FOXBOROUGH — Practice No 6 is in the books; let's run down all you need to know, including stats, 1-on-1s, play-by-play, lineup adjustments and observations:
THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Maye, offense sharp: A day after the offense was kind of a mess, especially in the run game, the Patriots were much sharper in the second padded practice. While there was one midfield team session that allowed the passing offense more room to breathe — and resulted in Drake Maye hitting AJ Brown for a deep touchdown on a double move against Christian Gonzalez — much of the practice was spent in the red zone working on first-down plays. There were much fewer negative plays, and Maye had his best practice so far, going 11 for 11 with 5 TDs and two sacks.
Campbell, Onwenu stay perfect in 1-on-1s while Lomu struggles: Will Campbell and Mike Onwenu each went 3-0 in 1-on-1 reps on Friday, bringing their records to 5-0. It's hard to get too excited about Campbell's start because, without Harold Landry and Gabe Jacas, the edge depth is non-existent. Campbell did beat Dre'Mont Jones on his first rep (bull rush), but then beat Jesse Luketa and Xavier Holmes.
Things did not go as well for first-round pick Caleb Lomu, who went an unimpressive 2-2, and both of his losses were fairly lopsided to Elijah Ponder and Bradyn Swinson (spin move).
Carlton Davis still out, others limited: Cornerback Carlton Davis (hamstring) continued to be out of practice, and Morgan Moses was extremely limited today with no team reps. Moses has yet to take a 1-on-1 rep as well. Christian Barmore sat out 1-on-1s today.
TAKING ATTENDANCE
Physically unable to perform list: DE Harold Landry, TE CJ Dippre, DE Gabe Jacas.
Non-football injury list: RB Terrell Jennings, S Brendan Schooler
Red non-contact jerseys: QBs.
Returned to practice: CB Brandon Crossley (unknown).
Full participants: None.
Out: CB Carlton Davis (hamstring),
Limited: OT Morgan Moses, G Alijah Vera-Tucker, DT Christian Barmore.
New injuries: None.
DRESS CODE
Full pads (2nd day).
LENGTH OF PRACTICE
1:45
QB STATS
Drake Maye: 11 of 11, 5 TDs, 2 sacks
Tommy DeVito: 6 of 11
Behren Morton: 6 of 7, sack, TD.
Note: I do not have the number of reps that some other writers have because I do not count when the offense is "working off cards." Those are plays when an assistant coach literally brings out a play on a card and shows it to one side of the ball. They are not running their own plays, so since there are so many x-factors — including the receiver running the right route, and blockers executing correctly — I do not count those reps.
IMPACT PLAYS IN TEAM PERIODS
Fumbles: None.
Drops: You might be able to give one to Kyle Williams, but I thought Tommy DeVito's pass was poor, and there was a lot of contact.
Pass breakups: Kobee Minor, Karon Prunty
Interceptions: None.
Run stuffs (1): Jeremiah Pharms
Pressures/sacks (5): David Blay, Dre'Mont Jones (Campbell), Dre'Mont Jones (Andrew Rupcich), KJ Britt, Leonard Taylor
PASS RUSH ONE-ON-ONES
Decisive bouts:
Pharms quickly got outside of Rupcich
Pharms did same to Caeden Wallace
Iton was too fast for Ben Brown.
Gregory dusted JonDarius Morgan.
Swinson set up Lomu outside, and then left him behind with an inside spin move.
RECEIVER/DB ONE-ON-ONES FROM GIARDI
Red zone 2-on-2s
There were also red zone 7-on-7s, but the players weren’t operating at full speed. Close, but discernible to me. Therefore, I do not deem those to be “competitive” reps. As you were…
- Drake Maye hits Mack Hollins working toward the post. He had gotten the edge on Christian Gonzalez.
- Pop Douglas beats Charles Woods on a corner route. Impressive.
- Kayshon Boutte wins a corner route, snatching the ball over a trailing Marcus Jones.
- Romeo Doubs creates plenty of space versus Woods as he works diagonally toward the goal post.
