Jerome Solomon of the Boston Globe and Michael Felger of the Boston Herald both offer stories on Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Brady has been unusually frustrated with progression of the offense thus far in training camp. "I think as a team we've been very inconsistent, and the quarterback position's been very inconsistent, and that starts with me," said Brady after yesterday morning's workout. "The decision-making sometimes has been pretty good; other times not so good. I've missing some open receivers downfield. I would like to think that I could hit more of those. "It ends up with a few sleepless nights." Solomon also notes that Bill Belichick during a press conference yesterday compared Tom Brady to Bernie Kosar as far as mental awareness.
Michael Felger of the Boston Herald writes that Patriots linebacker Rosevelt Colvin has taken virtually every first-team rep since friday when training camp started. Colvin looks to be very close to 100% this season as he was still recovering from a hip injury received two years ago. With Mike Vrabel taking reps at inside linebacker, Colvin looks to be a big factor this season on the outside. "I don't have to push to get out of bed in the morning anymore," Colvin said yesterday. "I don't have to get in the ice tub after every practice. I'm not limping in-between every rep, or tying to push through every rep. I can focus on football, and I think that's beneficial to me and the defense. Because now you don't have a guy that's out there not full-speed.''
Tom Curran of the Providence Journal takes a look at Patriots linebacker Matt Chatham.
Patriots wide receiver Bam Childress may be this years camp sleeper reports Tom Curran of the Providence Journal. Childress has opened a lot of eyes thus far in camp. "That guy's all right. And he wants to learn. Sometimes a guy sits there and asks questions all day, sometimes you think he's a nag. But a guy who really wants to learn and work, you really want to teach guys like that, and he's one of those guys. When he came in, everybody probably looked and said, 'This guy's chances of making the team are slim.' But this guy comes onto the field and displays this for our coaches and he'll have a home," said Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch of Childress.
Alan Greenberg of the Hartford Courant offers a story about the Patriots special teams squad. Greenberg writes that Bill Belichick during yesterdays press conference spoke of special teams as a path to greater opportunities for both defensive and offensive players. "A lot of times, players who are primarily special team players actually create more opportunity for themselves on offense or defense because of their special teams ability, because as a coach, you know they're always going to the game," Belichick said. "You know you have to have them. ... play in the kicking game. So that creates opportunities for them. ... And there's some players that never figure that out. They say, `Well, I'm a better defensive player than somebody else. Yeah, but you're not at the game. We can't count on you. You're not good enough on special teams to be on the 45-man roster on Sundays. So how can we develop a defensive role for you when you haven't shown enough versatility to play in the kicking game to warrant that? The sooner younger players understand that, the better off they'll be. Some players have never figured that out, and will never figure that out and a lot of them are out of the league," said Belichick.
Tom Curran of the Providence Journal now offers a daily Patriots blog.
Eric McHugh of the Patriot Ledger reports that cornerback Randal Gay was one of the beneficiaries of the NFL's three-year-old "performance-based pay" system. Gay received a check from the league for $145,000 to supplement his $230,000 salary based on his performance as a 12 game starter for the Patriots last season.
