Patriots 2013 Training Camp (Day Nine, Mon Aug 5)

[Brady6]

Brady6, I'd like to thank you personally for your service to our country. When I'm in Boston in October, If I ran into you, I'd buy you a drink. You're a good person who chose to protect our country and way of life. And it must be incredibly tough for a good person to have to do what you had to do. Once again, Thanks.

Thank you brother; I appreciate the sincere and kind words, I was glad to serve and I'm proud to be a member of the greatest country :americaflag: in the world.

 

[Brady6]

Two things that stand out to me based on this report:

1) The TE situation seems to be taking shape, at least as much as it can prior to any games. Hooman is in his own rotation in a way as the H-Back, filling both a TE and FB type role. The more traditional tight ends are Fells, Sudfeld, and Ballard and right now they seem to be in that order on the depth chart. I'm feeling pretty good about this group so far, though obviously getting Gronk back ASAP is a must.

2) The majority of the focus of media reports seems to be centered on the WR's and TE's (with good reason). The defense, though getting some attention, is flying a little under the radar... and for some reason, that makes me really excited to see what they can do.

This makes me wonder if it's a good idea to have Brady play this week against Phil? Any other year I'd say keep him out, but he does need some game action with these receivers.

■ The Patriots have lots of little dings and bruises, especially on the offensive line, and could have several rookies and third-stringers playing significant snaps with the starters this week in Philadelphia.

 

[PatsGuy]

Off -topic, but sign this beast!

Vince Wilfork High School Highlights - YouTube

# 75 in High School too.
Good pick-up!

 

[Mack Herron]

I hope that Dobson's ability to jump and maneuver will give us a triple-threat consistency in the red zone - 1. Gronk; 2. Ridley; 3. Dobson on the outside

Let's not forget our tallest receiver. Improved red zone threat.

Brady also dropped a gorgeous throw into TE Zach Sudfeld’s breadbasket on a deep corner throw to beat the Cover 2 defense.

TE Zach Sudfeld: Undrafted rookie is practicing almost exclusively with the starters now, and caught a Hail Mary pass during one of the drills.

Training camp Day 9 practice report - Extra Points - Boston.com

 

[JackBauer]

Let's not forget our tallest receiver. Improved red zone threat.



Training camp Day 9 practice report - Extra Points - Boston.com

Would be pretty wild to have 2 UDFA rookie starters on offense, if that's how it shakes out.

 

[chasa]

This makes me wonder if it's a good idea to have Brady play this week against Phil? Any other year I'd say keep him out, but he does need some game action with these receivers.

■ The Patriots have lots of little dings and bruises, especially on the offensive line, and could have several rookies and third-stringers playing significant snaps with the starters this week in Philadelphia.

I wouldn't expect to see more then 1 series of brady and the starters in any of the preseason games.

 

[ATippett56]

If he's catching Tebow's passes, it means he has GREAT hands ;-)

or a great gardener.

 

[ATippett56]

1) His current injury really is very minor and has no bearing on his Ras-IR/Glass-I* standing

* There seems to be a bit of a Patsfans schism developing between Ras-IR and Glass-I. We need mediation soon before this develops into a fully blown civil war.

Glass-IR has been utilized quite often.

Now Gasp-IR would be new.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Is Sudfeld's ceiling as a receiving threat worth starting over mediocre Hooman/Fells (and glass Ballard) week 1, even if he's not ready as a blocker?

 

[Mack Herron]

Is Sudfeld's ceiling as a receiving threat worth starting over mediocre Hooman/Fells (and glass Ballard) week 1, even if he's not ready as a blocker?

Seems possible. Fells said to be #1 right now. Hooman was not much of a blocker either, nor was Hernandez.

Daily training camp overreaction: Zach Sudfeld ready to replace injured Rob Gronkowski - Going Deep - Boston.com

 

[Kontradiction]

Is Sudfeld's ceiling as a receiving threat worth starting over mediocre Hooman/Fells (and glass Ballard) week 1, even if he's not ready as a blocker?

The problem with this thought process is that we have no idea what his ceiling is as a receiving threat. We haven't actually seen him in competitive action in this league yet outside of some 11 on 11 and various drills. I'd like to see him go against the ones in preseason to really guage where he's at before I'm even able to answer that question.

 

[ATippett56]

Don't know who was playing at the OT positions at the time, but remember the first half carnage that Seattle wreaked on that OL last year? If this injury makes that a more common proposition, top offense might be a little further off.

Green Bay Packers have experienced tough luck at the offensive tackle position:

Derek Sherrod - Green Bay Packers - 2013 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com

 

[ATippett56]

I got that wrong in the run up to the draft in that I was looking at the quicker guys and almost completely discounting the giants.

You are forgiven for that one.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Hey PWP. Quick question from a guy that has had ACL and meniscus replacement surgery ...

I see that you indicated Ballard has swelling in his knee. I haven't seen that yet and have only read a few articles indicating soreness:

• Jake Ballard dealing with knee soreness
• The Blitz with Jeff Howe & Karen Guregian | Boston Herald

Based on my experience in college with knees, if Ballard is having swelling, in addition to soreness, I seriously question his ability to make it back to the NFL with the Pats. Hope this isn't the case if he's the man for the job; but, swelling takes his recovery into a completely new area of concern.

PatsDog

I said swelling. The facts say soreness. So you can relax!

 

[Kontradiction]

You are forgiven for that one.

Yeah. I can remember debating with manx about that over the course of the offseason. No need to worry, man. We all get one wrong from time to time. I'm still waiting for my first wrong assertion about the team, myself.

 

[manxman2601]

Yeah. I can remember debating with manx about that over the course of the offseason. No need to worry, man. We all get one wrong from time to time. I'm still waiting for my first wrong assertion about the team, myself.

Me too Grasshopper

 

[ATippett56]

Yeah. I can remember debating with manx about that over the course of the offseason. No need to worry, man. We all get one wrong from time to time. I'm still waiting for my first wrong assertion about the team, myself.

Just poking fun at Manxman's college football prowess.

I have my fair share of college football player debates, as well.

 

[manxman2601]

Here's some football for you stick-in-the-muds:

Random stat: Up through the middle of November, 78 percent of Zach Sudfeld's receptions in 2012 were for first downs or touchdowns.

https://twitter.com/OliverBThomas/status/364499638134386689

It would be interesting to get some perspective on that. How does Tyler Eifert compare for example. Or starting NFL TEs. I suspect that TE's generally convert a lot of their receptions into first downs or TDs just by virtue of the position. Still sounds nice though.

 

[belichick010405]

Green Bay Packers have experienced tough luck at the offensive tackle position:

Derek Sherrod - Green Bay Packers - 2013 Player Profile - Rotoworld.com

There is a shot that Sherrod could be back sooner than later according to rotoworld....They are going to need him.

 

[Christiancat]

Well it was nice to get training camp updates, so hopefully we can keep them coming.

Yeah my friend Manx is allowed a mistake here and there none of us are perfect. What I will say is Manx is not only very knowledgeable about football, but he's one of the nicest posters too.


Anyways, back to the topic. Lets get some more updates about camp.