FOXBORO — The Patriots were back on the fields behind Gillette Stadium for a fully-padded practice on Wednesday. It was hot. It was sticky. The offense melted. (More on that in a minute.) Here's what we saw . . .
WHAT THEY WORE
Back at it in full pads. That meant more one-on-ones between offensive and defensive linemen (details below), more running-game work, and more opportunity for offensive linemen, fullbacks and blocking tight ends to get to work.
ROLL CALL
Those on the physically unable to perform list on Monday remained there: Demaryius Thomas, Nate Ebner and Ken Webster. Julian Edelman arrived to the field with Tom Brady, but he is still on the non-football injury list. Yodny Cajuste is also on NFI and continues to be absent from the field.
Byron Cowart and Dontrelle Inman, both of whom have missed recent practices, were back on the field.
Isaiah Wynn continued to be held out of team periods in practice. Deatrich Wise took part in one-on-ones but went down to the lower fields before the 11-on-11 intensity was ratcheted up a bit.
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David Andrews participated with the pads on for the first time. He saw some 11-on-11 work, but he didn't take on a full workload. Ted Karras was spotted snapping to Brady at times in those periods.
Newly-acquired tight end Lance Kendricks had to leave practice early with a trainer.
QUARTERBACK PERFORMANCES
Brady went 3-for-9 in competitive 11-on-11 work. It was a sloppy day for the entire offense but not because of the No. 1 quarterback's accuracy. He had three passes dropped by N'Keal Harry, two broken up by Jonathan Jones on good defensive plays, and one pass that hit the turf when Braxton Berrios didn't make much of an effort to reel it in on a short crossing route. Brady's final completion of the day was a non-competitive throw that the defense allowed to be completed just in order to finish the drill and get the field-goal unit on and aligned from a manageable kicking distance.
Brian Hoyer went 4-for-9 with an interception in competitive 11-on-11 work. Immediately after one of Harry's drops, he got a snap with Hoyer and made a leaping, high-pointing catch with Jason McCourty close in coverage. Hoyer later had a pass intended for Phillip Dorsett broken up by McCourty. Another attempt was picked when Hoyer threw it into traffic for Ben Watson. The ball was deflected in a sea of arms and helmets and popped straight up into the air to be intercepted by Duron Harmon. A post-corner route to Dorsett that Hoyer tried earlier in the practice was broken up by Joejuan Williams.
Jarrett Stidham got a few more reps in 11-on-11s today, going 3-for-5 in competitive periods. His first pass wasn't exactly on the money, but rookie undrafted wideout Jakobi Meyers made him look good with a climb-the-ladder grab over Keion Crossen.
TRENCH ONE-ON-ONES
The biggest players on the roster spent a significant amount of time beating up on each other in one-on-one situations Wednesday. Here are some of the highlights from that lengthy period . . .
* Marcus Cannon had decisive wins over Deatrich Wise and Shilique Calhoun in two of his three matchups, but he gave some ground to Derek Rivers on a strong bull-rush from the third-year pass-rusher. Rivers, whose athleticism is his strength, went to the bull-rush again against Cedrick Lang to pick up his second victory.
* In his first set of one-on-ones during training camp, Andrews seemed to hold his own against Mike Pennel. The two faced off again later and seemed to come to a draw.
* Joe Thuney (3-0) continues to be nearly impossible to get around in one-on-one sessions. Michael Bennett (2-1) also had himself a solid day, colliding with Shaq Mason on one rep and sending arguably the team's best lineman to the ground. Hjalte Froholdt (over Keionta Davis), Mason (over Bennett), Trent Harris (over Martez Ivey), Adam Butler (over Froholdt) and Chase Winovich (over Dan Skipper) also had impressive wins.
* Lang, Davis and Tyree St. Louis had to run laps after committing penalties.
RECEIVER VS. DEFENDER ONE-ON-ONES
* Stephon Gilmore might've had the play of the period when at the last moment, he broke up what would have been a twisting, falling catch by Phillip Dorsett on a deep attempt.
* Jonathan Jones and D'Angelo Ross also had clean breakups in the period. Braxton Berrios was the target on both.
