August 6th, 2007
Around practice
Posted by
Albert Breer at 8:52 pm
The Patriots are finishing up their stadium practice with 16,247 fans, with G Billy Yates the only casualty, having suffered an injury which forced him from the action. Here’s more. …
– RB
Laurence Maroney took part in padded 11-on-11s for the first time in camp, and it continues to look like the team is simply being cautious by hanging the red jersey on him. He look swift and agile, and on one play in particular showed all of it. From here, it looked like a mid-zone call. Maroney cut up underneath the right tackle, and had
Oscar Lua one-on-one in the B gap. He shook his shoulders, freezing Lua, then slashed out to the C gap, where the tight end had a seal on the outside linebacker and burst into the open field. It looked like Maroney was 10 yards upfield by the time Lua even knew what happened.
– Early in practice, the team broke off into goal-line work, with the receivers and DBs going to do one-on-ones on the far end of the field, with QBs
Matt Cassel and
Matt Gutierrez going with them.
Tom Brady went to run the first-team goal-line offense, and that’s where the team’s lack of depth at tight end came clear.
Benjamin Watson was joined by roster long-shot
Matt Kranchick in the jumbo formation, and
Heath Evans even took a few snaps. For one reason or another,
Garrett Mills didn’t see much action there. In the chances they’ve gotten, both Kranchick and Mills have struggled holding on to the ball, and the former hasn’t done much to help his cause in blitz pick-up work.
– QB
Matt Cassel looked a little rough around the edges today working with the first offense. Part of it was the absence of a ton of receivers, leaving
Reche Caldwell,
Jabar Gaffney and
Wes Welker in a rotation with
Bam Childress and
Kelvin Kight. But another part is that he seems to indecisive and gunshy at times. When assured, he’s got the arm strength and touch to make the throws. It’s simply a matter of him making the right decision quickly and unloading the ball.
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