Fan's view: Hits and misses at Pats' practice
By Daniel Priest |
PUBLISHED: August 15, 2018 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: July 11, 2019 at 12:00 am
FOXBORO — Tuesday afternoon on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium the New England Patriots held their final open-to-the-public training camp practice of the 2018 season. Despite the heat and potential for rain thousands of fans still packed the stands for their last glimpse of the team in a practice setting.
The session was a non-contact one, but the team still got a lot of work in. Here's what stood out on Tuesday:
Rookie punter Corey Bojorquez was the first Patriot to report to the field prior to the 1 o'clock start of practice. He still finds himself in a battle with Ryan Allen for the punter job, but he came out early and got some extra kicks in.
Bojorquez certainly has a big leg, he kicked a couple of punts that were 70 to 80 yards in distance, but he will have to work on his ball accuracy and placement to have a shot at beating out Allen.
Stephen Gostkowski was his usual self. The team opened up practice working on their onside kicks which Gostkowski handled well. He also made a field goal as time expired in the Patriots' two-minute offense drill.
Returning duties on both kickoffs and punts for New England are up in the air right now. Julian Edelman typically handles punt duties, but he is on the shelf due to his suspension for the first four games. Cordarrelle Patterson has been a return specialist his entire career, but he did not take a rep on Tuesday fielding either kickoffs or punts.
During practice Chris Hogan, Julian Edelman, Braxton Berrios, Riley McCarron, Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty and Cyrus Jones all had cracks at fielding punts or kickoffs. The Patriots deployed Rob Gronkowski, Edelman, Hogan, Chung and Jacob Hollister on their hands team for onside kicks.
As has been the story for much of camp Stephon Gilmore shined Tuesday. In 1-on-1's Gilmore played perfect coverage on Edelman, but was beaten by a great throw. He followed that with pass breakups when covering Chris Hogan and Patterson. It's pretty clear from watching that Gilmore is a step above the other DBs on the field.
Eric Rowe struggled at times in the 1-on-1s. He was left in the dust by Edelman a few times and did not record any pass breakups. Jonathan Jones recorded a pass break up in 11-on-11 on a ball intended for Gronkowski.
Jason McCourty also had an impressive day in coverage. He broke up a pass in the end zone that was intended for Gronk while the team was working on their red zone sets. McCourty continues to show his potential to be a plus addition to the defense.
Tom Brady looked sharp and healthy on the afternoon. He had good timing on his throws and threw some nice deep balls, unfortunately his receivers did not always catch them. Edelman, Hogan, Devin Lucien and Phillip Dorsett all dropped passes.
Dorsett in particular was polarizing. He had a couple of nice diving catches in 1-on-1's and he also hauled in a deep ball from Brady in 11-on-11. Then a play later in 11s he dropped a sure-fire touchdown in the end zone on another deep look from Brady.
James White handled the majority of the pass catching duties out of the backfield and Mike Gillislee took the carries. Sony Michel did not participate and Jeremy Hill did not receive any reps. Decker and Patterson spent the majority of their time with the second team offense .
About an hour into practice rookie Trent Harris walked off the field accompanied by two trainers and did not return. Harris recorded a strip sack in the Patriots' first preseason game against the Redskins.
Phillip Dorsett went down during 11-on-11 but was able to walk off the field under his own power. He put his helmet back on, but did not return to action for the rest of practice.
Trent Brown had to run a suicide after he committed a false start during an 11-on-11 session. No other Patriot had to face disciplinary measures on the day.
Team owner Robert Kraft came out onto the field with about 45 minutes remaining in practice. He was greeted with some cheers from the crowd and had a brief chat with defensive end Derek Rivers and an assistant coach before making his way under a tent with some fans.
Some Bruins came out to watch practice on Tuesday. Charlie McAvoy, Ryan Donato, Chris Wagner and Matt Grzelcyk were all in attendance for the session.
Daniel Priest
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