New England Patriots thread (MOD WARNING - #4503)

Son Of A Vidic

bruschi wrote: »

pretty much how I'd feel on the whole thing too. Would like to see Welker stay, but its not a given, and it would have to work money wise. I hadnt realised his agent is the same one who represents Hernandez too, not sure what relevance that might have on anything, but it might well do.

Regarding the agent, he'll probably realise by now that the Pats are tough negotiators who don't tend to blink first with contracts. Unless of course they can put 'long term' and 'value' all in the same sentence. Which they absolutely can with Hernandez.

Training camp kicks off tomorrow and the drought will soon be over my brethren.

Hazys

Patriots Roster By Contract Length:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4725410/patriots-roster-by-contract-length-6

3 starters (Welker, Chung & Volmer) are in their contract years. I can realistically only see the fanchise tag being used on Welker or Chung. Vollmer is a very good tackle but he doesnt deserve franchise tackle money. So that leaves us possibly losing either Welker or Chung also.

We have about $10m in cap space and possibly a bit more once the roster is cut down to 53. So i'm hoping we get at least 2 of those 3 tied down during the regular season and use the franchise tag on the 3rd...but i dont see us being that lucky, hopefully we can keep at least 2.

CoachTO

Joey Addai is gone. Looking good for Ridley and Vereen.

Hazys

CoachTO wrote: »

Joey Addai is gone. Looking good for Ridley and Vereen.

Wow thats a minor shock. From what i read from the Pats beat writers, they considered him a near lock for the roster.

JaMarcus Hustle

Emerging now that he failed his physical. Shame for him, could have contributed, but wicked excited to see the two sophomores now.

eagle eye

Fells is currently injured and enters TC on the PUP list. I've a feeling he is going to miss a big chunk of the season. Thankfully Gronk is not on the PUP list going into TC which is hopefully a good omen.

I think injuries are the only reason they have signed up Shiancoe.

Son Of A Vidic

eagle eye wrote: »

Fells is currently injured and enters TC on the PUP list. I've a feeling he is going to miss a big chunk of the season. Thankfully Gronk is not on the PUP list going into TC which is hopefully a good omen.

I think injuries are the only reason they have signed up Shiancoe.

No doubt about that alright, if Fells was fit then there would be no Shiancoe. I still haven't picked up any specifics on exactly what kind of injury Fells has.

Stev_o

Dunno why everyone rules out Woodhead, out of all the backs he seems to be the one that Brady is most comfortable with, but we shall see.

CoachTO

If true about Addai good riddance

http://www.csnne.com/football-new-england-patriots/patriots-talk/Source-Addai-quit-during-conditioning-te?blockID=746689&feedID=10950

Also Waters put on the Did not show list.

davyjose

CoachTO wrote: »

If true about Addai good riddance

http://www.csnne.com/football-new-england-patriots/patriots-talk/Source-Addai-quit-during-conditioning-te?blockID=746689&feedID=10950

In fairness, he's hardly run more than 4 yards in a row since college

CoachTO

Son Of A Vidic

^ ^ ^

Love that Pic, 'Don' Brady with his muscle.:D

eagle eye

Brady looked real sharp yesterday, great to see that on the first day of TC. Here is a little snippet from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQZ1TLh7H-c

ReacherCreature

Around 12,000 fans turned up for the first day of training camp, a Patriot record. Nice to see the boys back.

JaMarcus Hustle

eagle eye wrote: »

Brady looked real sharp yesterday, great to see that on the first day of TC. Here is a little snippet from it.

Good to see. Apparently he was 21/22 in his first session back, completing his first 15 in a row.

Will Smith has been lining up exclusively at safety so far, and has been doing all his stretches with the safety group too. Nice to get a bit of veteran presence back there

Also, the buzz cut is back. You know he means business :cool:

bruschi

Seems like Lloyd wont be like Ochocinco anyway. By all accounts is the top performer at camp so far. Ridley seems to be the No.1 back. Chandler Jones seems to be the pick of the rookies so far too.

Cant wait for the season to start!

Son Of A Vidic

A record 14,000 turned up to training camp yesterday, the total for the 4 days was well over 50,000. Unbelievable numbers really. These crowds I think grab the players attention and make them realise what they're playing for.

So much information to process and digest from the 4 days of training camp. But this is what sticks out for me so far..

