The Patriots offense has gone through some challenging training camps in the last few summers, which served as early warning signs of difficult seasons on that side of the ball.
Although one training camp practice doesn't make a season successful, Friday's two-hour session on a wicked hot summer day in Foxborough was as inspiring as any we've seen in recent memory. Current starter Jacoby Brissett threw the ball well, surrounded by WR DeMario Douglas, TE Hunter Henry, veteran wideout K.J. Osborn, and a combination of other projected regulars. Along the offensive line, New England rolled with LT Vederian Lowe, LG Sidy Sow, C David Andrews, RG Mike Onwenu, and RT Chuks Okorafor (and some late reps for Calvin Anderson).
In the first 11-on-11 period, Brissett led the offense down the field with completions to Antonio Gibson and Austin Hooper. Brissett connected with Hooper near the goal line on a flood concept, where a flat and Hooper's corner route high-lowed the boundary zone coverage, and Brissett layered the pass between the zone defenders.
Then, Douglas came alive in an 11-play drive. Brissett moved the chains on a well-placed out route to Douglas after hitting Hunter Henry over the middle. After the defense made a few stops, there was time for one last play. Brissett dotted a throw to Douglas, who lost the man coverage with an explosive release, to cap off the drive with a touchdown.
"Big emphasis on two-minute today. You hope you don't have to go 11 plays, but guys are just battling through adversity," Brissett said. "Guys making plays in the end. Those are things we are going to need throughout the season. Lot of guys on that drive stepped up."
To Brissett's point, the touchdown drive in the two-minute drill did have a few snafus. There was at least one false start penalty, and the time between plays dragged a bit—in real-time, the starting offense was out there a while. Still, you can't argue with the play execution itself.
It's not unusual for offensive coaches in the West Coast system, like offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, to prioritize execution over efficiency in practice. Compared to a Belichick practice, there are fewer plays, while Friday was the first real situational period where the objective was to string a game-like drive together.
There's also the added context that the defense was missing multiple starters, with safety Jabrill Peppers (limited), CB Marcus Jones, and DT Christian Barmore (blood clots) unavailable. Although we all want to see progress from the offense, some might read this as a reason to panic about the defense. It's fair to question the pass-rush talent without Barmore and the Pats cornerback depth behind starting duo Christian Gonzalez and Jonathan Jones.
Based on league-wide analysis, which sometimes is off-base, the Patriots aren't expected to have a dynamic receiving corps, while the offensive line might not be a strong suit either. On Friday, the quarterbacks had time to deliver to open receivers downfield, so what gives on defense?
From this perspective, the secondary should come together when their starting safety tandem of Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers is out there. However, the loss of Barmore, who gave them a legit interior presence to play off Judon, has been felt in the three fully padded practices.
Offensively, these early signs of progress are encouraging regardless of what's going on defensively. Brissett looks like a competent bridge quarterback with good command, aggressiveness, and downfield accuracy. Plus, the supporting cast is showing better than anticipated, which is good news for when it's Drake Maye's time.
Here are noteworthy quotes and practice observations on the rest of the Patriots quarterbacks:
1. QB Drake Maye Discusses Progress in First Week of Padded Practices
Earlier this week, there were reports that Maye had a few uneven days in his first taste of fully padded practices at the NFL level.
On the one hand, Maye had a bumpy first two days in pads. Objectively speaking, he looked like a rookie on Monday and Tuesday. The game seemed to be moving fast for him, while we still aren't seeing the downfield aggressiveness that's all over his college film.
The third-overall pick had a bounce-back day on Thursday and was solid in Friday's practice. Following the session, Maye provided some interesting context to his struggles earlier in the week and discussed how he's building toward being more aggressive in making downfield throws.
"We come out here on Monday for the first day in pads, we do third and long. Third and long in the NFL is tough. The defense does a good job," Maye said about his practice performance earlier in the week. "Just don't make the same mistake over and over."
Maye noting that the situation, third-and-long, put the offense at a disadvantage is why training camp stats charted by reporters don't always tell the whole story. On average, even the best NFL offenses only convert roughly 30-35% of third-and-long attempts. Although it will come up in games, it's not a situation you want to be in as an offense.
That said, there are lessons to be learned for Maye, who admitted he wants to air it out more in practice. From this perspective, the rookie is a tad hesitant at times, double-clutching on some instances and being a beat late on a few reads, which is to be expected for a rookie at this stage.
"We had a shot today, and the defense dropped out into cover two. Don't want to throw a shot against cover two," Maye said. "Just trying to be smart with it. I throw the ball well down the field. I still don't really feel like I've aired it out yet. But I think it's coming."
To be clear, Maye has moments where his noticeably impressive physical tools shine. On Friday, he hit tight end La'Michael Pettway with perfect anticipation in the corner of the end zone during 7-on-7. Then, in full team drills, he had back-to-back positive plays with a deep curl route off under-center play-action followed by leading Baker on a crosser over the middle. Maye also had a strong Thursday practice in shorts and shells, connecting downfield on a corner route with TE Mitchell Wilcox and checking the Pats offense into a screen to beat a zero blitz.
The rookie told reporters that his focus is on executing the little things, like timing his footwork up with the routes to play in rhythm and getting the offense in and out of plays with good cadence. From this vantage point, it is more the nuances of the position than any shortcomings with Maye's physical abilities that have led to some ups and downs, which will hopefully improve over time with more reps.
2. Rookie Joe Milton Gets Limited Third Quarterback Reps on Friday
Behind the current starter and third-overall pick are two more quarterbacks on the Patriots roster trying to make the most of their limited practice reps.
In a two-hour session, sixth-rounder Joe Milton was the only other quarterback to take a rep besides Brissett and Maye, and the rookie from Tennessee only got three snaps in 11-on-11s. Third-year QB Bailey Zappe, who started four games for the Patriots in 2023, got zero reps in team drills on Friday. With only so many reps, we might be getting to the point in the summer where the starter (Brissett) and the future (Maye) will dominate the reps.
Milton didn't attempt a competitive pass in his three 11-on-11 reps, with a would-be sack (Armon Watts), a scramble while under pressure, and a gun run (might've been an RPO). In practice, it might be slim pickings for Milton and Zappe, who will get chances in the preseason games.
The lack of reps should also put any debates about Milton starting over Brissett or Maye to bed. People with boots on the ground, like yours truly, can tell you that's not happening.
3. Bailey Zappe Discusses Advantages of the Alex Van Pelt Offense
As mentioned, Zappe did not see any competitive reps in team periods after getting some 11-on-11 work in Thursday's practice. However, the third-year quarterback gave an interesting answer to Patriots.com about what he likes about operating in Alex Van Pelt's offense.
"He doesn't make it hard on you," Zappe said. "We are going out there, and we are playing football. We aren't thinking about the 100 different things that could possibly happen to us. For all us quarterbacks, I think we are able to play faster."
Zappe described Van Pelt's system for quarterbacks quite differently from the offense the Patriots ran under Belichick. That system typically put the quarterback in the driver's seat, giving them the responsibility of setting the offense at the line of scrimmage to run a good play. In that sense, Van Pelt's system is more QB-friendly, with one key difference being that centers handle protection calls instead of quarterbacks.
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