FOXBORO -- Long after Tuesday's rainy practice came to an end, after most of his teammates had gone inside the Patriots facility and while a handful of others spoke to reporters, newly-acquired Patriots quarterback Ryan Lindley took extra snaps with offensive lineman Josh Kline and threw passes to receiver Jonathan Krause.
Through two days with the Patriots, Lindley has tried to squeezed whatever he can out of his time on the field. Whether it has been taking mental reps while Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo were behind center, or whether it has been staying late to take a few snaps of his own, Lindley knows he needs to progress -- and quickly -- before New England's preseason opener on Thursday night against the Packers.
"It's going well," Lindley said. "There's a phenomenal coaching staff. It's a great quarterback room with Jimmy and Tom. I'm just trying definitely to learn a work speed, coming in here and having to play on Thursday. We'll see what happens. Just take what you can every day."
Asked if he would be ready to go in two days, Lindley hedged.
"Right now, it would be extremely limited as far as what we throw out there," Lindley said. "I can take a snap and throw a football. I know a very limited amount of what we do, but you know, we grow each day. It's grown exponentially from the first day I stepped out here so we'll be ready to go Thursday. Whatever we get out there, we'll do."
Lindley completed just one of his first seven attempts, including an interception to Tavon Wilson, during 11-on-11 work. He finished the period 4-for-12. In a 7-on-7 period at the end of the practice, he was much more accurate, completing six of eight attempts.
Though the on-the-field results haven't been there immediately, Lindley expected as much. He has appreciated his first two days with the Patriots, however, lauding his teammates and coaches for making it a comfortable yet challenging working environment.
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"It's intense," he said. "I think that's why this team is successful year in and year out. You can shift different personnel and do different things, but I've enjoyed it. I've loved it."
He added: "It's difficult, but you kind of just take it in stride. I think to me what's great about the coaching staff is that they're coaching you through mistakes. They coach you hard, but they're going to coach you and get you to do it right so it's a great experience."
Lindley was brought to New England after the team released quarterback Matt Flynn, who opened camp on the non-football injury list and was never able to pass his physical. He had been working out at the Fischer Institute in Arizona, trying to mimic what other quarterbacks in the league were doing during OTAs and minicamp. He said it was frustrating waiting for a team to call, but when the Patriots reached out, it felt like a perfect landing spot.
"It was exciting," Lindley said. "First off, to be sitting at home, getting a call anywhere is great. Then you go to the reigning Super Bowl champs and a team like the New England Patriots, it's a quarterback's dream. It's a system that challenges the quarterback and as a competitor, you want to be here."
The last time anyone saw Lindley competing in-season was during a 27-16 loss to the Panthers during the Wild Card round. With quarterbacks Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton out, Lindley got the start and went 16-for-28 for 82 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
"Obviously it didn't go the way that I or the team wanted it to last year," he said. "It's an exclusive club of individuals that have started in a playoff game. You take experiences from that and you learn your best lessons from your hardest hits, so to speak. That was definitely quite a gut shot for me. But I've learned a ton from it. You learn from experience. You learn how to handle certain situations, how to roll with the punches in a real tight game like that so you take that into Thursday night. You move forward with what you can and you become a better player for it."