2017 Training Camp - Day 3 (7/29/17)

[Peachhead]

This is a great compilation. Hogan shook the sh*t out of Butler in the first clip. It still surprises me how well Gronk moves for a guy his size. He just shouldn't be that fast, but he is. Incredible. I can't think of three players in the league who are as elusive as Jules and he has that Barry Sanders-like stop on a dime thing going on. And Cooks is behind the defense often. He may not have the height of a Randy Moss, but he looks every bit as dangerous and a threat to take the top off the defense. The speed and acceleration is just not fair.

Gronk and the slot WRs are gonna have a lot of opportunities this year. With one CB running like hell to keep up with Cooks and one Safety always playing deep center field to try to stay over the top of Cooks.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

they can still put up a ton of points running 35 times game.

But sometimes they are running the ball because they already put up a ton of points. So hard to disentangle correlation and causality here.

 

[AtomicDawg]

I don't know why. But these training camp threads are virtually unreadable for me. Every embedded tweet is blank and says "loading tweet". It doesn't matter how long I wait for it to load. And I have no problem seeing embedded tweets elsewhere. Patsfans is whitelisted in my adblocker too.

That sucks. Sometimes when the Tweet is posted the person decides to delete it off the bat without warning. Perhaps that's part of the issue. Otherwise I'm not sure what else it could be. It works on any mobile device. Maybe try using one of those?

 

[patfanken]

Everyone will fall in love with this guy like I did. Loved looking into him and his game. Very humble guy.

I have no idea what kind of player Rivers is going to ultimately be this year or next, but that shot of him in that drill reminded me of a post draft clip someone found that had a draft nerd breaking down his game against a D1 foe.

It reminded me of what I was most impressed with in about all the stuff we saw from his college days. He plays with a great pad level. The shot you posted showed the same thing. His arms extended, and his head below that of the blocker.

Clearly he is very raw and lacks experience against top flight talent. That being said...you can add strength, learn techniques, gain experience, all over time. BUT when a kid this tall seems to natually play with great pad level, as a coach, you have solved one of the bigger issues players on the DL need to learn before they can succeed.

It is going to take a while and I hope we understand the need to be patient with him; but I think we are going to really like the end product.

 

[RobertWeathers]

But sometimes they are running the ball because they already put up a ton of points. So hard to disentangle correlation and causality here.

There is absolutely truth to that.

With that said my memory of those games with Morris healthy was while they scored 34-38 points a game, they were scored in a very balanced way.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Solid day at camp. Wish there was more 11 v 11 work & WR v CB. Didn't focus on OL/DL but Bedard wrote some good stuff on them.

3 Up

Edelman/Cooks - Crazy to think we have two #1 WRs & Gronk. Obvious but these two are so much better than the rest of the WRs. Edelman pretty much embarrasses any CB not named Butler & Cooks burned multiple CBs deep. They'll definitely be great compliments to each other. Love it.

Kenny Moore/Jordan Richards - Was curious to see the early camp hype UDFA. Moore's change of direction definitely showed. Only one day but eye test seemed like the 4th best CB after the big 3. Richards was everywhere today. He broke on the ball at the right time for a diving INT & showed good D against Gronk in the RZ. It's make or break time with him so that's good to see.

Eric Rowe - Just very physical at the LOS & showed good coverage down the field. The clear 3rd best CB at this point & it's easy to see his upside. They had Butler in the slot at some points with Gilmore/Rowe outside.

3 down

J. Jones/Coleman - They were beat often today. Coleman especially didn't have a fun time. It's tough to judge J. Jones when Edelman is abusing him but getting Butler/Gilmore/Rowe on tbe field together looks ideal.

Brissett - His internal clock is still too slow & he had accuracy problems today. He naturally looks way behind the GOAT & the best backup in the NFL.

Allen - Weird day for the punter. He shanked one near us in the stands & a reporter said he was erratic.

Thank you for this write-up!

 

[PatsBoy12]

Gronk and the slot WRs are gonna have a lot of opportunities this year. With one CB running like hell to keep up with Cooks and one Safety always playing deep center field to try to stay over the top of Cooks.

