FOXBOROUGH — Practice No. 6 is in the books, let's run down all you need to know: all the stats, one-on-one totals, 3 up/down and odds and ends:
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Cam Newton wins the day decisively: Passing totally took a backdoor in this practice with the pads back on — even the passes in 11-on-11s aren't really full-out because both sides are only supposed to go all out for the first 5 yards or so — but Newton was the most consistent passer with several nice tosses in 7-on-7s, and his dime touchdown to Nelson Agholor over Kyle Dugger in 4.13 seconds was the highlight. If Mac Jones had a 10-8 round the first day, then Newton got his big round today. Jones struggled a bit with the quicker pace. One interception and another near INT (Anfernee Jennings dropped it) both came on the same play: bang action up the seam. Jones didn't even look, he just threw both. They might be coaching him that way, but that's a bread and butter play for the Patriots' passing offense under the former QB. That being said, Bill Belichick continued his devilish ways. The Patriots did a two-minute drill for the first time in camp (only at jog-through pace), and guess who was with the offensive starters? Jones. Newton was with the backups. And Jones continues to get time with the starting offensive line during practice.
Starting offensive line picks up where it left off: The starting five of Isaiah Wynn, Mike Onwenu, David Andrews, Shaq Mason and Trent Brown led the blockers during one-on-ones, going a combined 12-3-6. Tommy Point for former third-round pick Yodny Cajuste who, if memories serves, had never previously made it to one-on-ones and went 2-1-1. Totals and more observations below.
Young pass rushers start strong: Rookies Ronnie Perkins and Christian Barmore, and Josh Uche combined to go 11-2 in the opening one on ones. Now, one word of caution because context matters when talking about stats: none of those players beat a starter. When Barmore went against Onwenu in a point-of-attack drill, the rookie was driven back pretty easily although I do want to make an allowance that he might have been injured on that play. Tough to tell.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
New injuries: DT Christian Barmore (left big toe), LB Raekwon McMillan (foot).
Returned to practice: LB Anfernee Jennings (personal).
Physically unable to perform list: CB Stephon Gilmore (quad), QB Jarrett Stidham, DE Chase Winovich, LB Terez Hall, DT Byron Cowart, LB Brandon King, TE Dalton Keene.
Non-football injury list: LB Cameron McGrone (knee), S Joshuah Bledsoe (wrist).
Red non-contact jerseys: QBs, LB Kyle Van Noy.
Full participants: None.
Out: G/C Ted Karras (left knee), TE Devin Asiasi (Covid), DE Henry Anderson (chest).
Limited: None.
DRESS CODE
Full pads (first day).
Count: Helmets (2), Shells (3), Pads (1).
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
2 hours on a beautiful day.
QB STATS
Cam Newton:11 of 17.
Mac Jones: 9 of 14, drop, INT.
Daily Winner: Newton (TKO).
Scoreboard: Jones 3, Newton 3 (1 TKO each).
HANDS TEAM
Fumbles: None.
Drops: Jennings, Aghlor.
Pass breakups: JC Jackson, Joejuan Williams.
Interception: Bentley (Jones).
TOP PLAYS
- RB Rhamondre Stevenson bursting through the line, and Myles Bryant bouncing off his legs like a volleyball.
- Harry back-shoulder leaping catch against Jonathan Jones that got the crowd riled up. "He’s physical. He’s a big body, he’s a big target radius, he’s competitive. Every day he’s out there to compete and that’s what you like to see," Jones. said.
ONE-ON-ONE REPORT
(DW: Decisive Win. DL: Decisive loss)
Offense
Defense
Heavyweight bouts (starting-caliber players)
- Mason (1-0-1): beat Guy, tied Guy
- Andrews (1-0): beat Godchaux
- Brown (2-1): beat Uche, beat Wise, lost decisive to Judon.
- Onwenu (0-0-1): tied Guy.
- Wynn (1-0): beat Wise.
Upsets
- None.
Decisive victories
- Brown just stuffed Uche on first rep of day.
- Uche beat Cajuste with speed around the end.
- Perkins dipped around Herron.
- Barmore tossed Sherman aside.
- Wise turned corner hard on Prince.
- Judon beat Brown easily with speed.
- Davis used the vet push, pull rip to make quick work of Martin.
Notes
- Barmore was quite the force in pass rush, as expected. He lost his first rep on a close one to Alex Redmond, but won his last five fairly easily. Interested to see him go against the starters, which I'm sure will happen sooner rather than later. Barmore did get a rep at left end, as opposed to just the interior.
- Uche was probably the most impressive of the young pass rushers as he had wins against Justin Herron and Korey Cunningham, who are top backup types. He has a good variety of moves.
- Judon didn't impress for a bit, but his win over Brown to start the second period was pure speed. He did stand out on the edge against the run in team drills.
THREE UP
WR Cam Newton: Had really comfortable day all around and also looks very comfortable with the mobile aspects of the position when his number gets called.
WR N'Keal Harry: Won all three of his reps in one on ones and showed his physical side with the pads on. He's off to a solid start in camp. Needs to start stacking days.
CB Myles Bryant: Had two picks in 1-on-1s, and continues to show up with the starters on defense at different points.
TWO DOWN
Will Sherman & RJ Prince: A combined 0-9-2 in pass rush drills. Yikes.
Lawrence Guy: 0-fer in the pass rush drills. Pass rushing is not Guy's forte, but I think his tough day was more about Mason, Andrews and Onwenu.
QUICK HITS
- Officials were on the field and they were in midseason form: Jones had a great TD to Agholor but the official said he was out of bounds. The crowd, and the Patriots disagreed. Just like a game in the stadium.
- “See ball, get ball,” Bentley said of his INT of Jones. “Ball in the air, make a play on it. We’re out here working, trying to see what different things look like. Make some plays in the process. That was an example of making a play.”
- Wise on Barmore: "He was fast, got the ball, got off blocks and really got vertical, so he's looking good."
SCHEDULE
Wednesday: 9:30 a.m.
Thursday: 9:30 a.m.
Friday: 6 p.m. (in stadium).