GREEN BAY, Wis. — By almost any measure, the Patriots' secondary had a rough time with the Packers on the first day of joint practices.
Jordan Love looked like Aaron Rodgers' true successor as he calmly and confidently made big plays to his top two targets, Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. Even on a few plays where they didn't connect, the Packers were oh-so-close to dancing on the Patriots' heads — and they did some of that too.
You couldn't help but wonder if the Patriots' secondary, without FS Devin McCourty (retirement) and CB Jonathan Jones (injury), were going to have a hard time measuring up this season. In their own practices, physical receivers DeVante Parker and Juju Smith-Schuster, along with Mike Gesicki, were getting their fair share of plays. That continued a bit in the preseason opener against the lowly Houston Texans. And then Wednesday's practice on Ray Nitschke Field happened.
Are they too green? Too small? Too soft?
It was fair to have those questions, and you wonder if the Patriots coaches challenged them on the same points back at the team hotel during film review.
While I certainly still have a lot of questions about the free safety position — they have lined up with Kyle Dugger and Adrian Phillips as the first-team safeties, and Shaun Wade and Joshuah Bledsoe on second team, with some Jabrill Peppers and Jalen Mills mixed in with each unit — the young defenders on all three levels answered back in Thursday's session.
These are the mental snapshots that I will carry with me out of Wisconsin:
- Young linebacker/safety Marte Mapu (now fully cleared) standing over fellow rookie TE Tucker Kraft after delivering a big hit;
- First-round pick Christian Gonzalez, stride for stride with Packers rookie WR Dontayvion Wicks into the end zone, reading the ball perfectly and tipping away a possible touchdown.
- Jack Jones tipping away a pass intended for Doubs.
- Keion White taking Isiah McDuffie's helmet and chucking it halfway to the Packers' sideline ... basically saying, 'Get the eff out of here.'
- Kyle Dugger picking off Jordan Love in the end zone trying to go to Bo Melton
- Marcus Jones getting into it with crap-talker Malik Heath and then later getting an interception.
(Bonus offensive Tommy Points: Ezekiel Elliott wasting no time grabbing his new teammates' back and being right in the mix, and Kayshon Boutte's clutch TD grab at the pylon.)
"I suspect that we came out here to get better," said Matthew Judon. "I believe Green Bay wants to get better. I believe the Patriots want to get better. You know, you don't put gloves on for a living. we're no boxers, no fighters. We came out here to get better and improve in our craft. And if any of that would happen during the game, we all would have been kicked out. We would be playing with 17 players so that stuff can't happen. You got to be a professional about it and we came here to play football and that's what we got to."
Look, was it all perfect? No. Watson smoked Marcus Jones on a slant touchdown. And I'm still concerned how free safety is going to work out (there's a lot of communication issues there).
But whatever transpired between the film session on Wednesday night through the practice on Thursday is the type of moment that you can look back later and say, 'Yeah, that's where things came together for this team.'
"I think they are building an identity for their team, they got a really good team, really good players, really good program around here," Judon said. "And we're doing the same. We're building who we want to become for this year, for the season.
There's still a long ways to go with a preseason game on Saturday night, two joint practices in Nashville plus a game, and then the long run-up to the season. Anything can happen, and this could be a blip.
But what happened on Thursday is usually important. The Patriots were challenged, and they responded. That's especially important for the young Patriots on defense. But let's also not discount what the offense did as well.
You know me, not going to be hyperbolic about anything on Aug. 17, but Thursday was at least a good measuring stick. And to see the youngsters on this defense rise to the occasion ... that's not nothing at this point.
Time will tell if it means anything — the Packers could be soft and underwhelming — but it's a step in the right direction at the very least.
We talk about stacking days. Let's see if they can stack performances. Doubt the starters play much on Saturday night, but the Titans will be another test for the youth on this team.
Let's see if they can build off this. You never know what might happen.