Patriots Training Camp Report – Monday: Butler Shines Again

Steve Balestrieri

8 years ago at 6:34 am ET

Steve Balestrieri - PatsFans.com

2^nd Year Corner very impressive in camp

The Patriots conducted their 10^th practice session Monday afternoon in full pads after having a day off on Sunday. There was a lot of 11-on-11 and 7-on-7 work as the team prepares for their preseason opener against Green Bay.

New comers QB Ryan Lindley (#7) and RB Tony Creecy (#25) made their first appearances. The team released QB Matt Flynn, LB Chris White and TE Mason Brodine earlier Monday. They signed Lindley, Creecy and TE Logan Stokes. They also traded LB Matt Wells to the Bears for G Ryan Groy.

MIA List: The following players were not spotted:
WR Brandon LaFell (PUP)
LB Dane Fletcher (PUP)
OL Ryan Wendell (PUP)
OL Caylin Hauptmann (PUP)
DL Chris Jones (PUP)
DL Joe Vellano
C Bryan Stork
RB Tyler Gaffney
WR Aaron Dobson
TE Scott Chandler – But he was on the field in sweats

OT Nate Solder walked off the field early in practice unattended by the training staff and didn’t return.

Linebacker Donta Hightower was wearing a red non-contact jersey. Also wearing non-contact jerseys were Brian Tyms and Matthew Slater who both returned to practice.

Julian Edelman and Malcom Brown both returned to practice, Edelman took part in individual drills before working out on the lower practice fields with the training staff. Alan Branch came off of NFI and participated in practice for the first time.

Butler Very Impressive Again: It can’t be overstated how impressive the 2^nd year cornerback has been during training camp. He’s been shadowing receivers, consistently breaking up passes and making big plays every session.

Early in 11-on-11 work, Josh Boyce ran a shallow crossing route that Brady delivered the ball quickly on. Butler read it and jumped the pattern, leaping to knock the ball away. He later knocked the ball away on a deep ball to Jonathan Krause (more on this later), and had a one-handed pick of Brady in later 11-on-11 work.

The prevailing talk around Butler seems to fall more upon where he WASN’T drafted when trying to downplay his work rather than how he HAS played. While it is still early in the preseason, we can only report what we see, and Butler has been one of the most consistent bright spots not only on the defense, but the entire team.

Lindley Gets Extended Work: New QB Ryan Lindley was trying to learn faces and names while coming into practice cold. He was shown the plays on a piece of paper and was trying to find his way. The team gave him some extra work after practice was over to prepare him for what will probably be some work late in the Green Bay game.

He made one poor throw, badly overthrowing Brandon Gibson where Duron Harmon made a nice leaping interception grab. But on his very next pass, he made a nice throw, a perfectly timed deep pass to Krause down the seam.

QB Tom Brady was picked off twice on the day, during 7-on-7 work, he had a pass go thru Brian Tyms hands and bounce off his chest. The ball was scooped up and intercepted by Dont’a Hightower who returned it down the sideline. He had another picked off in 11-on-11 work by ….Butler, who else?

Danny Amendola had the ball stripped during a kickoff return, after which Robert McClain scooped it up and returned it for a touchdown.

Play of the Day #1: Butler as we mentioned above had a fantastic play during 7-on-7 work. Brady had the speedy Krause lined up wide right and he made a double-move and went deep down the sidelines on a fly pattern. Butler was running stride for stride with him. Brady unloaded the pass and it was delivered right in stride.

But at the last moment, Butler turned on an extra gear and timed his leap perfectly and knocked the ball away. See the You Tube video attached:

The team worked on blocking field goals at the end of practice and an early one seemed to be blocked by Jonathan Freeny. There were also impressive blocks by Malcom Brown and Jabaal Sheard.

Jerod Mayo had a big hit on a pass by Rob Gronkowski, dumping the big man flat on his back. Gronk ran a short route over the middle where Brady delivered the ball. Mayo came flying across and laid the lumber to Gronk, although he did pull up a little bit at the end. During a game, that would have been a crunching hit.

With Bryan Stork out, rookie center David Andrews did a pretty decent job handling the duties of calling out the protection and held his own during the 1-on-1 pass protection drills against Malcom Brown. Also during the 1-on-1s Alan Branch made a nice bull rush to defeat Chris Barker. Sealver Siliga blew by Shaq Mason on one rep. Dekoda Watson jumped offside and had run the “Lap of Shame:.

Trick play fails this time: Last week one of the plays of the day was the reverse pass to Tom Brady. Brady handed the ball off to Bolden who tossed it to Edelman, who then hit Brady all alone. This time, the play fell apart as it wasn’t as crisp in the execution and the pass to Brady, fell well short of the target. But the crowd loved it anyway.

Play of the Day #2: Brady connected with WR Josh Boyce on what would have been a 50-55 yard touchdown bomb down the center of the field. Boyce got by the defender (Dax Swanson), and had a step on him, where Brady delivered the ball perfectly, arcing it right in stride in the middle of the end zone.

It was a really nice play from both Brady and Boyce who is making the most of his opportunities with both Edelman and Dobson out of the lineup the past few days. He showed some nice burst as well as good vision in the kick return game as well.

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