Column: Old friends, good football make for great theater

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The setting was one of the most historic resorts in the country, The Greenbrier, with perfectly manicured grounds and top-notch service to go around. The weather was largely perfect. Everyone seemed happy with the arrangements.

But, really, these two joint practices between the Texans and Patriots should have been a backyard game in the crisp autumn New England air. That’s the feel it had. Sure, we’re talking about the greatest football players and coaches in the world, but at a basic level, these were just a lot of old friends getting together and playing some ball.

On one side you had Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Josh McDaniels, Julian Edelman and Matt Patricia, among others. On the other side was Bill O’Brien, Mike Vrabel, Romeo Crennel, Larry Izzo and Wes Welker.

There’s certainly a ton of mutual respect between the two camps, but there is one trait they share that has made them the best at what they do. It drives everything in both franchises on a daily basis, and it permeated the two lengthy and physical practices here: competitiveness.

Brady was sick of seeing his team look sloppy on Tuesday, so he screamed at them on two occasions. O’Brien could be heard kicking his offense off the field a few times, and telling linebacker Benardrick McKinney to, basically, get his head out of his rear.

There was McDaniels on one side of the field with his headset on, sending in instructions to his quarterbacks, trying to infiltrate a talented Texans defense. On the other side, Vrabel was trying to come up with plays that would thwart the high-powered attack orchestrated by McDaniels and Brady, Vrabel’s long-time teammate and good friend.

The meeting of these two teams didn’t need all the trappings. It was almost a waste. They just needed a patch of grass and a football.

“They beat our ass the last couple of times we’ve played them, so it’s been hard to sit over on the other sidelines, but I think to be able to practice against them and see them in somewhat of a relaxed setting, it’s great,” said Vrabel. “They’ve got a great staff, they’ve got great players. Tom’s a phenomenal leader, good friend, all the way down ...  all those guys that I was a part of a team and a championship team with them. Now, to be on the other sidelines, it’s fun during practice.”

Brady relished the challenge of going against his friend and a tough defense. He also might have gotten the best of them on Wednesday.

“Yeah, there are so many good players out there on that field,” he said. “They were the first-ranked defense in the league last year. It’s just tough to move the ball. As you guys saw, there are a lot of plays that we may make or we may get sacked. I don’t know. In the game would we have moved and gotten away from something? Was it an offensive PI? Was it a defensive PI? It’s just good getting some work in, some real competitive work. They made their fair share of plays. We made our fair share, so it was a fun couple of days.”

On Tuesday, the Patriots looked like a team that had just stepped of a charter and arrived for some rest and relaxation. The Texans were hooting and hollering as they put two Patriots on their backs during a punt blocking drill. J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus appeared to be having a pass-rush meeting in the Patriots’ backfield. The Patriots were bruised (LaAdrian Waddle left after bending over from a shot to the midsection) and bloodied (running back LeShun Daniels had to be tended for what looked like a cut over his right eye). Brady sensed what was going on and let out one of his patented TB12 rallying barks.

“You’re just trying to create some urgency,” Brady said. “I ask guys to dig a little deeper. It goes like that. Sometimes things don’t go great in the first quarter of games, sometimes they don’t go great in the first half, sometimes they don’t go great for the first three quarters, but you’ve got to keep grinding.

“I think what you realize with (the Texans) is they're not going to make it easy on you. There is no easy play, there is no easy throw, there is no easy run. They’ve got good players, they’ve got a good scheme, so it’s really challenging and has forced us to raise our game.”

Guessing that was the message on Tuesday afternoon, when the Patriots retreated to their bunker (literally, they used the famous Greenbrier bunker as their home base) to go over the film of the day. Because when the Patriots showed up on Wednesday, they were all business.

There were many more 11-on-11 sessions in the second practice, and the Texans decided against having concurrent scrimmages on two fields. Only one field was used, so that meant the sidelines were filled with players and coaches. It was great theater. When rookie Derek Rivers sacked Tom Savage on the first play of 11-on-11s, the cheer from the Patriots’ sideline was loud and noticeable. There were screams for big hits, oohs for big plays and trash talking when someone made a defensive play. And it wasn’t just the players. The Patriots’ assistants were right in the middle of it and their colorful language could be heard deep into the stands.

It went that way on both sides. Savage and Deshaun Watson would throw touchdown passes for the Texans, and then Brady would answer with a deep ball to Chris Hogan or Brandin Cooks. Just trading blow after blow.

“I think we can figure out if we’re physical, if we’re competitive, if we can play fast and aggressive, if we can get lined up to the tempo,” Vrabel said about going against the Patriots. “All those types of things get answered when you play against good, sound, fundamental football teams like the Patriots.

“There’s a lot of weapons, led by Tom. Josh calls a great game over there and it was good because nothing was scripted and we all kind of had to just come up with the calls on the fly and think fast, just like a game.”

There’s little doubt both teams will be better for having spent these two days amongst friends. Patriots camp, to this point, had lacked a sense of urgency. That changed on Wednesday, when you could see the competitive fires being reawakened. Sure, the Patriots will face better quarterbacks than Savage and Watson, but the Texans’ defense is legit. And for the Texans, there is no great competition than the reigning world champions.

“Two very good football teams going against each other, a lot of good battles out there, a lot of fun,” said J.J. Watt. “It's football. Nobody is doing any crazy plays. It's head-to-head football, a lot of good work out there. You live for that. You want somebody's best shot. That's the only way you find out how good you are."

Two days in the (Greenbrier) valley had two good football teams, a lot of good friends, and some ultra-competitive football. For the middle of August, it doesn’t get much better than that. No matter what football field you’re playing on.