Isaac

Finally made it to the Patriots training camp, a successful pilgrimage. I annually go to the Redskins camp, living in DC, so I'll start with the contrast, which is stark. First off, the set-up is so much more fan friendly. At the skins camp, the crowds just stand around---the bleachers and grassy area at Patriots camp (finally know what Mrs. B is talking about) is great. Also the vending area is so much nicer. Misting tent was much appreciated. More importantly, the practice itself was night and day. Spurrier's camps were laughable, Gibbs' camps are more organized, Belichick's are another level up. My wife said it made the skins camp look like a 13-year-old soccer practice. There were lots of things the skins don't have like down markers and period clocks. But the real difference is the attitude and seriousness among the players and coaches. They are there to get something accomplished, running between periods, focusing, watching, encouraging each other. Another major difference I observed was the amount of talking among the defense, it was a babel of communication.

Other observations:
- They couldn't have walked any slower coming onto the field, it was ~100 degrees. Reche Caldwell was first one out there (guy's got some serious calves). Saw Chad Jackson getting some footwork coaching (nice old school hair on Chad).
- Crowd was pretty sparse.
- There was no applause when the players took the field or started, nor one at the end---I thought that was odd. Maybe it was the sparse crowd but the one thing about the skins camp is that the crowd is much more vocal/supportive, not just reactive. Some regulars ought to start an opening applause tradition if there isn't one---give these guys some love!
- Players were in shells, little contact, no hitting (oh well).
- They don't seem to take stretching all that serious, inconsistent on technique and some players weren't doing it much. I guess the coaches don't stress it much.
- The practice was shortened to 1:30 due to the heat (I guess), and Bramlett and Mortenson barely got any reps, not even during the offense only drills. I don't know if they get more during a longer practice, if not they are in trouble if they play in the preseason.
- Brady was the loudest guy on the field when he wasn't in there, screaming encouragement to the offense after good plays.
- Watched Ellis Hobbs jam Chad Jackson and Jackson slipped to the ground in a heap (helped by Hobbs). Hope Chad learns to handle the press better than that! Otherwise Chad didn't do anything so special, he looked like a rookie, not bad, just nothing impressive. Reche Caldwell did look good.
- As every other camp report mentions, Ben Watson was catching 1 out of 3 balls when in there.
- Team worked on a trick play---direct snaps to running back---a few in a row. One time Brady was telling a receiver what to do when the ball was snapped.
- Cassell yelled at Childress (I think) on one play about lining up wrong (told him just to stay there). Needs to work on the pitch in his voice (a bit high), but otherwise seemed he was confident he was right.
- Josh Miller was on the 2nd (or 3rd) kickoff coverage unit. Don't know why---seems like there'd be enough scrubs to cover it, maybe they just like to see him do something. He asked the fans how we were doing, didn't get much of a response. He was offsides every time.
- Vrable picked up a squib kickoff, ran backwards, was in total no man's land, yelled "oh *****", which got a rise out of the crowd, and then lateralled. Few could have gotten away with that besides Vrable.
- Bam Childress ran backwards after catching a pass and then did some push-ups, not sure if it was for running backwards. Pretty wimpy push-ups too (if you're gonna do 'em...). No way that guy is 5'10", as listed on roster.
- During sprints Belichick was yelling at them to bank it. Matt Light set the pace of the OL and got a compliment from BB. Good to see Dante running with the OL. Brady was yelling encouragement for everyone to keep running through the line, but then he (and Dillon) were the last to cross. Brady didn't look like he was 100% when running, perhaps related to the knee brace and his recent days off.
- At the end of practice Ivan Fears came over and brought his son along with ~6 friends on the field. They got to meet Belichick, chatted for a few minutes. Then Belichick went over to the bleacers to sign for a few minutes. He seemed like he was in a pretty good mood. I think he likes camp.
- Tight ends signed, they seemed pretty relaxed, still there when we left after ~20 minutes. (Again big contrast with skins camp where the players sign for maybe 10 minutes and it's a scramble to get one, though the sparse crowds did make it easy.) I asked Dave Thomas how he likes being a Patriot, said it's been great so far.

That's all I recall for now. It was awesome being there---those guys are all business.

Isaac

Yikes, what happened! Sorry about multiple threads, moderator please delete if possible! I'm at a coffee shop computer, must be something funny on this thing!

T-ShirtDynasty

Slowly, step away from the double espresso.

PATSNUTme

This is going to require a very dangerous thread merge. Using good technique will be the key.

Lets hope that whoever does this can get through it without injury.

BTW, Issac, good post. I'll be heading down next week to my first ever TC visit at Gillette. I wonder if the old restraining order still applies.

Murphys95

Great post Isaac!

One other contrast between Pats and Skins - Kraft has never charged the fans to attend training camp.

Mike the Brit

Nice report, Isaac.

Good point about the opening cheer. I guess one reason might be that spectators recognize that they're being allowed to watch behind-the-scenes work, not a public performance put on for their benefit, but still ...

I was really worried by what you said about stretching. Someone was talking (in our off-season thread about injuries, I think) about how NFL teams were very serious about stretching and some employ their own yoga coaches. I'm unhappy to think that our Patriots aren't one of them.

Being a new convert to yoga myself, I'm starting to appreciate how much difference good stretches and posture excercises make to anybody, and I think that this is especially true for people who are very heavily developed and muscle-bound and who do explosive, compressive exercise.

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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

kptmorgan04

thanks for the update. It was interesting to me to see/read the differences between one camp to another as I have only been to two Patriots practices, one this year and one last... both at Foxboro obviously. but have always been impressed at the clockwork style that they run practice without anything to compare it to.

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Box_O_Rocks

EXCELLENT!!!!

Thanks for the real world update on Chad Jackson, Bam Childress, and Matt Cassel - nice to hear how they are fitting in.

Keep it up and you'll steal Mrs. B's crown.

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MrBigglesWorth

Great post. Always great to see how other camps compared. It's pretty amazing how everyone gets where they are suppsoe to be. People say a baseball is the hardest thing in sports to do, but I always thought getting 11 players on the same page in unison ranked up there.

I was present at the opening day training camp and was watching the stretching, Asante spent half the time chatting with Eugene doing minimal stretching. No coaches said anything. I was also thinking Asante is not a muscle bound guy either, maybe they warm up and stretch inside. Peter King had a great article on Jeremiah Trotter lifting weights before the camp session starts. So who knows what they do prior, maybe some stretch, some don't.

Bostonian1962

Isaac,

Great post. Best camp review I've seen to date, and no disrespect is intended to anybody else. Great job!

It's hot here in D.C., as I'm sure it was in Foxboro.

Bob