PHILADELPHIA — Practice No. 15 is in the books for the Patriots, let's run down all you need to know: all the stats, key drives, play by play, 1-on-1 charts, 3 up/down and odds and ends:
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Patriots answer back on Day 2: The Eagles brought the physicality the first day and put the Patriots on their heels a bit, but the Patriots matched them on Day 2 and weren't afraid to talk. Brandon Bolden finished it off by taking a handoff in goal line off right tackle, lowering his shoulder and running over rookie DB Zech McPhearson. Jalen Mills, who was heckled throughout the first practice by his former teammates, taunted the Eagles after that my motioning that McPhearson needed to hit the weights. Earlier in practice, Eagles starting strong safety K'Von Wallace taunted the Patriots' passing offense for being Team Checkdown. Cam Newton heard him, said it was ok, then after completing a touchdown to Nelson Agholor said, "Is that what you want, 42?" Later Mac Jones found Kendrick Bourne wide open for a TD and Newton chirped, "That was on you, 42!" All in good fun and entertainment.
Defense struggles vs. Eagles: While most of our attention was fixated on the Patriots' offense, on the other field, the Eagles' offense seemed to be picking apart the Patriots. New England made some plays, but it seemed like the Eagles' tight ends — who are huge — were making plays all over the red zone, especially Dallas Goedert, who beat Adrian Phillips and Joejuan Williams for big plays. Zach Ertz beat Kyle Dugger for a TD.
No QB blood today: Those of you looking for Bill Belichick to all but announce Cam Newton as his starter with the rep distribution got no satisfaction today. While Newton always went first, the offense line combinations were mixed and Mac Jones definitely got more reps with the starters today.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
New injuries: TE Troy Fumagalli (unknown); LB Ronnie Perkins (lower right leg) left and did not return.
Returned to practice: None.
Physically unable to perform list: CB Stephon Gilmore (quad), QB Jarrett Stidham, DE Chase Winovich, LB Terez Hall, DT Byron Cowart.
Non-football injury list: LB Cameron McGrone (knee), S Joshuah Bledsoe (wrist).
Red non-contact jerseys: QBs.
Full participants: None.
Out: DB Myles Bryant (upper body), LB Anfernee Jennings, DT Lawrence Guy, TE Hunter Henry, TE Jonnu Smith, WR Tre Nixon.
Limited: None.
DRESS CODE
Pads.
Count: Helmets (3), Shells (6), Pads (6).
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
1:20 under partly cloudy skies and it was humid.
QB STATS
Cam Newton:13 of 15, drop; 2.5 snap to throw
Mac Jones: 13 of 14, INT; 3.08 snap to throw
Daily Winner: None.
Scoreboard: Jones 7, Newton 3, Draw 2 (Jones 3 TKOs, Newton 1).
HANDS TEAM
Fumbles: None.
Drops: Wilkerson, Asiasi.
Pass breakups: Dugger, Joejuan Williams, Phillips, JC Jackson.
Interception: None.
TOP PLAYS
- Jones' INT was a bad pass to Jakobi Meyers that had no chance. Eagles LB Alex Singleton read it the whole way.
- Kendrick Bourne caught a potential INT off an Eagle from Cam Newton.
- Jakobi Meyers made a great catch behind him off a heater from Brian Hoyer.
- Jones threw three straight low red zone TDs at one point to White, Harry and Bolden.
- Jones had a great playaction TD to Asiasi in the final red zone team period.
- Newton had Agholor wide open in his only red zone throw but it was late and batted down easily by rookie LB Patrick Johnson.
ONE-ON-ONE REPORT
(DW: Decisive Win. DL: Decisive loss)
They do offense and defense at same time. We watched the offensive line today.
Patriots offense
All the reps
THREE UP
Patriots starting offensive line: While the entire unit did well in 1 on 1s, the starting unit was 6-1-4 against the Eagles, with Mike Onwenu having the only loss. And Fletcher Cox didn't have a win in three reps. He was handled by Shaq Mason and Marcus Martin, who has come on as of late.
OT Justin Herron: The second-year tackle was a very impressive 3-0 in 1 on 1s and posted two decisive wins. He also lined up as a TE to make up for the lack of numbers there.
WR Kendrick Bourne: Was 3-0 in his DB 1 on 1 reps and caught a few TDs in red zone work.
TWO DOWN
WR Kristian Wilkerson: Went 1-2 in DB reps and had another drop.
TE Devin Asiasi: He's the only TE left on the field and he's not doing much on it. Had another drop today. Isn't playing very fast or with confidence.
QUICK HITS
- Belichick spent much of practice talking with former personnel assistant Mike Lombardi, who lives in South Jersey. Matt Patricia supervised the Patriots' offense.
- Ron Jaworski took in practice.
- Belichick said don't read anything into who's playing with who. "We've told all the players from back in May when we started, which is the absolute truth, is not to spend a lot of time worrying about who else is out there with you," he said. "Worry about what you're doing and try to get it right. ... I think it's a lot more important for the offensive linemen to play with the offensive linemen than it is for the quarterback to play with the offensive line. The same thing on defense. It's important for the linebackers to play with the linebackers than it is for the linebackers to play with the secondary or whatever."
- Belichick was fine with the Day 1 physicality. "I think we all got a lot out of practice," Belichick said. "I think they felt like they did. I know we felt like we did, and it was very similar. Honestly, probably as similar as we could get to the way we would have practiced without Philadelphia if we just practiced with ourselves. I think that's an important part of developing your team is learning how to practice and practicing so that you get better, the guy you're working against get better, both sides of the ball get better. At the same time, it's not a full speed level, but it's a level where we can work and improve and try to minimize the risk to having a lot of guys on the ground and having piles and things like that. That's how we practice. It's obvious that's how the Eagles practice. I thought we had a good working practice."
SCHEDULE
Wednesday: OFF.
Thursday: at Eagles, 7:30 p.m.
Friday: OFF.