Hightower has been very impressive on the D-Line, continuing to demonstrate an excellent football IQ and versatility. When the pads came out on Saturday and Sunday his power was particularly impressive. He nearly de-cleating running back Brandon Bolden on day 3 when the RB was making a run. Hightower worked the inside and outside throughout camp. Belichick singled him out during his day 2 press conference praising his versatility, awareness and instincts.

Chandler Jones manned the Right DE spot on day 1 and then lined at at Left DE on day 2. No surprised that he displayed good strength and athleticism often driving the blocker backwards and getting into the backfield on several occasions. Jones was also spotted dropping into coverage at least twice and showed some nice movement in space. No doubt he will become a master at playing the elephant role.

Alfonzo Dennard flashed some skills on day 2 with a pass breakup at cornerback. He had been solid from day 1, showing his physicality. Unfortunately he pulled his hamstring and spent days 3&4 on the sidelines. He didn't finish the session after appearing to injure his right hamstring.

Brandon Lloyd has looked impressive and made plays all over the field. He stretched the seam, pushed the deep part of the field on the perimeter and caught more or less everything thrown his way. He has excellent balance and body control and made some impressive plays with balls in heavy traffic. Observers mentioned that Brady seems to have a nice developing rapport with Lloyd and was often seen tossing balls to his newest receiver in between drills. When not running his routes he was virtually by Brady's side the whole time, definitely a very good sign imo.

Hernandez is off to a great start and looks to be poised for a monster season. He has displayed amazing athleticism and versatility, even spending part of Friday returning punts. He caught passes all over the field and showed some great yards after the catch ability.

Gronk was looking like he’s back to his best and aside from his two drops yesterday, he was a beast throughout. Andy Hart from PFW, said he resembled a runaway freight train at times, tearing through the middle of the field.

Jabar Gaffney, caught some nice deep balls particularly on day 1 and looked very much in synch with Brady. Observers commenting that he and Brady looked well clued in with each other and seemed to be picking up where they left of.

Stevan Ridley looked good and was solid throughout, catching a few passes from Brady along the way. He never spilled the ball once. During ball defence drills Ridley kept the football high tight and covered at all times. He went back to LSU after minicamp in June and put in some hard work down there. I always like seeing that kind of focus and determination from a player. Interestingly, it was Ridley that got the ball first for all the running reps. He will be the No.1 back, but the committee approach will obviously be maintined.

Daniel Fells was spotted for the first time since spring workouts. Fells worked out on the step machine early in the practice on day 2. Then he watched from the sidelines, after running some pass routes and doing conditioning work. Apparently he looked to be moving pretty well and it was reported he is coming back from a shoulder injury. Finally I found out what injury he had.

Logan Mankins seems to be progressing. The Pro Bowl guard had a noticeable limp while running during mini-camp rehab work. He was seen doing some sideways running, alternating feet in front and behind, on day 2 without any real signs of a limp during it.

Jermaine Cunningham the third year DE is going into a make or break season. He looked particularly good on Saturday and was playing with a purpose. He consistently put pressure on the quarterback in 11-on-11 drills, observers mentioning he displayed a good mix of speed and power in his pass rush and looks more explosive. He did show some inconsistent effort against the run, but seemed to switch it on whenever the offense was in a passing formation. Belichick spoke highly about Cunningham’s off season effort and he was one of the 10 players listed as a top performer in the off season.

Steve Gregory the veteran safety appears to be settling in quite well to the team and lined up mainly alongside Chung. When interviewed on Sirius XM NFL Radio Devin McCourty singled Gregory out for praise..

"You can tell when a guy just has high football knowledge, he kind of comes in and he fits in right away. Since he came in for OTAs, he's been making calls, getting guys lined up right, and that's not easy to do when you get to a new team and you're trying to learn a new scheme, lining guys up and trying to take control. At the safety position right away, I think it was big for us, the addition of having him back there."

Overall the defensive line looked impressive with running backs finding it hard to find gaps and Brady frequently having pressure in his face. When the pads went on the intensity naturally shot up. Reports mentioned that on a few occasions, a number of players nearly squared off after big hits. I love when that happens because it shows that the team is fired up and in the zone for combat.

Josh McDaniel’s has definitely come home and has a great rapport with the players on the field. He played a lot more screens than was seen in recent years with O’Brien. One thing is for certain, he will be putting out an anything goes offense.

Son Of A Vidic

bruschi wrote: »

Chandler Jones seems to be the pick of the rookies so far too.

It is very close between Jones and Hightower, but I would just above give it to Hightower. That's mainly because he was seen repeatedly working out with the senior members of the D-line. An amazing compliment for a rookie and also he did on several occasions, reportedly plant several running backs into the stands . But isn't it great to see both our first round picks being so impressive so far.

bruschi

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

It is very close between Jones and Hightower, but I would just above give it to Hightower. That's mainly because he was seen repeatedly working out with the senior members of the D-line. An amazing compliment for a rookie and also he did on several occasions, reportedly plant several running backs into the stands . But isn't it great to see both our first round picks being so impressive so far.

yeah I'm only just going on snippet reports of trainings. hard to guage really, and at the end of it all, these kind of sessions can only tell so much. but its good that all the new additions to the squad seem to be straight away into the mix with no fuss. Lloyd, Gaffney, and the rookies. Good to see, and great not hearing stories of 'not getting to grips with the playbook' this year!

CoachTO

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

It is very close between Jones and Hightower, but I would just above give it to Hightower. That's mainly because he was seen repeatedly working out with the senior members of the D-line. An amazing compliment for a rookie and also he did on several occasions, reportedly plant several running backs into the stands . But isn't it great to see both our first round picks being so impressive so far.

Either way the two of them are starting to look like solid picks. And as you said its great to see them being impressive. If they can bring the same intensity into our season Our defense should shape up well especially if they can add pressure to opposing QBs taking some of the pressure off our DBs.

Gregory for me is huge also. Having experience back there will settle the young DBs we have. For me if he continues to be solid he will be our best find of the off season when you consider our problems last season.

Son Of A Vidic

bruschi wrote: »

great not hearing stories of 'not getting to grips with the playbook' this year!

Amen to that and long may those days be behind us.

CoachTO wrote: »

Gregory for me is huge also. Having experience back there will settle the young DBs we have. For me if he continues to be solid he will be our best find of the off season when you consider our problems last season.

You're bang on there, I think he will be a great leader and role model to the young lads in the Secondary. I was delighted when we got a guy of his caliber during free agency. Heard him interviewed on Patriots radio back in late March and you could just sense his football brain. As McCourty said in his radio interview, Gregory has been organising secondary alignments & plays already. Which just highlights the quality of the guy.

bruschi

had a long reply written and computer froze or something and lost it.

basically the crux of it was that it was clear to many Pats fans that there was more than just defence issues last year. And it seems that pretty much any area that was questionable last year has had some sort of upgrade to it this year, from secondary defence, to the pass rush linebackers, the deep threat WR and depth in TE. They were all areas many Pats fans were saying would undo us and that other fans could not grasp when we would speak of needing to sort out problems.

It may be a case of wanting more than an average side would look for, but its not often that a team has a good chance of superbowl wins, so the Patriots need to make the most of these oppertunities. I remember following the Pats (albeit when it was much harder to get coverage so cant say it was as much as I do now) and we were brutal. You only need to look at the Colts now to see how easily it could all fall apart and your team is back at the bottom of the pile. So its good to see BB addressing areas of weaknesses from last year, so hopefully next year we come back stronger again. I didnt think at the start of last year we were good enough to win the Superbowl, but as the season progressed, we got better, and let a big chance slip, again. Hopefully this season rectifies all that.

JaMarcus Hustle

Absolutely fantastic interview with Brady here - a joy to read. Just pure football talk.

Tom Brady was a guest on SiriusXM NFL Radio’s “Movin’ the Chains” program on Sunday, with Pat Kirwan and Tim Ryan.

For those with an interest in learning more about some of the nuances of the quarterback position, Brady's viewpoint of the team's 2011 attack, and assorted another football stuff, this was a must-listen.

I've transcribed the full interview below. It's more than 3,500 words, so this is at the opposite end of the spectrum from a quick-hit item.

How are you feeling heading into another training camp?
“I feel good and I think every year that you go, you become a little bit more efficient in what you do in the offseason, and you figure out the things that work for you and the things that don’t necessarily work for you. I always say it’s the best part of my life, playing football and having this job, so I take it very seriously. Every day you wake up in the offseason, you try to figure out ways to be a better football player. That’s still a challenge going into my 13th season. I think I’ve figured out a few things and I’m excited to see how those play out on the field.”