- Jones has excellent coverage on Brown’s corner route, yet the ball still gets there and slips through Brown’s hands.
- Woods with a late PBU on Doubs in the back corner of the end zone.
- Douglas with another decisive win, this time against Craig Woodson (quite frankly, in that matchup, it should be easy).
- Nice contested grab by Boutte, outbattling Kevin Byard for the football. Came on an out cut.
- Doubs loses Dell Pettus for an easy pitch and catch.
- Maye drops a perfect throw to Brown in the corner (over Woodson). Couldn’t have walked it over and placed it any better.
- High throw by Maye misses a well-covered Boutte. Nice rep by Kobee Minor.
- Douglas leaves Byard in his wake, gaining easy access to the post. Reminder that in normal situations, there would be linebackers and big bodies impacting vision and throwing lanes.
DeVito:
- Efton Chism beats John Saunders Jr. on a quick, inside route.
- Cameron Dorner, who has had a couple of moments, wins against CB John Harris.
- Gonzalez knocks away a throw to Hunter Henry in the right flat, then thumps his chest to fire up the crowd.
- Chism wins again, this time against safety Mike Brown.
- Kyle Dixon gets by Channing Canada on an out route.
- Kyle Williams scoots by Harris for an easy pitch and catch.
- Brandon Crossley with a PBU on a well-thrown ball for Dorner.
TOP PLAY
Hunter Henry's catch for a touchdown from Drake Maye in the back left corner of the end zone against Craig Woodson. When Henry first lined it up, I thought there was no chance he could reach it. But the veteran stuck out his right paw, tipped it up, and caught it while getting his feet in. It was a sensational grab that apparently the crowd wouldn't see because there was no reaction.
FOUR UP
QB Drake Maye: Was totally in command at the line of scrimmage during his perfect day. Loved, on one play, when he started off under center, audibled at the line, gave a few hand gestures to the receivers, stayed in against a free blitzer, and delivered a perfect corner pass to Pop Douglas to beat Gonzalez for the TD.
DT Jeremiah Pharms: Went 2-0-3 in 1-on-1s, but both of his wins were of the decisive variety. He also added a run stuff.
OG Mehki Butler: Got promoted to second team over Caeden Wallace. We'll see if this was more than just a looksie, but he's shown to be a very good puller in the run game, and he went 3-1-1 today.
WR Cameron Dorner: The UDFA got more playing time and had a couple of catches with the third unit.
TWO DOWN
CB Christian Gonzalez: It wasn't like he was bad, but Maye appeared to go after him and got the best of the cornerback with five completions against and three touchdowns.
G Caeden Wallace: The writing could be on the wall for the 2024 third-round pick as he was demoted to third string LG behind Mehki Butler. Wallace also had a decisive loss to Jeremiah Pharms.
QUICK HITS
• Half-line run drill standout reps: Durden over Wilson, Gainer over Van Vooren, Arkin over Holmes, Butler had a couple of nice pulls.
• Charles Woods was at LCB for Carlton Davis.
• UDFA LB Khalil Jacobs continues to get a lot of looks next to Chad Muma on the second team. He's the Mike as well, calling the plays.
• Romeo Doubs had just one catch, and Gonzalez was early on the ball, but Doubs still hung on.
• TreVeyon Henderson's daily stuff count: 2 in a span of 2 carries.
• Really liked the work done by the Patriots' "heavy" unit with Brown, Hollins, Arkin and Gilliam with Stevenson. Some real good playaction. Brown and Hollins each had easy TD catches.
• Andrew Rupcich got a snap at first-team LG for Vera-Tucker, and the Patriots immediately went after him, and Woodson came unblocked for a sack.
• The third team units had a period where they tackled to the ground. I think that's a first under Vrabel.
SCHEDULE
Saturday: 10:15-12:15
Sunday: OFF
Monday: 10:15-12:15
Tuesday: 10:15-12:15
Wednesday: Closed to public
Thursday: Closed to public
Friday: 10:15-12:15
Saturday: OFF
Sunday: OFF