It’s been a painful few weeks in the Boston sports scene of which we are all a part.
Teams from Florida have come out of the paneling like ghosts in all our Game 7s.
But the hideous, nasty kind that haunt your nightmares and straight up murder you in your sleep.
The Red Sox, meanwhile, exist.
So for today at least, we get to turn our lonely eyes to Day 1 of Patriots OTAs.
Which is to say, what would’ve been Day 3if Joe Judge had any sense of time.
With Duckboats, God willing.
I don’t want any undo praise.
Don’t call me a hero.
I just take on this selfless duty in the hopes my sacrifice inspires others to pay it forward.
The day began with the rare - for this time of year - Belichick presser.
It was one of those days where he’s in good spirits.
Even while he squished all questions about Joe Judge’s screw up under his heel like roaches.
Even joked at one point about how missing those two practices made for a nice long weekend.
And he got in his lobligatory metaphor about laying a foundation they can build on going forward.
“I wouldn’t say it’s starting from scratch,” he said.
I know we’re best friends and all.
But these other people have questions and there’s a practice to get to."
At least that’s how I remember it.
I’ll cop to that.
To the point of obviousness.
It’s more finely tuned.
Particularly when they were running 11-on-11s.
Under Matt Patricia, those moments might have happened occasionally, but they were rare as Sasquatch sightings.
–O’Brien is operating more or less autonomously.
This offense is his fiefdom.
And he’s its benign dictator, very much in charge.
–There’s also no doubt (so far) about who the QB1 is.
And if he made a bad throw, I didn’t see it.
How they utilize him is going to be one the most interesting stories of camp.
And probably all season.
That’s a total fiction.
But I might have been thinking it, if Jones wasn’t.
I pretty much spent the practice studying Zappe for signs that being recognized by McLovin went to his head.
–As far as the new offensive veterans, Gesicki was very much involved.
But Juju Smith-Schuster didn’t participate.
But he’s 29 and probably needs to have a great summer to win the job.
–As far as the rookies, there’s not a ton to report at this point.
Second pick Keion White looked fine, once you realized he’s the No.
51 in short sleeves and that’s Ronnie Perkins in the No.
–There were a couple of rookies I did get real first impressions of.
Beginning with guard Antonio Mafi out of UCLA.
He’s listed as 6-3, 329 pounds, and looks it.
There aren’t enough “c"s in “thicc” to describe him.
The other rookie pick who impressed is kicker Chad Ryland.
This had better be a sign of things to come.
Damn, it’s good to be back.
