And so it begins.
We’ve finally reached that nexus point of where Still Summer meets Not Quite Football Season.
I think “hero” is too strong a word.
But go ahead and use it.
You’ll get no argument from me.
Some random observations:
–Today was the second practice of Camp: 2023.
He might as well have introduced a special guest appearance by David Tyree and just finished me altogether.
But they were just here for the football practice.
An unpadded, shorts & shells workout conforming with the collectively bargained wishes of the NFLPA.
The Patriots are still the biggest thing in this area.
And it’s not any closer than it was in 2002-19.
–Another positive first look belongs to the sexiest free agent acquisition of the offseason, Juju Smith-Schuster.
So that counts for even more.
–Between the lines, it’s been two days of mostly red zone and special teams work.
Practice started with the entire squad running sprints around a complex set of cones.
But it looked somewhere between aSurvivorchallenge, the Westminster Kennel Show andSquid Games.
And will probably be outlawed by the next CBA.
Think of it as theOppenheimervs.Barbiedilemma that defines your personality.
And all that was carried over into the regular season on the back of Matt Patricia.
So I’m not prepared to get burnt again.
Let’s just split the baby and say Bill O’Brien has a lot of work ahead of him.
–Generally speaking, the passing lanes haven’t been open.
There were good and bad moments.
But then a few plays later, Gonzalez broke up a TD to Juju along the back line.
Then Jones broke the tie by hitting Smith-Schuster at the pylon for another score.
So a mixed bag, as you’d expect.
As such, he’s the boundary corner lining up against the WR1 on pretty much every down.
1 assignment that comes with it - is Gonzalez' to lose.
–As for Bailey Zappe, more of the same.
I really am disgusted with myself.
At the way he’s looked in this camp and OTAs, I might not get another chance.)
At one point he bounced a throw from a soft pocket from about the 7.
It pains me to say this, but I haven’t seen flashes of anything positive from him.
–The Pats PR staff does a great job in all respects.
It’s not an easy task under the best of circumstances.
But it’s damned near impossible given whom they’re working with.
Today he spent quite a while talking to some gentleman in cargo shorts that went down below his knees.
–Good job by the staff for this, definitely.
They recognize a clear and present danger when they see one.
–Getting back to special teams, a few things jump out.
One is that both rookies they drafted - K Chad Ryland and P Bryce Baringer - have monster legs.
It would take a miracle for anyone to replace Jones, given his performance as a rookie.
But I guess if it was good enough for Julian Edelman, there are no sacred cows.
This is already way longer than it should be.
There’ll be plenty more where this came from.
