Thursday’s session against Philadelphia was a little more competitive from the Eagles standpoint compared to the previous day, which saw New England struggle a bit more after pretty much having had their way against them Wednesday.
Philadelphia’s defense picked Drake Maye off twice on Thursday, doing a better job overall than they did in their first joint practice. That didn’t change the fact that New England still put together some impressive moments and strung together a fair amount of good plays in their final joint session of 2026.
One thing that was notable was the fact that each of Maye’s two interceptions were on targets to A.J. Brown, one was picked off when Maye threw off target, while the second came when the ball was ripped away from the veteran receiver by Riq Woolen, and Jalyx Hunt made a diving grab to pick it off before it hit the ground.
Maye said after practice that he felt like they got some good work in over the last two days, but he was disappointed with how Thursday’s session went compared to the previous day.
“I think we got a lot of great work,” said Maye. “I think the biggest thing is that’s a good football team over there, and I think just not riding the roller coaster. I feel like we had some good periods that we were attacking them and had some good plays. Then we had some periods where we got to continue the competitive stamina.”
“That’s the thing about this game it can’t just be one play here, one play there. You got to string some plays together in a row. And I felt like we did that more yesterday than we did today. ”
Overall on Thursday Maye reportedly completed 9-of-18 with 4 touchdowns and his two interceptions, with the team spending much of the session doing red zone work. The one bright spot when it came to the turnovers was the fact that many of their plays were somewhat predictable given the situation and the repetition.
Maye said on one of the turnovers that it was essentially a misfire, with the QB admitting he was late getting the football out as the offense worked on a new concept, and it led to the turnover.
“I – [was] just late, late to the football, late in the red zone,” said Maye. “You can’t be late in the red zone down there. It’s tight. And it’s a concept that we probably need to get some more work on and just find some timing. So you just can’t be late down there.”
On the other side of the ball, the Patriots defense had a tough time against Philadelphia’s ground game, with Saquon Barkley’s speed being a problem for that group in each of the last two days. While things appeared to be better on the interior, they still had difficulty with him on the outside, and Barkley also made some plays out of the backfield.
Head coach Mike Vrabel made a concerted effort to revamp their linebacker group during the offseason, hoping to get faster and more athletic. This was the first time that group has really been challenged this preseason, and it’s safe to say they still have some work heading into the regular season. Setting the edge remains something they’ve been a little inconsistent with, which we saw last week with Gabe Jacas against Indianapolis. Vrabel was spotted with Jacas, who dons his #50 jersey, as the two got in some quality one-on-one work on Thursday.
Vrabel said practice this week was likely going to be the biggest opportunity for the starters to get work, and that ended up being the case over the last two days. Saturday’s game will now likely be a key opportunity for the remaining players who don’t see as many reps the last two days being the ones we’ll see out there during the Patriots’ second exhibition game.
“I think the biggest thing is to be able to be flexible and adjust day by day to see where that is,” said Vrabel. “But I know [Wednesday] will be a lot of good work, and then we’ll see where we are when we get into the red zone [Thursday]. And then have to make a decision what that looks like for the game and all those things.”
“So we have a plan for today, and then we’ll see what that looks like and see how much work guys get, and then we’ll go from there.”
Gonzalez Sits, Schefter Doubts Deal Getting Done ‘Quickly’
Defensive back Christian Gonzalez sat out of Thursday’s session again after Vrabel said earlier this week that Gonzalez is still working “on a return to play” after getting banged up late last week.
However, the biggest question is how things might now play out with his contract. Following Seattle cornerback Davon Witherspoon finally getting his own deal done over the weekend, the hope was that it would provide the framework to potentially see progress get made on Gonzalez’s.
According to Adam Schefter, there appears to be some doubt there, and he’s not sure things are going to move along any faster.
“Well, first of all, I’m not so sure that that Gonzo deal is going to get done so quickly,” said Schefter during an appearance with Pat McAfee this week. “Obviously there are the parameters in place and there’s the roadmap that Davon Witherspoon has presented, and obviously Gonzalez would love to get a deal, deserving of a new deal. And the Patriots would like to get a deal. But up until this past weekend, the two sides were not overly close, and they had not had a lot of productive conversations. So we’ll see if that works out or not.”
Schefter added that what happens from here will be interesting, given that he feels the parameters are in place for a deal, adding that it shouldn’t be that hard for the two sides to now hopefully get something done.
“It’s going to be interesting to track here because, like I said, the parameters are in place. It should not be hard to get a deal done right now for Christian Gonzalez. And yet so far it has been. But we have the regular season looming here in a few weeks. There’s always a push by players and teams to get deals done before the regular season begins, and we’ll see if these two sides can engage and get one done. We, meanwhile, have the situation in Pittsburgh with their cornerback right now, Joey Porter, right? That deal has not gotten done as well. That’s still out there waiting to get done.
“That’s been very quiet this summer. Like everyone’s spoken about Gonzalez. Nobody’s spoken about Porter. Another looming issue that’s out there at the cornerback position now that Witherspoon has set up that market. And that’s not an easy one to solve right now.”
ODDS AND ENDS
With both of Maye’s passes coming on attempts to A.J. Brown, that’s quietly a topic that got played up on social media this week after Brown had some solid moments against his former team. Eagles fans noted that Brown is fine “until he’s not getting the ball,” which will be something to keep an eye on. Maye has mentioned that it’s a delicate balance when it comes to keeping guys involved, and he did a terrific job of avoiding forcing targets for the most part last season with Stefon Diggs. It’s also something Maye will need to continue being just as good about this season with Brown in the fold. … Marcus Jones continued making life difficult for Jalen Hurts, picking him off twice on Thursday. Jones got him for a pick-six on Wednesday, and was outstanding over these two days. … Speaking of Jones, he was pretty firey on Thursday. The normally reserved player was involved in a couple of the dustups that happened in practice on day two, with the level of intensity overall seemingly being at another level during their final joint session. … Hassan Haskins seems to have slipped into the third spot at running back, scoring a rushing TD and getting a fair amount of reps there. It feels like his stock has risen, which should be interesting to watch after seeing how well Jam Miller ran the football last week. … Maye mentioned on Thursday when asked about his connection with Romeo Doubs that it’s been a fun process. He’s been impressed with his play, and the hope is that they continue to grow together in the coming weeks. “Yeah, he’s done some great things. the way he moves and kind of cuts off on some routes and can kind of move his body side to side and kind of get by people is really impressive,” said Maye. “And it’s really fun to watch. And he’s only going to continue getting better and better as he gets more comfortable in this offense. So I’m looking forward to him and he’s made some great climb the ladder catches just keep giving him chances to climb the ladder and he’ll come down with it.” … Looking ahead to Cleveland, Mary Kay Cabot reports that Browns rookie quarterback Taylen Green is expected to see action against the Patriots in the exhibition finale. Green sat out the opener and isn’t expected to see action this week, with the third game appearing to be where he’ll see a significant amount of playing time. The Browns have an interesting situation going on with Shedeur Sanders, with Deshaun Watson seemingly the favorite to be the starter. They also have Dillon Gabriel. But Green who was a sixth-round pick in April, is a name that seems to be getting a little buzz out there. Head coach Todd Monken said earlier this week that he hasn’t seen as much time because they “just don’t have enough reps for him,” but he apparently turned heads this week during their joint practice against the Bills. He’s not expected to start the game, but he’s an athletic player who fans seem to like, and it sounds like he could potentially make things interesting, as these games often tend to be as teams close out the preseason.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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