Exactly! You're right. That was also how teams had to defend the '07 Patriots, except there was no Gronk to eat up the middle of the field aside from the work Welker did. Watson was okay, but he missed time and he is NO GRONK!

 

[scott99]

I don't know why. But these training camp threads are virtually unreadable for me. Every embedded tweet is blank and says "loading tweet". It doesn't matter how long I wait for it to load. And I have no problem seeing embedded tweets elsewhere. Patsfans is whitelisted in my adblocker too.

Happens to me on my work computer. That's why I use my iPhone to read this thread. The tweets load almost instantly.

 

[Deus Irae]

I don't know why. But these training camp threads are virtually unreadable for me. Every embedded tweet is blank and says "loading tweet". It doesn't matter how long I wait for it to load. And I have no problem seeing embedded tweets elsewhere. Patsfans is whitelisted in my adblocker too.

I used to have that problem. I found that I needed 3 separate sites unblocked.

twitter.com
twimg.com
s9e.github.io

I hope that helps.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I don't know why. But these training camp threads are virtually unreadable for me. Every embedded tweet is blank and says "loading tweet". It doesn't matter how long I wait for it to load. And I have no problem seeing embedded tweets elsewhere. Patsfans is whitelisted in my adblocker too.

Me too....

 

[long distance]

So, does this mean that BB gives clearance for people to evaluate the players now, since the pads were on?

as long as you keep it under “observations“ you're fine..

 

[long distance]

This is a great compilation. Hogan shook the sh*t out of Butler in the first clip. It still surprises me how well Gronk moves for a guy his size. He just shouldn't be that fast, but he is. Incredible. I can't think of three players in the league who are as elusive as Jules and he has that Barry Sanders-like stop on a dime thing going on. And Cooks is behind the defense often. He may not have the height of a Randy Moss, but he looks every bit as dangerous and a threat to take the top off the defense. The speed and acceleration is just not fair.

It does look like Hogan is having a "sophomore“ jump.
And his first year wasn't too bad either..

BTW - some bromance btw Cooks and Hogan is being reported
I guess its just to balance the Tommy-Jules/Danny/Gronk thing..

Seriously, what a group of sneaky, versatile, unstoppable weapons..
and with Gill showing he's ready to explode on the league etc etc

If they stay healthy . this might indeed be a blitz krieg

 

[borg]

In other news...

Ryan Mallett takes over for injured Joe Flacco in practice and has total meltdown

 

[RobertWeathers]

In other news...

Ryan Mallett takes over for injured Joe Flacco in practice and has total meltdown

Mallett would have been great here.

 

[BTTA]

This line is confusing from Bedard. He's not sure what that means but he says it's "not optimal"? Guys get beat all the time, even Gronk. Somehow losing one or two battles in camp and that takes away his 7 year career resume of superior blocking ability? I don't get that. It's stuff like that that makes me hesitant to subscribe.

I'm interpreting it to simply mean "there are better outcomes than Gronk ending up on the ground" for that one play, and as a small throw away line that's not intended to have much significance. Not confusing or alarming to me.

 

[AtomicDawg]

I'm interpreting it to simply mean "there are better outcomes than Gronk ending up on the ground" for that one play, and as a small throw away line that's not intended to have much significance. Not confusing or alarming to me.

The intention is fine, but the key thing is why leave it that open-ended so that someone who may not be as well-intentioned can take it as Gronk has lost a step or anything of that nature. Those of us who are more in tune to the team won't think that, but I'm wondering if a casual fan reads that sentence and comes away thinking like you do. It's just the way rumors get started, especially in this world of social media where word spreads like wildfire. I would have rather him elaborate on that point instead of just stopping.

 

[TennisBallHead]

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you attend a Pats training camp, you are a loser.

 

[Tony2046]

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you attend a Pats training camp, you are a loser.

As opposed to breathing somewhere else?

 

[Tony2046]

@AtomicDawg - AtomicGawd.

Awesome thread. Thanks to you, @long distance , @patsinthesnow, @PatsBoy12 and others for keeping it lively.

It's akin to eating a nice juicy expensive steak after a six month veggie diet.

 

[long distance]

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you attend a Pats training camp, you are a loser.

This one should come with a manual how not to take it the wrong way..