Letters from Patriots Camp 2021: Volume 4

I'll be completely upfront on this one. It was an odd day at Patriots camp. We're now a couple of weeks in. They threw this practice in the stadium and drew about the same crowd as Obama's birthday party. I was directed to the press box instead of the usual media tent. This was the last practice before the first preseason game against Washington, and I heard somebody in the box ask someone else if they ever did find a name for that Washington Football Team. And anyone expecting the Cam Newton vs. Mac Jones battle that has dominated camp (sheepishly raise my hand) was tragically mistaken. Either this was Bill Belichick's way of prepping for Thursday night or it was a plot by him to lull everybody to sleep so he could rob them like in the opening scene of Tenet. (i.e. the last scene I was able to follow before Christopher Nolan tied by brain into a balloon animal.) 

Anyway, since I'm not enough of a wordsmith to adequately convey the excitement of Brian Hoyer completing passes to future camp cuts in 7-on-7s, I won't. You'll just have to trust your instincts on that. And I'll try to focus on what we actually did see that might translate into something useful when the proverbial bullets are real next month. 

--For openers, Hoyer got roughly half the full squad snaps, Jones got the majority of the rest, and Newton had a light day. Which probably is a good indication that Newton won't play much, if at all in Fauxball Game 1. Which you might be tempted to draw a through line to Real Football Game 1 and say he's not competing for the starting job, because he has it locked up. I refuse to accept that. But we'll have a better idea in about 48 hours. When Newton was in there, it was a lot of him and Jones playing with the 1s and 2s, with a lot of situational work with their backs to their own end zone, inside the 5, and working on blocking assignments on runs between the tackles with the occasional play action mixed in. Think of it as the NFL camp equivalent of that B-roll you see from every Spring Training of the pitchers covering 1st. Just with fewer sunflower seeds and no one looking like they're about to swallow their tongues with boredom while wondering how long it'll take them to get to the Champagne Room at Mons Venus. For what it's worth, they ran out of some  rare I formations, which is only interesting when you consider they might not even have a fullback on the roster by the time it gets real. But that's hardly the most gripping storyline.

--A couple of the more actually interesting storylines that have actually developed were non factors today. Namely Hunter Henry, who banged up his shoulder the other day. Reportedly the tests were negative but he was in some pain and will miss time. And the other is rookie DT Christian Barmore, who kicked mountains of ass a week ago in the first padded practice, did something to his foot and has only been seen sparingly since. It happens every August in everyone's camp so it's no cause for concern yet. But when you've spent a ton of money to try and turn the worst tight end room in football into perhaps the best and made one move up in the draft to bolster a your shoddy interior pass rush, it's not like losing your long snapper. 

--With Henry out, the tight ends reps meant a lot of Jonnu Smith, which is great. In hurry up mode in 11-on-11s, Jones worked it to him a couple of times in a row, once on a stop route underneath the second level of the coverage, and again on a swing pass to the flat. It also meant a lot of looks for Matt LaCosse and David Wells, who, while they are also God's children and deserves our love and support, will only be a part of this offense if disaster strikes. Devin Asiasi should hopefully be back soon and pick up some of the reps that Henry will be missing. And maybe give that position depth at the top 3 spots like it hasn't had in a decade. If ever. 

--Possibly the biggest revelation of this camp so far has been the emergence of N'Keal Harry, who has been objectively outstanding. Routinely working himself open, outmuscling coverage for the ball when he wasn't open, and making circus act catches like we haven't seen in his two years in Foxboro. Today was a light duty day for him as well as everyone else. But he still managed a deep catch from Jones in a sort of walk through pace rep early on. How he does against WFT will be Thursday Night Must See TV for people who have nothing else going on in their lives (again, my hand goes up). 

--I'm still working on getting the uniform numbers straightened out in my head. That is, without checking the roster printout every play. In that way I try to shut off the GPS or my brain will never wire itself to remember the directions on its own. But in fairness, they haven't made it easy. The drafted rookies all still have their numbers in the 50s. Kyle Dugger is now 23. Josh Uche is now 55. And Ju'Whaun Bentley is now 8. I'm trying to recognize players, not have every down be a problem where I have to solve for X. 

--One rapidly emerging legend in all this is kicker Quinn Nordin, who during the first in stadium practice went 10-for-10 (granted, with no rushers), including two over 55 yards. So with this crowd looking on in hushed silence Nordin's momentous arrival onto the field, Belichick called for a fake kick. Maybe to put that on tape for future opponents. But probably just to mess with everyone. Mission accomplished.

--Defensively, we saw the starters playing a lot of 3-3 stack fronts, with Kyle Van Noy and and Matt Judon off the ball, and Dont'a Hightower up on the line at Will. With Davon Godchaux taking most of his snaps at right tackle in a rotation. 

--And therein will be the big benefit of an actual fake game the day after tomorrow. There is still so much undetermined about this defense because they've had such limited time to hit things and no chance to tackle things. So telling whether they can improve against the run - which smoked them last year - and generate pressure without sending extra bodies will be as key to these war games as anything Newton or Jones does. 

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--Let's just hope that whatever goes on Thursday, it's more interesting than this one was. Fake football can't come soon enough.