The New England Patriots welcomed the Philadelphia Eagles to town for the first of two joint practices on Wednesday — a session that provided Mike Vrabel’s team a measuring stick opportunity.
“I think they’ll be a good way to gauge that. Yes, I think that this is intentional,“ Vrabel said. ”This is a very good football team. It has been for quite some time.“
Here’s what went down on the fields behind Gillette Stadium.
Setting
Attire: Full pads
Duration: ca. 2 hours (10:15 a.m.-12:15 a.m. ET)
Conditions: Sunny,
temperatures in the high 80s
To no surprise, the joint practice between the Patriots and Eagles featured full pads and ran just over two hours long. The highly competitive day saw the focus on full-field work before going into the red zone tomorrow.
There was just one dust up on the day during a live field goal unit that Eagles’ defensive lineman Jalen Carter threw a punch. Gabe Jacas also appeared to take exception to one block earlier, but Vrabel and Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni will be pleased on how things unfolded as a whole.
Attendance
Absent: CB Christian Gonzalez, OLB Xavier Holmes, OL Ben Brown
Injured: CB Channing Canada
Limited: OG Greg Van Roten
Returnee: LB Chad Muma, WR Kyle Dixon
PUP/NFI: ED Harold Landry III, S Brenden Schooler
It was a similar group of absentees for the Patriots on Wednesday as Christian Gonzalez remained sidelined. New England did see Chad Muma and Kyle Dixon return, while Harold Landry and Brenden Schooler remain on injured lists.
“They’re here. They’re rehabbing. They’re working through the return to play,“ Vrabel said. ”Where they are for Week One, they won’t be out there today, so that’s the only update I can give you. They won’t play in the game this week, and I think they’re just continuing to work to try to get there. When they get there, obviously they’ll be there.“
Newly signed guard Greg Van Roten did not participate in full team periods, while cornerback Channing Canada departed earlier.
Takeaways
Dominant Drake: The Eagles top defense stood no chance against Drake Maye and the Patriots passing attack. Maye completed his first 13 passes across four periods including several downfield completions to A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs, DeMario Douglas, and Kayshon Boutte.
Maye then ended his day with 1:05 on the clock and the ball around the 20-yard line. After a first-down drop by Doubs, completions to Douglas and Mack Hollins got New England across midfield. A short pass to Hunter Henry then got the unit in field goal range which Andy Borregales knocked through from 52 yards out.
Busy Brown: Practice started with one of the main events, as A.J. Brown lined up across from cornerback Quinyon Mitchell to begin 1-on-1s. Brown got behind the corner and got his left hand on the ball but could not finish the catch.
“Q got away with a little holding,” Brown said after with a laugh. “I just have to finish the play. My right hand didn’t get to the ball quick enough. My left hand got on the ball. That’s on me.”
From that point on Brown did not let anymore opportunities slip away. The receiver gave the Eagles’s secondary issues hauling in four passes from Maye in full-team work (in addition to three more in 7-on-7s). That included a pair of downfield receptions — highlighted by an impressive toe-tapper along the right sideline — and a pair of slants, which remain an automatic connection.
End of game situations: In last week’s joint practice against the Colts, Drake Maye ended his end-of-game drive by throwing an interception to safety Cam Bynum. It was a strong bounce back this week as he worked the unit into field goal range. Tommy DeVito then followed that up with a successful drive of his own finding Eli Raridon, Efton Chism III and Mack Hollins to lead to Borregales knocking through a 57-yard field.
Like Maye, New England’s top defense also failed against the Colts in their end-of-game scenario as they gave up a touchdown. That changed against Philadelphia as well, as a handful of early pressure — which led to potential sacks for Craig Woodson, Kevin Byard, and Christian Barmore — led to the Eagles not even getting a field goal off. The second defensive unit ended strong as well as Kindle Vildor hauled in an interception to finish the day.
Trench work: It was an overall solid day for the Patriots starting offensive line, as Will Campbell and Alijah Vera-Tucker opened space in the run game and Maye largely operated in clean pockets. Campbell was not perfect on the day in pass protection but did appear to operate better in full-team work than in 1-on-1s.
A talented Eagles offensive line also led the way for their unit as the Patriots front continued to have issues in the run game. New England faired better in the passing game as their blitz packages got home and defensive Milton Williams had a consistent presence in the backfield. Rookie Gabe Jacas was also strong throughout the day with a nice bull rush in 1-on-1s and was around the quarterback in full-team.
As a whole, New England generated five turnovers on the day as Craig Woodson (two), Marcus Jones, Kindle Vildor, and John Saunders recorded interceptions — the first three in 7-on-7s. Saunders’ pick, which came off of backup QB Cole Payton, marks his third of camp and fourth of the summer.
Other notes:
- Kyle Williams continues to be unfair in 1-on-1s with his release package. The receiver won all three of his reps before catching Maye’s second pass of the day on a well-time curl route in full-team work.
- The shifty Pop Douglas is also a cheat code in 1-on-1s and beat star defensive back Cooper DeJean on three reps.
- While their overall chemistry has improved, Maye and Romeo Doubs are still working through issues over the middle of the field as the receiver had a drop on a pass slightly behind him on a dig route. Doubs also continued to wear coverage along the boundary.
- Rhamondre Stevenson remains the team’s top running back. He received the first touch in each of the four 11-on-11 periods and played during the end-of-game drive.
- Hassan Haskins put the ball on the ground.
- Namdi Obiazor continued to sparingly mix in with the first-team defense along the second level.
- With no Christian Gonzalez, Charles Woods remained the top cornerback opposite of Carlton Davis. Dell Pettus remains the third safety.
- Efton Chism III, who also won his first 1-on-1 rep, broke a long punt return.
- Andy Borregales connected on 4-of-5 field goals with a long of 52 yards — doinking one in and one out. Borregales then hit on both end-of-game field goals (including one fire drill with seconds remaining) from 52 and 57 yards out.
- Bryce Baringer continued his strong summer with multiple punts clocking a five-plus second hang time.
Preview
The Patriots will be back on the practice fields Thursday for Day 2 of joint practices with the Philadelphia Eagles. Practice will move into the red zone and is set to start at 10:15 a.m. ET.
