FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots held a walkthrough today that didn't have many new developments (Christian Gonzalez still wasn't there), so figured it was a good time to total up my 1-on-1s to this point.
The big headline to me was Will Campbell. I knew he had been really good in this camp — no matter what one-rep videos you see on social media (nobody's perfect) — but I didn't realize he was this good. Campbell is 12-1-1 so far in this camp. About this time last year, he was 3-6-1.
Now, we will point out that due to the Patriots' lack of edge depth, he's not exactly squaring off against the Purple People Eaters, but he has been really good heading into a stiff challenge against the Eagles. Campbell (and Jared Wilson) are much stronger, and Campbell is changing the pitches he throws at defensive ends. He's stronger to hold up against the bull rush, and he's being more aggressive with a strong punch on speed rushes.
Caleb Lomu has much better record than Campbell had as a rookie at 13-11-2. That's the good news. The bad news is eight of 11 losses have been decisive. I've never seen a ratio that high, especially for a player not expecting to be cut.
Lomu's just been very inconsistent. The like of a rookie.
The totals for both sides: