Patriots News 8-4, Camp Is A Marathon, Not A Sprint
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Good morning. Here are your Patriots news and notes for August 4. The Patriots are just a few days away from their first preseason game against the Carolina Panthers. We’ll get a small peek at the players this week, albeit in a very vanilla setting, but it will be great to see the team out playing football again.
I rarely watch the Hall of Fame game, but I watched it last week. Although it was full of backup players, it was a very entertaining game until the thunderstorms forced an early stop late in the third quarter. Hopefully, we’ll have more of that on Thursday night.
I’m also looking forward to hearing Phil Perry fill in for Scott Zolak for the first two preseason games and Bob Socci on the Patriots’ radio broadcast. It is a great opportunity for Phil, and working with Bob will definitely make his job easier.
The Patriots announced the training camp dates that are open to the public, and you can find those on the Patriots website. However, remember that dates and times are subject to change, so check with the site for any updates before making the trek down Route 1.
Jerod Mayo: The Patriots’ head coach was in the midst of a media storm on Monday when he had to deal with a disgruntled Matthew Judon on the practice field during Judon’s ongoing demand for a new contract extension. But now says everything is much better after “a great meeting.”
Judon also had an “animated conversation with Eliot Wolf and Matt Groh on the Patriots’ sideline on Monday. Judon was absent on Tuesday but was in back uniform and practicing on Thursday after meeting with Mayo.
“I had a great meeting with Judon, and we’re all moving forward,” Mayo said. “I remember, as a player, it’s always a difficult time. It’s always a difficult time when you go through contract negotiations and things like that, and in saying that for the rest of the team, we’re pushing forward.
“Each situation is unique to itself,” Mayo added. “We can sit here and say you should do this, you should do that. They’re all different situations. Like I said earlier, I feel good about where we are right now. I feel good about the way the players are operating on the field. I feel good about the way Eliot (Wolf) and his staff are doing this stuff because he’s obviously very heavily involved. We’re in a good place.”
Jabrill Peppers: The Patriots have signed another core veteran to a contract extension. Peppers, who should have been a Pro Bowler last year, was signed to a three-year $24 million extension worth up to $30 million. Field Yates of ESPN first reported the news.
I can confirm it,” Jerod Mayo told the assembled media on Friday. “I will say this,, I’ll confirm it. I am very happy for Peppers, his family, our team, and the organization. He really embodies everything that we want on the field. He’s very selfless; he’s out there flying around all the time, and it’s good to get that deal done.”
Peppers is one of the players who found a new life in Foxborough under the Belichick regime. His signing didn’t move the needle much at the time but has paid very good dividends. His toughness and versatility (he can play in the box, deep safety, in the slot, or as a dime linebacker) are off the charts.
Colin Cowherd: While everyone in the media and in the stands during training camp has been watching quarterbacks, Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye, Cowherd came out and had a segment of his podcast with the title, “Maye’s camp struggles worrying Patriots. Think Pats made a mistake at QB?” He suggested that 6th-round pick Joe Milton could be the starter.
He was using Michael Holley’s overreaction (more below) and said that Milton had a stronger arm than Maye and was more athletic.
“What does that tell you? That the sixth-round quarterback, Joe Milton, is going to probably win the job because he’s the athlete,” Cowherd said.
“He’s the bigger, stronger, faster, more dynamic athlete, and they don’t have any at wide receiver, tight end, or running back. When I read this story, my take is, yeah, Joe Milton will make plays. Listen, Kirk Cousins and RGIII were drafted by Washington back in 2012, and they figured out by year two that Cousins was the guy. I think that’s what we’re looking at now. I don’t think I’m overreacting.”
Cowherd’s hot take was quickly pooh-poohed by Patriots beat writer Mark Daniels, who responded to Cowherd’s take by writing on “X,” formerly Twitter, “Be very, very, very, very, very shocked – because it’s almost certainly not happening.”
The Boston Globe’s (and formerly PatsFans.com) Chris Price, who is normally more diplomatic in his criticisms, had this to say.
“We can all agree using ONE training camp practice in July as a referendum on a rookie QBs possible success or failure is an excellent way to judge the potential for long-term success. Right?
“Like my guy @KenCarman says, engaging with the engagement farmers is pointless. Garbage.”
Deshaun Fenwick: The rookie running back has been released. Derek Havens was very intrigued with him. Perhaps he can catch on elsewhere. In his stead, the Patriots signed safety A.J. Thomas. Thomas spent the year with Birmingham of the UFL this spring, and former played for the Bears.
Kellen Diesch: The Patriots announced that they have signed the offensive tackle Dietsch with a corresponding move of releasing tackle Tyrone Wheatley. Diesch is a 6’7, 300-pound UDFA tackle from Texas A&M and Arizona State who has spent time with Miami, Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh since 2022.
Patriots 4th & 2 Podcast: Derek Havens and I discussed and broke down training camp through the first week. Please check it out. We looked at the new contract for Davon Godchaux and continuing drama with Matthew Judon.
I was a guest on my “Patriot paisan,” Mike D’Abate’s “Locked On Patriots” show on SI, and we discussed contract news and the early days of training camp.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t in is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed the game with how teams used the tight end position. This will be discussed in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
The Patriots’ rookie quarterback, Drake Maye, has been the subject of several overreactions at the outset of training camp from the same media, who preached patience all spring with the overall #3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. No, this wasn’t written by Russ Goldman. LOL
No one is (nor should be) arguing that Maye struggled on Monday. But after one padded practice, stating that the Patriots were rethinking their decision to draft him or that he’s already a bust is, frankly… beyond the pale.
It was rather shocking to hear Michael Holley’s statement. Holley said, “I saw the ghost of Mac Jones. Not Mac Jones facing off against Tom Brady as a rookie. We’re talking Mac Jones in Dallas in that awful game.”
Maye is a rookie, and he’s going to have his bad days as well as his good ones. Thursday, he bounced back with a solid but unspectacular session. On Friday, Maye looked sharp, completing 7-9 passes in 11-on-11 work, and 4-5 in 7-on-7s. Mixed in there were some particularly impressive throws to Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker, and Demario Douglas, who is back to fully working out. His hand injury is healed up and the red no-contact jersey is gone.
“I thought I had a good Friday, but we have to look at the film,” Maye said. “One of the best things that David Andrews told me is that it’s never too good, and never too bad. Just learning from it. We’re doing better operationally. That’s what we’re focused on.
“I think I made some nice throws,” Maye added. “Still, little things that I could do better. I think on one of the fakes, I could have done a better job selling the fake. Little things like that that go a long way in this league.”
Jacoby Brissett had some simple but very good advice for the young quarterback in his first training camp.
“Just keep going, man. It’s a long training camp,” Brissett said.
“I think you always want somebody to come there and you’re like do the best you can right now. It’s just unrealistic. I think the best thing that he’s doing right now is putting one foot in front of the other. Going back out there and going out there competing. The plays are gonna make themselves. It’s just about doing the little things day in and day out. That’s gonna give you a chance to make the right play.”
The Patriots’ offense stressed situational football on Friday, including red zone work, the two-minute offense, and the six-minute offense. During a 7-on-7 stretch on Friday, both Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye made impressive throws, with each throwing three touchdowns although one of Maye’s passes, to Javon Baker might have been overturned on replay, as it appeared that Baker couldn’t get his second foot in bounds.
Maye was accurate in the red-zone and he was able to find receivers open and the offense was able to stack multiple good days together. It is notable that the secondary, which has been dominant at times, struggled overall on Friday.
The fact that his best work was in the red-zone where the field is condensed and the coverage usually tighter is noteworthy. And an encouraging development as NBC Sports Boston’s Tom E. Curran pointed out, that Maye is recognizing coverages better and is attacking areas vacated by pressure. Excellent observation.
Brissett continues to get the majority of the reps as the #1 quarterback on the roster. Maye is firmly the #2. Joe Milton and Bailey Zappe are getting very little work the past two days. But both should see some good reps against the Panthers on Thursday.
The running game has still struggled to get untracked consistently and it will be interesting to see if they can get it going on Thursday in the first preseason game in Gillette against the Carolina Panthers. The offensive line is still very much a fluid situation and a work in progress.
However, running back Antonio Gibson is showing how good he can be coming out of the backfield on passing downs. That’s another positive development.
It was nice to see Demario Douglas back on the field and shed the red non-contact jersey this week. And it is no surprise that his return coincided with the offense starting to string together some better performances.
Douglas has the speed and quickness to get separation quickly and often and getting him back on the field adds another dimension to the passing game. When he is on top of his game, he can be uncoverable for the opposing secondary.
And Kendrick Bourne seems close to returning as well. He’s been joining the team for stretching at the start of practice, before retreating to the lower practice fields for rehab work. Both of these developments are great signs for the offense.
Don’t look now but it appears that second-year kicker Chad Ryland is beginning to get his kicking game together. He was 4-4 to conclude practice on Friday, hitting field goals from between 32 and 52 yards. And he went 5-5 on Thursday. Through the first week + of camp (not counting Saturday), he has gone 17-18 (94 percent) on field goal attempts.
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And to those wishing me happy returns on yet another trip around the sun, I thank you, especially Phil P. and his wife Letizia, who always send a personalized card every year. It is greatly appreciated. And a very Happy Birthday to our great friend Clare Cooper. One of my favorite people in the world. All the best…
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“You know, look, people are going to have their opinions. I would say the opinions inside of the four walls matter most, and I would say the people inside the four walls know what they’re talking about.
“So, you can take that for what it is. We all support Drake. We all know what it’s like to be a rookie in this league. Not you guys, obviously, but I do. I know what it’s like to be a rookie, and it’s not all peaches and cream.”
“You probably remember this: San Francisco, my rookie year, I got benched on third down. I only played early downs because I just wasn’t ready, and that was like Week 10, right? It was like Week 10, Week 11. But it was a wake-up call for me to get benched.
“I was [Defensive] Rookie of the Year, and I still got benched. So, whatever we want to talk about with Drake, there will be ups and downs, and hopefully it ends on an up.”
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo after he was asked about the early criticism of rookie QB Drake Maye.
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“Talent sets the floor; Character sets the ceiling.” Bill Belichick
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected]
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcasts on Apple and YouTube as Russ Goldman, Derek Havens, and myself from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news and game analysis.
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Thanks Steve for calling out the Collin Cowhert manure drop. This is what’s wrong with the media today. And Cowhert is seemingly intelligent enough to know better. I won’t even get into his comment flaws, as you said it, and it’s not worth the key-strokes. I’ll wager Cowhert’s ratings are down-trending and so: ring the drama bell. Get your name smeared on articles. Go big and bold and brash. Yell like Stephon A. Smith and get it all out. Eon’s ago, the Boston Globe and other columnists were indeed sports analysts and covered the sport. They knew the sport and… Read more »