***THE OFFICIAL 2014 New England Patriots training camp thread***

mayoclinic said:

BB on RB James White:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000371908/article/bill-belichick-james-white-can-be-a-threedown-back

Definitely someone to watch.

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White has made an impression. Even Fears said "It's hard not to be in love with him" and Fears isn't usually the warm and cuddly type. The RB rotation will be very interesting.

reading this twitter feed is giving me a Boner hard core

@MarkDanielsPJ: Brady went 7/13 with an INT in 11v11s. Targets: Edelman (4), Thompkins (4), Amendola (2), Vereen, Williams, LaFell.

patsinthesnow said:

@MarkDanielsPJ: Brady went 7/13 with an INT in 11v11s. Targets: Edelman (4), Thompkins (4), Amendola (2), Vereen, Williams, LaFell.

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Clearly on the decline

Mark12 said:

Clearly on the decline

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hahaha this is going to be a defense team.

xlcjw72 said:

hahaha this is going to be a defense team.

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That's the plan, Tyrion. haha

Brit patriot said:

Seems Jimmy G really is a work in progress. Good job we didn't trade Mallett

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Despite the opinions of some detractors BB is no fool. We now know that it wasn't great enough offers from other clubs, but BB's unwillingness to weaken the Pats and trade a fully groomed Mallett, that probably prevented any movement.

Garapollo may be the next QB, but he comes from a very low level of football and needs lost and lots of TLC before he is ready. Mallett's mere presence allowed BB to descend to that low level of football, and select an eventual potential starter, but very raw talent.

I don't know why Garapollo's rawness should surprise any body, but it surely did. There were even a few who thought he could play as a rookie. When BB took him, BB violated his own often repeated dictum about using high picks on only products of big-time collegiate football.

Some notes from today's practice...

http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports...is-shines-as-patriots-defense-asserts-itself/

– The highlight of the morning likely came late in the 11-on-11 drills. With the Patriots offense working at their own 1-yard line, quarterback Tom Brady dropped back and zipped a pass over the middle. Cornerback Darrelle Revis stepped in front of the pass and took it back roughly six yards for the score. The play drew a big cheer from the crowd, as well as the rest of the defense. Later in the same series of drills, the defense bottled up running back Stevan Ridley in a goal-line drill — the defense was cleared fired up.

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– Marcus Cannon was getting a lot of work at right guard with what appeared to be a reasonable facsimile of the starting offensive line. Last year’s starting right guard Dan Connolly got a lot of work at center, likely giving Ryan Wendell a bit of a rest because Stork wasn’t on the field.

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– In 11-on-11s, at the end of a Brady pass for James White, the rookie busted into the secondary and got popped by Revis, drawing a cheer from the crowd. In the same series of drills, Ryan Mallett found Shane Vereen out of the backfield, and the running back took off down the sideline for the end zone on a crisply executed play.

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And for those of you (like me) who are rooting hard for Justin Jones...

– The 6-foot-8, 275-pound Justin Jones is a massive and intriguing presence at tight end. He’s not the fastest guy in the world, but he presents himself as a massive target, and when a quarterback is able to get the ball in his general vicinity, he makes the catch. (He dropped a laser from Mallett in 7-on-7 drills Thursday morning.) He made a great catch in the back of the end zone in 11-on-11 drills on a ball from Mallett. While he’s probably behind D.J. Williams on the depth chart at this point in the summer, Jones is certainly one to watch as the preseason and camp continues.

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patsinthesnow said:

@MarkDanielsPJ: Brady went 7/13 with an INT in 11v11s. Targets: Edelman (4), Thompkins (4), Amendola (2), Vereen, Williams, LaFell.

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Well there isn't gronk or Dobson there, and he is going up against a stellar secondary so that's not bad

Well people getting all excited about Connolly supplanting Wendell some bad news. Wendell returned to center with the 1st group. Connolly went to the second group (no idea if at C or RG).

They should have taken cj fiedorowicz instead of jimmy g. It's early, but CJ is looking promising in houston.

Revis is dirty huh? Always in theright place

patsinthesnow said:

@MikeReiss: Darrelle Revis with the pick-6 of Tom Brady as offense works on situational football backed up at own 2. Thompkins intended WR.

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This is where BB's greatness as a coach will come to the fore when he explains to Brady that no, THIS is not the way to outdo Peyton Manning.

I love all the positive talk about the defense, but I cannot get a true sense of what the real state of this team is right now. Is the defense nearly as good as advertised. Is the offense struggling a bit without Gronk and Dobson? Is the defense just lights out and offense is hard to judge because they are going against a stacked defense without two of their best weapons?

I can't wait for the intrasquad practice next week to get a better pulse on the team. Even then, we really won't know until the season starts.

I'm in the camp that says no Gronk (= no pass catching threat from TE) and no Dobs puts an avg receiving corps against a strong defensive backfield (e.g. Revis)

Rob0729 said:

I love all the positive talk about the defense, but I cannot get a true sense of what the real state of this team is right now. Is the defense nearly as good as advertised. Is the offense struggling a bit without Gronk and Dobson? Is the defense just lights out and offense is hard to judge because they are going against a stacked defense without two of their best weapons?

I can't wait for the intrasquad practice next week to get a better pulse on the team. Even then, we really won't know until the season starts.

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Brady has been doing ok but that's without gronk that is almost unstoppable and Dobson who was clicking before his injury. When you get those 2 back they will improve the offense

I'd like to know who was at fault for the Brady INT.

Deus Irae said:

I'd like to know who was at fault for the Brady INT.

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My vote is Revis.

JMC00 said:

Well people getting all excited about Connolly supplanting Wendell some bad news. Wendell returned to center with the 1st group. Connolly went to the second group (no idea if at C or RG).

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Do you have a link for that? A report up above had Connolly with the 1's. I'm sure in an ideal world the team would like one of the cheaper guys to earn the starting position, but based on Wendell's play last year and Stork being out, I want Connolly in there with the 1's.

BradyManny said:

Do you have a link for that? A report up above had Connolly with the 1's. I'm sure in an ideal world the team would like one of the cheaper guys to earn the starting position, but based on Wendell's play last year and Stork being out, I want Connolly in there with the 1's.

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Any sane Patriots fan wants Connolly at center with the 1's. Unless you're a big fan of consistent A-Gap pressure on our franchise pocket passer, you have to hope that Wendell is out of the starting job when the 2014 season rolls around.