MORSE: Notes From Patriots Training Camp Day 2

Day Two

Practice was in shorts and shells and lasted exactly 90 minutes (in accordance with the CBA).

Absent: CB Carlton Davis, WR Ja’Lynn Polk, DT Jahvaree Ritzie

PUP: WR Mack Hollins, TE Austin Hooper, OT Vederian Lowe

NFI: S Josh Minkins

LP: DT Christian Barmore

Ja’Lynn Polk has missed his second practice with a soft tissue injury, according to Doug Kyed. This injury happened during the conditioning run, which Polk passed. Mike Vrabel has no tolerance for repeat offenders with soft tissue injuries. Vrabel had this to say when he coached in Tennessee. “They have to figure out a way to train and act like – this game is played at a high speed. Kevin Byard (played for Vrabel at Tennessee) hasn’t pulled a hamstring since we’ve been here. There is a durability factor to playing professional football, and we should not overlook that’s real. There’re guys that are durable and there are others that aren’t”. Polk will not be long for the team. Nice trade, Eliot Wolf (McConkey for Polk and Baker).

Drake Maye had another good day, completing 14 of 15 passes against various blitzes. This was one of the weaknesses of Drake Maye coming out of college. The only incompletion was a pass that was knocked down at the line of scrimmage by DT Jeremiah Pharms. He made a great pre-snap read of a corner blitz from slot corner Marcus Jones. Maye sought out RB Antonio Gibson out of the backfield to the side that Jones blitzed from for a big gain. You need to put this in perspective because Maye didn’t throw the ball down the field, concentrating on the short passing game. He also knew the defense was blitzing, as the whole period was scripted to see how he reacts to quick pressure.

Pharms played in the place of Christian Barmore, who was being given the day off. I think the team is trying to manage Barmore in return from the blood clot issue he had last year.

OTHER NOTES:

Stephon Diggs had 4 catches, Pop Douglas had 4 catches, and Rhamondre Stevenson had 3 catches. The only deep balls were caught by Efton Chism working with Joshua Dobbs and TE Gee Scott from Ben Woolridge. Dobbs made up for a bad day 1 with 9 of 12 passes completed. Woolridge had another good day completing 4 of 5, that’s 7 of 9 over the 1^st two days. Javon Baker and Kyle Williams had drops. Baker had a bad day and was seen being talked to by coaches multiple times. Kayshon Boutte has been the starting X receiver. Kendrick Bourne is running with the 2nd unit.

The Defense put up another 5-sack day. Harold Landry had two more sacks Thursday, Bradyn Swinson had one, as did Marte Mapu. The last sack was credited as a team sack. Keion White and Milton Williams didn’t get credit for sacks, but they were putting constant pressure on the pocket, and the DEs have been the beneficiaries of these clean-up sacks.

Alex Austin and Marcellus Dial filled in for Carlton Davis in his absence.

It was the same starting offensive line, but Jared Wilson got snaps again with the 1^st team and Drake Maye. Wilson and Maye had a fumbled snap exchange. Caedan Wallace was 2^nd team LG, and Sidy Sow was 2^nd team RG. Demontrey Jacobs got a lot of snaps since Morgan Moses’ reps are being limited (probably because of his age).

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About Mark Morse

Merrimack Valley native and lifelong fan of the New England Patriots. My earliest memories of the Patriots were attending as a child with my dad, the off-season practice at Phillips Academy. I was at the Patriots game at Harvard Stadium in 1970 where Bob “Harpo” Gladieux was called out of the stands by the stadium announcer over the PA to play in the game. Analyzing the draft since ESPN first started to televise it in 1980 and former writer for the Lowell Sun Newspaper.

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