* J.C. Jackson and Harry battled to a draw, with each player winning one of their two reps against one another. Damoun Patterson showed off his speed when he ran by Jackson for a deep completion. Patterson beat Crossen for another catch earlier in the period.
* Jones, Ross and Crossen all would've been flagged for penalties during different reps in which they were too physical with their receivers.
* Ryan Davis made a nice catch on a perfectly-placed deep ball from Tom Brady with Duke Dawson in coverage. Dawson lost another rep to Inman later in the period, but he did have a pass-breakup in the 11-on-11 period on a pass intended for Berrios.
* Ben Watson dropped one attempt sent his way in the one-on-one period. His hands have been consistently inconsistent through the early part of camp.
* Jakobi Meyers beat Joejuan Williams for a catch in their one matchup. Williams fared better in 11-on-11 work with two pass breakups over the course of the workout.
OBSERVATIONS OF NOTE
* The Patriots experimented with some "12" personnel on Wednesday. Matt LaCosse and Ben Watson saw some time together, but second-year tight end Ryan Izzo also got some work with the top offense on running plays. His path to a roster spot is likely going to be his ability to block in the running game. Both LaCosse and Izzo said after practice that the run-blocking aspect of their jobs is one they take pride in.
* Harry wasn't the only player who had drops (the rookie had four scattered throughout the practice). Watson, LaCosse and Berrios all dropped passes at some point during the day as well. Even defensive backs got into the dropping act. Malik Gant, Patrick Chung and Harmon all dropped passes thrown their way in a drill early in the practice.
* Berrios seemed to have trouble creating separation at times (three targets broken up by defensive backs Wednesday), but one drop and one target over the middle where he didn't seem to make much of an attempt for the football were late additional blemishes on what was already an ugly day for the entire offense.
* Want an indication of just how bad it got for the offense? James White fumbled. Jamie Collins appeared to punch it out, and Obi Melifonwu scooped it up. White almost never fumbles. He hasn't fumbled in 63 regular-season games. He's fumbled once in the postseason.
* Meyers, Harry, White, Watson and Sony Michel worked a side session with Brady and Hoyer during a special-teams period. Meyers is getting a significant amount of attention from the coaching staff, and given the catches he's made through six practices it's easy to see why. Hard to imagine, as Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy told me this spring, Meyers wasn't drafted.
POPPED OR DROPPED?
We did a "Popped or Dropped" segment on Quick Slants the Podcast this week, and it makes sense to bring it to the Postcard as well. Here's who's trending up (or not) after Wednesday's workout.
POPPED
Meyers: Another acrobatic catch in the books and more side-session time spent with Brady. Things are looking up for the N.C. State product.
Izzo: If he declares himself the best blocking tight end on the team, he'll have a crack at a roster spot. The second-year player out of Florida State had to be encouraged to be out there early on in offensive periods with the running game as a focus.
Williams: The second-rounder out of Vanderbilt got his hands on the football on multiple occasions. Wednesday was his best practice.
Jake Bailey: The punter consistently boomed it high and deep. No shanks today, as far as I could tell. If he consistently shows off his big leg while limiting his mistakes, odds are he'll have a roster spot.
DROPPED
Harry: Credit Harry for coming down with some athletic grabs immediately after making a couple of drops, but four drops in one day makes today a practice he'll want to forget as quickly as possible. He also was late to align correctly on a couple of different occasions. How Harry bounces back from failures in practice (inevitable for any rookie) is something I've said before I'd like to see from him since he holds himself to a very high standard. We'll see how Thursday goes.
Berrios: The number of passes broken up when Berrios is targeted is eyebrow raising. Are quarterbacks simply not accurate enough when targeting him? Is he not creating separation? A clean drop on top of it all meant Wednesday was a very forgettable day for the second-year man out of Miami.
Watson: In the driver's seat to be the team's No. 1 tight end when he comes off of suspension, the veteran has had a hard time consistently securing footballs that hit his hands. He had two drops on Wednesday. Was it simply a one-day epidemic that he got caught up in, or is this a trend that might continue to emerge after his suspension?
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