The 2024 Patriots training camp is officially in the books. There were long practices in the midday heat, far too much lead-in time to get to the real work, and eyes everywhere, from the plethora of assistant coaches now on staff, to big dogs like Eliot Wolf, Matt Groh, and yes, plenty of Robyn Glaser sightings. Welcome to the New World Order in Foxborough.
Now's as good a time as any to give you my a 3-up and 3-down from Jerod Mayo's first real crack at being the head coach.
3 UP
1. DeMario 'Pop' Douglas: Health-willing, I set the over/under for Douglas at 80 catches. Upon watching him this summer, I'd say he could surpass that, assuming the QB play is competent and the offensive line isn't an abject disaster. Still would have liked to see him put on some pounds, but he's going to roll at 182 and try to survive the punishment all slot receivers face. Pop is the only guy they have that can get open quickly. If they don't lean on that, and him, I'd be surprised.
2. Jerod Mayo: Could practices have been a little tighter? 100%. But he handled his first crises - Matthew Judon - about as well as could be expected, especially in that emotional Monday moment. He was also able to convince Judon to get his ass on the field and be a full participant the last handful of days before he was traded. No small task when Judon was risking an injury with no guaranteed money. There's also been improvement in some of the pre-snap penalties we saw earlier in camp, and I think his promise of making the players be a track team and not a football team was a nice reminder of who's in charge.
3. Davon Godchaux: He handled his business in the spring by being a hold-in during mandatory mini-camp, made clear he wanted guaranteed money, and by approaching his camp the right way, got rewarded. I know Godchaux wanted more, and it wouldn't surprise me if he's doing something similar next year, but that's how this league works now. Plus, he's been unmovable for the better part of this summer, and has flashed as an interior pass rusher once a day. They'll need more from him with Christian Barmore out indefinitely.
3 DOWN
1. QB Competition - Does Mayo want one, but the offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and Wolf not think the kid was ready? Only playing him six snaps in the preseason opener remains a missed opportunity. What if Maye had been given the same leash as Joe Milton and showed you what he did vs. Philadelphia? Would that have allowed him to feel more comfortable and be in greater command, as has been the case in practice since that Eagles game? I believe that the answer is yes. Young players get better at football by playing football. I understand the institutional concern to put up safety rails in attempt to prevent the Mac Jones story happening all over again, but this kid doesn't have fragile in his profile. We'll see Maye well before this year is over, but it feels highly unlikely that the kid can make a push during the two weeks prior to the season opener. Just not enough practice time for that.
2. Javon Baker: By no means am I giving up on the 4th rounder. He just got here, for crying out loud. But the performance the last two weeks has hammered home the point that while very skilled, Baker has a long way to go to understand what it takes to be a pro. He's lacked consistency with his routes, hands, and even willingness to come back to the football. Maybe he'll be ready for prime time this season, but I have him behind Tyquan Thornton and Kayshon Boutte on the outside.
3. Wolf: His plan at left tackle with Chuks Okorafor, followed by Caedan Wallace. If not for an injury to Vederian Lowe ... Okorafor was going to be battling Wallace for the right tackle spot. Not ideal. If Lowe gets back on the practice field within the next few days, he probably deserves to slide back in with the ones unless the light goes on for Okorafor, and he dominates at Washinton. Wolf can say he believes they have a good group, but the fact that the Pats are headed into the final week of August and still don't know their best five is not something to stick your chest out for.
CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?
I did not expect the Tua Tagovailoa/Brian Flores relationship to resurface on my bingo card this week, but it did.
In an interview with 'The Dan LeBatard Show,' the Dolphins quarterback laid waste to his first NFL head coach, calling him a "terrible person" who told him things that "you don't want to hear or probably shouldn't be hearing."
Their two-year arranged marriage didn't go according to plan. Depending on which reporter you believe, Flores may not have been keen on drafting Tua #5 overall (one spot ahead of Justin Herbert)and was reluctant to make the in-season switch from Ryan Fitzpatrick to the former Alabama star. According to the quarterback, that union never improved, and when he compares that to how he's now being coached by Mike McDaniel, well, there's no comparison.
