FOXBOROUGH — Practice No. 13 is in the books. Here's a look at what you need to know, including stats, one-on-one charts and 3 up/3 down.
NOTE: I'm going to be posting this in pieces as I have to go and do Felger and Mazz at 2 p.m. I'll start with the highlights.
FOUR THINGS THING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Offense takes some more small steps: It was far from good, but the offense was certainly improved over the previous two weeks when they could barely walk and chew gum at the same time. The Patriots actually made some plays down the field, including a great catch and throw deep from Mac Jones to DeVante Parker, but there were still a lot of blocking issues.
The Patriots' first-team offense ran 39 plays in team situations. Jones completed 21 of 35 passes with an interception and most were of the less-than-10-yard variety. He was sacked five times and the blocking was worse in running game, where the Patriots did try a few wide zone runs. New England ran six times and four were stuffed.
Patriots' defense seemed to win the day against a Panthers offense still feeling its way with a QB competition. Patriots pass rush was very good although Baker Mayfield did make some plays down the field.
Hunter Henry leaves practice: Not sure what happened to him as there was no apparent injury — if I had to guess, I would say it's in the hands as he had taken off his gloves — but Henry walked off the practice field and did not return. The TEs are already down Dalton Keene, leaving Jonnu Smith, Devin Asiasi (just returned) and Matt Sokol.
Major fight breaks out; Bourne, Wilkerson ejected: A huge, prolonged fight broke out between the Panthers defense and Patriots offense on the left field when it appeared Kristian Wilkerson had about enough of the Panthers' extra contract and trash talking. At one point, Bourne threw a huge punch to the helmet of a Panther. Practice resumed and then it started again with James Ferentz taking exception. At that point, both head coaches had to call their teams in for a talk. There were no issues to finish practice.
Malcolm Butler, Joejuan Williams placed on IR: We wondered why two cornerbacks were not at practice on Monday with a roster cutdown set to come at 4 p.m. Tuesday ... and we have our answer. Both Butler and Williams were injured in the preseason game and were placed on IR, which ends their seasons. Williams was a longshot to make the roster, and Butler was in a battle for one of the spots. The Patriots' CB depth chart now:
Boundary
Jalen Mills
Jonathan Jones
Terrance Mitchell
Jack Jones
Shaun Wade
Slot
Myles Bryant
Marcus Jones
Wade
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Out: OT Isaiah Wynn (unknown), TE Dalton Keene (unknown), OT Justin Herron (unknown), OG Bill Murray.
Limited: OL Chasen Hines.
New injury: TE Hunter Henry (unknown) left practice, did not return. OL Yasir Durant (unknown) left practice, did not return.
Returned to practice: None.
Physically unable to perform list: None.
Non-football injury list: OL Andrew Stueber.
Red non-contact jerseys: QBs, specialists
DRESS CODE
Full pads (Day 6)
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
Over 2 hours in sunny and not conditions.
QB STATS
Mac Jones: 19 of 33 (58 percent), 5 sacks, 1 INT.
Brian Hoyer: 12 of 17
ONE-ON-ONE REPORT
Only got a chance to watch the offensive linemen today. I'll watch the defensive line on Wednesday if the opportunity arises.
Notes:
- Cole Strange's reps: Lost to DE Marquis Haynes; Beat DT Derrick Brown; Lost in rematch to Brown.
- Trent Brown is so dominating at times. It feels like undersized guys are like, 'What's the point?'
- Onwenu is starting to put some good performances together.
- Shout out to James Ferentz, who has been vastly improved this camp over his many others. Maybe knew he needed to step it up with Ted Karras gone.
- Arlington Hambright continues to be a factor.
- Not very impressed with the Panthers' pass rushers. Not much shake or power. Still, another good showing by the Patriots, who won 19-11-7. As I've said many times, they can block. The new scheme has thrown them off in team. Let them get back to basics and just beating the guy across from them.
THREE UP
CB Jalen Mills: Continued his very strong camp by getting his hands on more balls and breaking up a ball in the end zone. Was on DJ Moore most of the day, which is a good matchup.
DE Deatrich Wise: In his first real playing time of camp, Wise was a force with the pass rush and harrassed the Panthers' QBs.
WR DeVante Parker: I think Parker said this, but it's true — they aren't 50/50 balls to him, they are 70/30 balls. He is great with the ball in the air.
THREE DOWN
LG Cole Strange: Wasn't very impressive going 1-1 in his one-on-one reps, gave up a sack and was called for a hold in team periods.
QB Mac Jones: Overall he had a pretty good day but he has some real issues pushing the ball downfield if he he couldn't get his legs into his throws — similar to last season. Yes, Parker caught 50-50 balls ... but why did they have to be 50-50? And his interception, even if it was on a gotta-have-it play, was just terrible — retreating, thrown up for grab and poorly short of the end zone — to the point that if it happened in a real game, he would be killed on ESPN for a week.
WR Kendrick Bourne: Even before the fight, Bourne was tossed off the field by an official for something and he had trouble getting away from coverage. Something seemed off about him. Belichick really got after him at one point.
QUICK HITS
- Jonathan Jones once again worked at outside corner with Myles Bryant getting the top slot billing over Marcus Jones.
- Jones looked really quick on punt returns.
- Ty Montgomery seems to be sort of the new Aaron Hernandez/Cordarrelle Patterson in that he can line up quickly and allow them to go fast when needed, which we saw a few times today.
- It should be noted that the Patriots sent pressure a crapload at the Panthers, while Carolina hardly ever blitzed the Patriots. Both could have been at the request of the respective head coach. Matt Rhule may have wanted Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold to be tested. Panthers did not have stud DE Brian Burns.
- Jabrill Peppers was finally seen on defense and played mostly traditional strong safety, and broke up a pass.
- Patriots ran some elements of the wide zone with varying results, especially in the running game. But the playaction passing off it was on point.
- Patriots defense dominated, but Christian McCaffrey got them a few times on big runs as well.
- Jakobi Meyers just does his job. All the time. Love the way he catches the ball with his hands.
- Tyquan Thornton continued his impressive route running. Caused some issues for the Panthers.
- Former Raiders GM Mike Mayock and former Bears head coach Mark Trestman were among those in attendance.
SCHEDULE
Wednesday: Joint practice with Panthers, 9:30 a.m. - Last open practice at Gillette.
Thursday: OFF
Friday: vs. Panthers, 7 p.m. at Gillette