can knock the ****ing ball through the ******* uprights!”?

Little bit of both

[thrILL!]

3 hours ago, {Family Ghost} said:

You can't let a guy go out at a 70 percent fg clip in this day and age. 

60% on PATs so far this preseason.

[Zycho32]

Kicking Stats are so freaking screwy and torqued by bad days that anyone trying to make use of a sample size to make their point should wear one of those dog shock collars.

[Lodestar]

His first miss looked like what happens when you hit 0 on the Madden kicking meter

[Old Guy]

11 hours ago, Arthur Penske said:

Definitely not Josh Jackson’s…

Who I was very excited about when we drafted him. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Old Guy