The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles held their second and final joint practice on Thursday, which turned out to be another highly competitive day.
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
In typical fashion, the joint practice between the Patriots and Eagles featured full pads and ran just over two hours long. The day saw work mainly move into the red zone
before again ending in an end-of-game drive.
As for the team’s tempers, the Eagles offense and Patriots defense saw a handful of sideline clearing scuffles, but cooler heads seemed to prevail each time. Overall, it was a great two days of work.
Attendance
Absent: CB Christian Gonzalez, ED Xavier Holmes, OL Ben Brown, FB Reggie Gilliam (new), CB Channing Canada (new)
Limited: OG Greg Van Roten, OT Morgan Moses
PUP/NFI: ED Harold Landry III, S Brenden Schooler
It was a similar group of absentees for the Patriots on Thursday as Christian Gonzalez remained sidelined. New England did add Reggie Gilliam (likely load management) and Channing Canada, who left practice early on Wednesday, to their absent list.
Along the offensive line, newly signed guard Greg Van Roten did not participate in full team periods again while Morgan Moses was limited in a usual fashion.
Takeaways
Defense fights back: After a back-and-forth battle with the Eagles offense on Day 1, the Patriots defense delivered their share fair of punches on Day 2. New England’s front posted a better performance against Saquon Barkley and the Eagles’ rushing attack while the turnovers continued to pile up as Marcus Jones recorded two interceptions — including one potential pick six on a tipped pass.
In terms of pressure, New England’s blitz packages continue to be their most consistent way of heating up quarterbacks outside of Milton Williams. It was encouraging to see Elijah Ponder have a notable late win over All-Pro left tackle Jordan Mailata.
Philadelphia’s offense did find success in the end-of-game drive with 45 seconds on the clock and the ball at the 25-yard line. Hurts completed a pass to Dontayvion Wicks with Kindle Vildor in coverage before finding Hollywood Brown in the end zone over Vildor two plays later. Vildor replaced Charles Woods in the period as the top cornerback opposite of Carlton Davis — a potential position of concern as the depth has struggled in the past week.
Red zone woes: Improving in the red zone is an area of focus for the Patriots this season after struggling as a unit last year. On Thursday, the inconsistencies continued even though Drake Maye and Co. started strong with touchdowns to Mack Hollins and A.J. Brown on a contested catch over Quinyon Mitchell.
From there, pressure became more of an issue and Maye was late targeting Brown along the goal line which led to a long pick-six by Riq Woolen. Maye’s end-of-game drive then ended on one play as a slant to Brown was broken up with the ball popping up into the air and Jalyx Hunt recording an interception. The unit was given a second chance which ended better with a touchdown to Romeo Doubs.
“Felt like we could have done more in the red zone,” Maye said after practice. “That’s something for us to learn. It’s one of our focuses this year… so we got some work to do.”
Active A.J.: While the Maye and A.J. Brown connection ended the day with two interceptions, the duo started the day red hot once again. Brown got revenge against Quinyon Mitchell in 1-on-1s to open the day with an impressive one-handed, toe tap catch in the back left corner of the end zone. He then bested the cornerback for three touchdowns in two-on-two goal line work.
As full-team periods began, Brown drew a defensive pass interference downfield against Mitchell on the first play of scrimmage before hauling in two more receptions.
“He continues to make plays and we got to find ways to get him the football,” Maye said.
Other notes:
- Kayshon Boutte ended the day catching a fade in the end zone to cap off Tommy DeVito’s end-of-game drive.
- DeVito and Kyle Williams also connected on a long, 40-yard touchdown down the left sideline with Williams beating former Patriots cornerback Shaun Wade.
- Efton Chism III hauled in an impressive catch in the end zone working the sideline in 1-on-1s and caught a touchdown from DeVito on a play-action rollout.
- Hassan Haskins continues to look like the third running back with his offensive and special teams usage. Haskins had a pair of notable runs on Thursday including one touchdown.
- Will Campbell and Caleb Lomu each split their 1-on-1 reps. Campbell continued to have some issues in pass pro against Jalyx Hunt, who is a breakout candidate for the Eagles this year, but did have a nice stunt pickup with Alijah Vera-Tucker to lead to Romeo Doubs’ touchdown.
- Caleb Lomu saw extensive time at right tackle in place of Morgan Moses. He allowed one sack in 11-on-11s.
- Cory Durden had a strong day with a pressure and later drew a hold near the goal line. Elijah Ponder had multiple wins and recorded a downfield PBU covering a similar wheel route that beat him on Wednesday.
- Kyle Williams and Lan Larison served as the top two kick returners.
- No field goals or punts on Thursday.
Preview
The Patriots will hold a closed walkthrough on Friday as they get set for their second preseason game Saturday night. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium against the Philadelphia Eagles.