"If you woke up every morning and I told you [that] you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right, and then you have somebody else come in and tell you, 'Dude, you are the best fit for this,' how would it make you feel listening to one or the other..."
Flores responded a day after those clips made news in a pre-scheduled press conference at Vikings camp. It was clear those words stung the prideful former Patriots' assistant.
"Look, I'm human," said Flores. "So that hit me in a way that wasn't... positive for me. But at the same time, I've got to use that and say, 'Hey, how can I grow from that? How can I be better?' And that's really where I'm at from that standpoint. Do I feel like that's me? No. But how can I grow from that situation and create a world where that's not the case that anyone says that about Brian Flores?"
Flores was flanked by two of his current charges on that Minnesota defense, a show of support for a man who, as I said a number of times, was the most likely Belichick protege to succeed as an HC, mainly because he was his own man. I wrote about Flores in my previous life (NBC Sports Boston, January 2018), and what jumped out was how he appealed to those players professionally and related to them personally.
"Each guy he's dealt with knows him," Devin McCourty told me then. "I know his wife, I know his kids, his parents, his brother. I've been able to have an awesome relationship with him, and that ability to be able to relate to players - he's kinda still fairly young - that gets the best out of us."
"He kinda comes to you and basically says we're on even terms," said Duron Harmon. "We're all trying to get there; we're all trying to improve each day. It's been awesome for me to see."
But though Flores turned the team from 5-11 in his first year to 10-6 and then 9-8 in the next two, he could not save his job for a million reasons, give or take (Flores is suing the league). His inability to communicate with the owner, GM, staffers, and players continues to follow him, nevermind the whole 'Tamper with Tom Brady' saga.
"I think part of coaching is correcting," said Flores. "I'm always going to correct. I'm always going to have a high standard. And I think, look, I've done a lot of reflecting on the situation and communication. I think there's things that I could do better for sure, and I've grown in that way, and I've tried to apply the things that I could do better and the things that I've learned over the last two, three years.
"But I would say over the long haul, I've had a lot of great relationships over my 21-year career here in the league. ... I mean really across the board, I've had a lot of great relationships. I'm going to continue to do that, but I'm also always looking to get better and involved."
THEY'RE DOING WHAT? ROUND TWO
The NFL did a double take when the Atlanta Falcons drafted Michael Penix in the first round a month after inking Kirk Cousins to a free agent contract with a $50 million signing bonus and $100 million guaranteed. Why would you pick a 24-year-old who is largely developed to back up a player you just invested in financially and team-building-wise?
"If our goal was to get instant gratification, then we'd be doing different things," said GM Terry Fontenot at the end of the draft. "That's not our goal. Our goal is to build a sustained winner."
Great, in theory, assuming Cousins can withstand the heat of a fickle fan base calling for the backup every time he throws an interception or checks down on 3rd and 8 for a three-yard gain. And if Penix can manage to develop with limited practice snaps. Neither is a lock. This leads me to my next point: why are the Falcons already shutting down Penix for the preseason?
"You've seen the amount of reps that Michael's been able to get [in practice] without really taking away from our starters and Kirk, and it's been awesome," said head coach Raheem Morris earlier this week. "And I don't see that varying at all in his developmental plan, even moving into the season. Because he'll be able to have 100% of the reps versus our defense. And he's getting, I don't know how many reps versus our starting defense now."
Penix threw 16 passes in the first preseason game and won't play football — aside from practice — until an injury, a mop-up situation, or Cousins stinks. Two of those three options are bad for the Falcons, especially if aging owner Arthur Blank sees someone who got drafted after Penix contribute right away. 'Wait, we could have had that guy?' Anyway, you'd think getting Penix reps, even in weeks two and three of the preseason, would be suitable for his development, but Morris doesn't see it as necessary. Bold. Let's see how if it comes back to bite him.
DON'T BUY THE B.S.
