The Patriots' second practice open to the media was Friday, and here's what you need to know before we get into my observations:
• Cam Newton injured, doesn't finish practice: About halfway through the session and during a period where the QBs were working on the side against coaches provide some pass rush with pads to work on footwork, Newton injured his right throwing hand. Not sure exactly how it happened — could have hit a pad or helmet awkwardly — but it was serious enough that trainers were immediately summoned and the team doctor looked at it. To me, and I could be wrong, but it looked like the injury was to his index finger in the hand around the knuckle. That was the area that seemed to get the most attention. Newton was obviously not happy about the development and his attitude seemed to turn for the rest of practice. He did not get ice. He didn't leave. He just watched.
• Mac Jones next up after Newton: When the injury happened, Josh McDaniels immediately ran over to Bill Belichick and discussed (I'm guessing) how to divide the reps after the injury. Jones was first up for the rest of practice, then Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer.
• Defense was WAY ahead of the offense and Mac Jones: With Kyle Van Noy back, the defense seemed to gain a little bit of confidence and they were flying all over the field in team periods that were all sub vs. multiple receivers. Without their top three tackles, the offense could barely hold up from the onslaught. It had a trickle-down effect as Mac Jones had a rough practice, and I'm not really all that alarmed about that (more on the context of that later). Jarrett Stidham did much better, and looked like he gained a lot of confidence. Maybe this could be a turning point for him. Had a really nice in-cut to Jakobi Meyers.
• Returning players:
Tre Nixon
Chase Winovich
Kyle Van Noy
Christian Barmore
Lawrence Guy
Brandon King
Harvey Langi
• Missing players:
Matthew Judon
Stephon Gilmore
Adrian Phillips
JC Jackson
Devin McCourty
Dont'a Hightower
Terez Hall
Byron Cowart
Nick Folk
Sony Michel
Rhamondre Stevenson
Isaiah Wynn
Trent Brown
Jonnu Smith
N'Keal Harry
Devin Smith
Brandon Bolden
Damien Harris (left leg in sleeve)
Cam McGrone (left knee in brace)
Joshuah Bledsoe (right wrist in cast)
Dalton Keene (left leg in sleeve)
BEDARD'S OBSERVATIONS
• Good to see Christian Barmore on the field. Certainly looks the part and he seemed to have a little giddy-up in his pass rush during teams drills. Very encouraging to see him asking questions of Lawrence Guy during positional work.
• This practice had a much quicker pace than the first one, even if there were a lot of special teams periods. This felt like a blitz heavy day for the defense and they were naturally way ahead of the offense. The defense has much more continuity with who was there than the offense.
• Kyle Van Noy should have picked off Mac Jones but dropped it. Jones also had a few passes tipped.
• Didn't see the defense in base during this practice but most of the time Van Noy started at inside linebacker and would move around from there.
• Henry Anderson appeared to have a great day, which should happen when the offense is without its top two tackles. That's a rough go for an offense trying to get a lot of people up to speed. They're going to have days like this.
• Josh McDaniels was not cutting them any slack. He was clearly not happy with the unit early in practice.
• JJ Taylor ... there's something there, and I want him on kickoff returns.
• I like the sight of Guy and Davon Gauchaux standing next to each other waiting for the offense to break the huddle. "Come at me, bro." With no Judon, Chase Winovich seemed to be the beneficiary of the extra reps.
• I'm not sure the Patriots have a firm grasp on what they're going to do with Josh Uche. I'm having a hard time figured out his role, and it looks like he's swimming a bit.
• Patriots added another receiver in Marvin Hall. Nothing really noteworthy about him either way.
• Nelson Agholor just looks comfortable, and knows how to get open. Good route running. Hunter Henry has been solid but has yet to provide a wow moment.
• Again, Quinn Nordin was impressive with his leg strength and his accuracy seems to be good so far — certainly better than Justin Rohrwasser. At one point, Nordin hit a 50-yarder that said through near the top of the goalposts. Probably would have been good from over 60.
• Ernie Adams was present as usual.
• Belichick spoke well of Jones before practice. “I think Mac, he has a pretty good understanding of the things that we do,” Belichick said. “He has to go out there and do them to get comfortable with them. It’s a process. We’ve had a number of other players at that quarterback position come in and go through that. Sometimes it starts a little slower and picks up. Sometimes it starts a little higher and slows down. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
“But, you know, he’s working hard. He puts in a lot of time. Certainly giving his very best effort to do everything we’ve asked him to do and do it the way we’ve asked him to do it, which is a great place to start. He’s earned a lot of respect for that. But he’s got a long way to go. We’ll see how it goes.”
- Column coming later -