Bedard: Patriots Practice Report 08.03.26 - First defense flexes red-zone muscle on Maye, offense indoors; Lomu struggling

FOXBOROUGH — Practice No. 8 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:

FOUR THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

A.J. Brown dislocates left thumb, doesn't miss time: In a 1-on-1 rep, A.J. Brown and Christian Gonzalez got tangled up, which resulted in Brown injuring his left hand. He went off, got looked at and taped up, and then went right back in and finished practice. He caught 3 of 5 passes from Drake Maye in team drills after that, including a touchdown and a drop. After practice, with NFL Network, Brown said his dislocated left thumb goes back to college and is not an issue.

“Thumb out of place? You keep going," he said.

Caleb Lomu is trending in the wrong direction: Rookies on the offensive line tend to be hit and miss in camp 1-on-1 drills. It's not abnormal for them to get hot, and also very cold. For example, looking back at last year, Will Campbell started 3-6-2 with 1 decisive loss (only Mehki Butler was worse). Jared Wilson was tops on the team at 6-1-4 with no decisive losses.

Lomu, the team's first-round pick, seems to be taking the Campbell track. After starting 1-0-1 the first day, Lomu has gone 7-7 since. On the surface, that's not bad at all. But it's a little misleading since five of his seven losses have been decisive (that's 35.7% of the line's 14 total decisive losses). All five have come in the last three practices, including three on Monday to the likes of Jesse Luketa (twice), and Eric Gregory (a DT). Most of Lomu's decisive losses have come on inside moves, but he has been beaten with speed around the edge as well. Lomu seemed pretty frustrated with his performance during a break in the action, as he commiserated with veteran Morgan Moses.

Seventh-round pick Dametrious Crownover is 5-2-3 with zero decisive losses, and he was 3-1 on Monday. He's definitely working against lesser competition, but it's not like the Patriots' edge group is Murderers' Row even for the starters beyond Dre'Mont Jones, who isn't exactly dominating. I have no clue how Crownover is faring in team drills, or with the playbook, but I feel better about him in a 1-on-1 competition than Lomu right now.

Tough day for first-team offense, but second team soars: A lot of situational red zone work today, where the downs and chains were pre-determined and not linked up to the previous play. Mike Vrabel wants the offense to be improved in the red zone (and the defense as well), but it was not a good day for Maye and his crew. They were just successful on 2 of their 5 drives, and one of them was via the ground. Conversely, DeVito and the second-team offense were successful on 4 of 5 drives and put two touchdowns in a drive twice.

Here's how the drives went down for Drake Maye and Tommy DeVito.

Maye first drive: Fail

1st-10 Maye complete to Hunter Henry (good screen with Alijah Vera-Tucker leading like a track athlete)
2-7 Maye complete to Romeo Doubs
3-1 On the ball ... Stevenson RT for short gain
3-5 Maye incomplete to Brown in end zone against Prunty. I think it should have been caught. Could have been a pass breakup. Maye tosses helmet after series

DeVito first drive: Fail

1-10 Henderson stuffed by Muma
2-7 Lan Larison LG for 3
3-1 Complete to Chism
3-5 Incomplete to Boutte, drop

Maye second drive: Fail, judging by the defense's reaction.

15-yard line 1-10 Henderson RG 5
12 2-7 Henderson stuffed by Robert Spillane behind the line
10 3-5 Complete to Henry against Kevin Byrd for what would have been a first down conversion
6 3rd&goal Incomplete to Doubs, Charles Woods pass breakup

DeVito second drive: Success 2x.

Larison stuffed by Xavier Holmes
Larison stuffed by Jesse Luketa
Complete to Hollins, TD against Kindle Vildor
Complete to Chism, TD against Karon Prunty

Maye third drive: Success