GREEN BAY, Wis. — I'm going to be completely honest, these joint practice sessions are a blur and I'm sure I missed a ton trying to watch both sides of the field.
My overriding thought walking away from Ray Nitschke Field was that the Packers won the day. Not super convincingly, but enough. One team flashed an explosive offense, the other did not. I thought big plays were a problem for the Patriots' defense and not for the Packers - because the Patriots are fairly limited on offense, at least at this point.
Another admission: as reporters, we have no clue what the role of pressure on the QB has in these sessions from field level. Patriots backups gave up a ton of sacks (eight), but from field level, you have no clue what really is or isn't a sack (it's much easier with the Patriots because Bailey Zappe holds the ball forever - which could be influenced by the lack of separation from the receivers). That only truly reveals itself by viewing the film, and I don't see Bill Belichick sharing that anytime soon ;). Some of the Packers big plays could have been sacks, we don't know.
But these are some of my concerns/areas of confidence with the Patriots after seeing them measured up against another team — a middling team at that (Packers are +4000 odds at Fanduel; Patriots are +6000).
SLOW STARTERS
These are the Patriots joint practices that I've covered:
2023 at Green Bay
2022 Carolina, at Las Vegas
2021 at Philadelphia, New York Giants
2019 at Tennessee, at Detroit
2017 Jacksonville, at Houston in West Virginia
2016 New Orleans
2015 at New Orleans in West Virginia
2012 New Orleans, at Tampa Bay
On the vast majority of occasions, I thought the Patriots had a rough first day and usually rebounded on Day 2. 2021 at Philly, 2019 at Tennessee and Detroit, at Houston at The Greenbrier in 2017 stand out the most.
To me, I don't think the Patriots are ready to take part in these things due to their own training camps, which have started very slowly in recent years. I think other teams are more physical in their camps, have more of a sense of urgency ... it's the Patriots and Belichick giving motivation ... and the Patriots just aren't on the same level. That could also contribute to their slow seasonal starts in recent years (2-5, 1-3, 1-3 since Tom Brady).
The good news is that the Patriots always rebound on Day 2. They go back and watch the film, get reamed out by coaches, and bring it on Day 2. So it's there, I just don't understand why it takes so long. I looked forward to the Patriots being better on Thursday.
The Patriots were pretty physical on defense overall, so I would expect the Packers' offense to come out and try to be physical. Could lead to some fights.
SECONDARY CONCERNS
So, yeah, I'm officially concerned about the secondary after watching Jordan Love and the Packers make a lot of plays. Liked what I saw out of Love. He's big, strong and poised, and he throws a nice ball. Of course, that's easy when you know you're not going to get hit.
Probably the thing I'm most alarmed about is that I don't see the Patriots playing a ton of man coverage. They are playing a lot of zone. To me, that tells me the coaches are worried about exposing those guys. You need to play man coverage to play good defense in today's NFL. I'm sure they'll get there, but...
Player by player:
Christian Gonzalez: Typical rookie stuff. Peeked inside in Cover 3 and got burned. Got beat off the line on another play. Outmuscled on a couple other plays. He's just going to have to play more physical. May not come as a rookie, but he can grow into it.
Jack Jones: Made a few plays, got burned on some others. Pretty typical of him. He gambles so much and is so aggressive. He's still very boom and bust.
Marcus Jones: He's always there, they just make plays over his head.
When Jon Jones comes back, that should help things by slotting everyone down. So I'm not super alarmed.
The Packers are going to be a big play team, so they're always going to get some. It was somewhat funny — and typical of the Matt LaFleur operation that the Packers, needing only a field goal, hit a huge play down near the goal line from Clifford to Heath over Jack Jones and at the end of it ... got zero points because the officials said the clock ran out. Heath celebrated like it was the Super Bowl and CB Jaire Alexander came off the bench. In the Packers' defense, one official on the field did rule it a touchdown. But in the end, the Packers got nothing.
I am really worried about the free safety thing. Some of these big plays, the issues are there and not providing the right help. They keep flipping between Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers, Adrian Phillips, Joshuah Bledsoe and Jalen Mills ... yeah, the offense is confused but are we sure the Patriots know where to go?
OFFENSIVE LINE WILL BE FINE
The line, to this point and with even Trent Brown back, has been crap the last week. Still, I'm not all that worried about it with all the injuries. Atonio Mafi is not quite ready to start, but Cole Strange will be back. Mike Onwenu is a stud, so Riley Reiff won't have to play there any more. With four good starters, they'll be fine in the long run.
And the second-string line, which has truly been a disaster, will be better when Mafi and Reiff can go there.
However, I do worry about this a little ... between Mafi and Reiff, Mafi is by far the better guard. If you're expecting Strange back soon, why not rep him on the right side? It tells me that Onwenu is much closer to being back than Strange, and that does worry me.
The good news out of today for the line? The Packers are big and physical up front, even missing a couple of guys. And for the most part, the five Patriots "starters" held their own physically.
HOW ARE THEY GOING TO MAKE BIG PLAYS?
I now understand why they are trying quickly to make Demario Douglas and Malik Cunningham more assimilated into the offense — Bill O'Brien knows he is going to be challenged to make big plays with this group, so he is getting every tool ready.
I'm sorry, but DeVante Parker, Juju Smith-Schuster and Kendrick Bourne — let alone Hunter Henry — do not scream big, explosive plays. They all have issues getting open quickly. That continues to make the Patriots offense plodding.
The Patriots are going to need everything working for them - a good line, a good running game, hit a shot play or two - for them to hold up their end of the bargain.
We also have to remember that this is the third "system" the Patriots have been in the past three years. Yeah, it's somewhat familiar, but there's still a learning process. Compare that to the Packers being in Year 4 with Matt LaFleur ... Love sat a few years and learned. Watson and Doubs are in Year 2. There's a comfort that comes with that, and the Patriots don't have it. But they can get better and I look forward to them taking a step forward on Day 2.