Matthew Judon has been making the rounds with the media locally and nationally this week. He has tried to paint himself as a sympathetic figure, and while I can get behind the underpaid part (I beat that drum the entirety of the off-season), the 32-year-old lost me when he uttered this statement:
"The Atlanta Falcons know nothing about me as a football player, as a man. I can't really demand or ask for anything that I haven't worked for. That's the way I've been my whole life. I'm going to work for it, man."
Baloney.
Judon cares about his money. He should. I do, too (we are in a different tax bracket...). But he looked us all in the eyes July 24th and told us he'd play for the contract he signed with New England, even if he didn't like it. Five days later, Judon acted the fool on the first day of padded practices, and the rest was a dog-and-pony show designed to keep the fan base from completely turning on him while at the same time still angling for a ticket out of town. That doesn't diminish Judon's impact on the team for the two-plus years he was healthy, but spare me that holier-than-thou attitude. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck (hat tip to my Grammy).
RAIDER WAY(WARD)
The Raiders were one of the stories of the second half of last season. They gave the Chiefs the business, smoked cigars in the postgame locker room, and openly declared their distaste for the fired Josh McDaniels and their love for interim boss Antonio Pierce. Pierce now has the full-time gig, but the vibe, to a degree, has changed.
Start with Davante Adams, who talks about Aaron Rodgers and the Jets every chance he gets. But there's also the lack of involvement of Adams during training camp and the preseason. It's been explained away as a result of the birth of his child from an off-the-field standpoint and general soreness limiting his work between the lines. But there's a lingering contract conversation happening two years after Adams got the megabucks deals from the Raiders in the first place. That contract is now below market for a player of his caliber, and that's an issue. Just how significant remains to be seen.
Then there's the quarterback "competition," if you want to call it that. Gardner Minshew has been given the nod over incumbent Aidan O'Connell, but that is like picking between pestilence and the plague. Ok, that's a bit harsh, but no one will confuse that battle to say, Joe Montana vs. Steve Young. In fact, the rationale for going with Minshew was as uninspired as it should be.
"I don't think anything here is a finished product but based off the first quarter of the season, we feel like Gardner gives us the best opportunity," said Pierce.
Translation: we might be screwed.
Minshew threw more interceptions during training camp than O'Connell. Still, the second-year pro out of Purdue didn't take the step forward the team was hoping for, and his inability to extend plays, especially compared to Minshew, hurt his candidacy.
"There's some magic about him (Minshew) when he does break the pocket and does his thing," said Pierce, before adding, "but there's a lot of times where if the first or second read is there, we got to let it rip."
The Raiders play the Chargers (Joey Bosa/Khalil Mack), Ravens, and Browns (Myles Garrett) in the first quarter of the season, and that almost certainly played into the decision, but don't be surprised if there's a change at some point. And when you have two quarterbacks, you almost always have none.
SPEAKING OF...
Did you catch the Steelers against the Bills last weekend? If you did, you'd have understood why I was vehemently against the idea of Russell Wilson or Justin Fields as a bridge quarterback here in New England. Wilson has a salad fork sticking out of his back. He's done.
He got five series with the first-team offense (he was scheduled for four), and while he was 8-of-10, he threw for just 47 yards, at times passing up pushing the ball down the field for the check-down. In his defense, the offensive line was porous, but escapability used to be a strength of Wilson's. It is no longer, even more so, as he's coming off a calf strain.
"The best thing I can do personally, thinking about myself, is just stay consistent in approach," said Wilson postgame. "I had a little bump in the road with the calf (injury). But the best part is I was out there tonight, playing the game I love most, man. That's a good feeling. And I know what I can do when I'm 100 percent. I'm getting close."
Fields was better, but not by much. As one scout told me this week, Fields still doesn't see it as quickly as a QB in this league needs to, but if the Steelers' line continues to be a problem, his ability to run will likely be the factor that tips the scales in his favor. But that doesn't mean the Steelers offense will look competent for the first time since Ben Roethlisberger hurt his elbow and he became checkdown Charlie. Far from it, even after the change to Arthur Smith as the offensive coordinator.
QUICK NOTE
I'm off this weekend. Both kids are off to college, and Dad is going to be there for both. Greg, as always, has you covered,and travel-willing, I'll be back in place doing what I do Monday.