Should we call it "Air Kraft One?"
With all their offseason acquisitions, the Patriots just might have the best aerial attack in the league… on and off the field. According to ESPN, New England is the first NFL team to purchase a fleet of airplanes. The report even offers a photograph of a custom painted Patriots plane sitting in a hangar.
"The reigning Super Bowl champions bought two 767 Boeing wide-body jets in the offseason and retrofitted them with all first-class seats, some of which recline completely," the story asserts, among other interesting details.
Meanwhile, back on the ground, Patriots training camp continues today with a walkthrough with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's closed to the public, but media are allowed to report on it. We'll have more on that for you here on patriots.com later in the day.
As far as what happened yesterday at joint practices, you need go nowhere else but this website for the best, most thorough, and most accurate coverage of Patriots camp, from written pieces to audio podcasts and video reports. However, some of our media counterparts have some noteworthy offerings as well.
In the Boston Herald, you'll find a human-interest column about Tom Brady's mother making a surprise appearance at camp.
"Flashing back six months, Brady wasn't sure if his mother was going to make it to Super Bowl LI. Her health was in serious question at the time. She had been undergoing cancer treatment which had kept her grounded the entire season," the story recalls. "Yesterday, she was up for a different challenge. The trip from California was a surprise belated birthday present for her son — and judging by the joy in Brady's face, it made his day."
How about this? Are you ready for a TB12 Talk Show? The Mass Live blog has info about Amazon possibly being interested.
Elsewhere, an* Attleboro Sun-Chronicle *feature declares that DE Trey Flowers is blossoming into a leadership role for the Patriots after the retirement of Rob Ninkovich.
"You understand that there's a lot of guys looking up to you and you've got the most experience as far as on the team, in the D-end room, out of a lot of guys," he said. "But I'm still learning, so I'm all ears. It's not like I know everything that Rob knew now. I'm still learning, but it's definitely one of those roles that I anticipate stepping into, and if they have any questions for me, I'm there to answer them."
On the other side of the ball, offensive lineman don't usually receive much attention, but the North Andover (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune provides a really nice feature about Patriots center David Andrews.
"I'm pretty happy," said Andrews. "Honestly, other than getting married, nothing has really changed. The contract [extension] is nice to have, but I've always treated this job like I have something to prove every day."
NESN.com examines the prospects of second-year QB Jacoby Brissett making the 53-man roster again this season. And on CSNNE.com, an interesting take on how the Dolphins' signing of QB Jay Cutler could affect Miami’s games versus New England this season.
Finally today… we don't want to get TOO far ahead of ourselves, but here's a quick peek at the Patriots’ 2018 opponents, courtesy an ESPN blog post.
