Tuesday Daily Rundown 8/2: New England Patriots News and Notes
(PHOTO: Winslow Townson - USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 4 minutes
Posted Under: Daily Patriots Rundown
(PHOTO: Winslow Townson - USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 4 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Winslow Townson - USA TODAY Sports) Brady Surprises Everyone With Appearance at Faulk’s Induction – Monday night was a big night at Gillette Stadium, with Kevin Faulk being inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
The event had a big turnout, with plenty of fans on hand as Faulk spoke to the crowd. But they were later treated to a surprise appearance by Tom Brady, who like Faulk did at the draft back in May, opened his jacket to reveal he was wearing his teammate’s #33 jersey.
“Thank you, guys, for supporting him,” Brady told the crowd. “Thank you, guys, for supporting us. We have the best fans in the world.”
Faulk finds himself inducted at the age of 40-years old, with the former running back being just a year older than Brady, who turns 39 on Wednesday. Faulk walked away from the game back in 2012 while Brady continues rolling on, having won his fourth championship two seasons ago.
“He touched everybody in a positive way and very unselfish, worked hard, had great leadership because he did the right thing, and he had the ability to bring people with him,” Bill Belichick told the media Monday night when talking about his former player. “So, really all positive from Kevin.”
Faulk certainly deserves the honor given everything he gave to this football team. And you can bet that eventually Faulk will be there some day when Brady finds himself joining the former running back one more time when the quarterback eventually finishes with the game.
Strong Turnout For In-Stadium Practice – Monday night also saw about 25,000 fans show up at Gillette Stadium to take in the team’s annual in-stadium practice, and it was a productive night.
Rookie Malcolm Mitchell continued to shine, catching several passes along with a deep pass from rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Jimmy Garoppolo had a pretty efficient night, although he finished with an interception during 11-on-11 drills when Devin McCourty picked him off.
One of the key drops of the night happened to Chris Harper, who dropped a sure touchdown pass on a deep pass from Jimmy Garoppolo. Mitchell also did have a drop, as did Devin Lucien, D.J. Foster, and Joey Iosefa.
Overall it was a pretty good evening, with some strong competition on both sides of the football, which included a pass break-up by linebacker Jamie Collins on a pass from Brady intended for James White.
There won’t be a practice Tuesday, with the team set to hold their next practice on Wednesday.
 Malcolm Butler has high expectations for himself and his teammates this season. |
Butler: “High Expectations” for 2016 – Malcolm Butler knows how tough it is to get back to the NFL pinnacle after coming up short last season, and he wants to make sure that doesn’t happen again this season.
Butler, who established himself as a solid NFL cornerback thanks to his impressive follow-up campaign last season, is setting the bar high for both himself and the defense this season.
“High expectations,” Butler told NESN of the defense. “We got to stop people, make plays. Not just the defense, offense also, special teams. We want to be great all around.
“The standards are high every year for the New England Patriots, and I’m pretty sure for every other team, so always strive for the highest. We’ll see when the time comes.”
For now Butler wants to lead by example and he’s ready to work hard as he continues getting ready for the 2016 season.
“I want to do better than I did last year. The goal is alway high. The standard is always high. It’s not easy, but I’m up to the task,” Butler said via the Boston Herald. “Anything is possible if you put your mind to it, and work hard. That’s my goal, to be better than last year, and lead this group.”
Develin Glad to Be Back – After suffering an injury that sidelined him in 2015, fullback James Develin is glad to be back on the field.
The veteran was frustrated after sitting out last season, which was a year where the Patriots also happened to struggle in the running game during his absence.
How much of that can be attributed to Develin’s absence is hard to say, but he admitted that he’s looking forward to getting back to helping out with the “dirty work” that the position requires.
Fullbacks now, we’re not going to get the glory, but it’s enough for us when our running back just turns around and gives us a little pat on the head telling us good job,” he told the Providence Journal. “That’s what we’re there for. We’re kind of doing the dirty work and we appreciate it like that.”
Now that he’s healthy, he’s just focused on trying to get back to helping his team.
“I’m out here trying to do my best,” said Develin. “Just become the best player at the position that I can and go out and help my team any way I can.”
Andrews Earns Offseason Honor – One of the key ways to get noticed on the team is by outworking everyone else, and it sounds like David Andrews did a good job over the offseason with putting in a lot of effort as he prepared for the season.
Andrews received a pretty good honor from the team, earning the offseason conditioning award after having been selected for the award by conditioning coach Moses Cabrera.
It’s not exactly a surprise as Andrews also earned a similar honor at Georgia, having received the Leon Farmer Award in 2012, which was the University’s award for a player’s dedication to the strength and conditioning program in 2012.
Andrews downplayed the accomplishment, and he’s already put it behind him.
“You know, it was just a nice little accomplishment,” Andrews told the Herald. “It doesn’t really matter. What matters is what happens out here. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is coming out here and getting better. What happened in the offseason happened, but this is the real time for football.”
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