On working with Brandon Lloyd for the first time:
“I think you saw some of that today in practice, his ability to jump, his body control. He has great hands, a great feel out there. It’s been a lot of fun being with him. I know he’s played on a bunch of teams over the course of his career, but hopefully he settles in here and he’s here for a long time.”

Last year’s passing attack and how much the Patriots attacked the perimeter?
“I think the strength of our team was between the numbers and that’s where a lot of the passes went. If they didn’t cover us outside, we threw it out there, but when you have Aaron [Hernandez] and Rob [Gronkowski] and Wes [Welker] on the inside, you have three pretty good players. Now Deion [Branch] made plenty of catches for us out there, but in terms of the contributions made on the outside, that was kind of our guy. Now you have Donte’ Stallworth, and Jabar [Gaffney] and Brandon, and still have Deion. There are some guys out there where we can really take advantage of some matchups. If you cover us inside, we’re going to throw it outside. If you cover us outside, we’re going to throw it inside. If you want to play deep, we’re going to throw it short. I think that’s good offensive football.”

The defense is going to dictate where you throw the football…
“Yeah, and I think that’s what makes it challenging to stop. When you’re an offense, you get out there and see what they are doing, then you go to the weak spot. Every defense doesn’t have, you know, every single strength that a defense can have. If they’re pass-rushing hard, you have to screen and draw. If they’re playing [the run], you have to play-action pass. If they’re really aggressive, you have to take advantage of the aggressiveness. If they’re sitting back, you have to go at them. That’s the chess game of football. That sometimes takes a while to sort out over the course of the game, but we have different guys in different positions that we feel are pretty well-rounded.”

Are you getting enough throws in practice?
“With all the new work rules in place, it’s certainly different than when I was a younger player. I think as a younger player, it’s great to get as many reps as you can. As an older player, it’s probably more the efficiency of the reps, so when you’re in there, they better be good. You better be doing what you need to do to prepare for the season. When you’re a younger player, you just want to make mistakes – you have to get out there and make the mistakes and you have play after play after play [to learn from them]. We just don’t have as many practices, so the meetings become that much more important, the walkthroughs become that much more important. You can’t simulate the speed and the decision-making ability, but you have to try as hard as you can to mentally prepare even when you’re not out there full-speed.”

We watched you self-correct on a mistake you made in practice. That type of thing is great for a younger quarterback like Ryan Mallett to see…
“Quarterback, to me, is only as good as the accuracy that you have when you throw the ball. The tougher the competition, and the bigger the game, the more accurate you need to be because the coverage is going to be tighter. So throwing the ball accurately is really about fundamentals, and if you are poor fundamentally, you can try as hard as you want to be an accurate passer, but if you can’t go fundamentally, it’s just not going to happen. So you have to know the right fundamentals and techniques, maybe just work on those and it becomes muscle memory.”

Your shotgun fast pass, that’s the one where the mechanics could be off because there isn’t as much time to set up. You do a lot of it…
“Yeah, I think that’s part of the practice that you go through, and the conditioning of your body to make the different throws. What happens in the offseason a lot, throughout your workouts, is that it’s five-step drop, hitch, throw; five-step drop, hitch, throw. You really get into that habit over the course of an offseason. Now you get into the practices, when you’re scheming up plays, and now it’s a stretch play-action, and you’re reaching out after five steps and pulling it back in, you’re checking the backside, you just don’t do that in the offseason. So like you said, those quick-pass catch-and-throw, you have to work on those, and that’s part of the repetitions that you get in training camp. Your feet have to time up. After probably thousands of throws, you say, ‘I’m really starting to get comfortable doing that.’ You don’t feel that way

.”

When you get into the red zone, the amount of time you throw the ball at a belt buckle … you are such a great low-ball thrower. It’s going to be your guy catching it or no one else. It seems like you change the release point a little bit down there.
“Especially on the goal-line and around the goal-line, it has to be at the belt buckle. It can’t be at the chest because then they get undercut and bad things happen. We always say ‘low on the goal-line and high on the back end line.’ You just don’t want to make mistakes down there. You march 90 percent of the field and now you’re in a position to score, and you just can’t give away very valuable points. So you have to have that type of accuracy with the ball. That’s stuff we worked on today.”

You were an effective first-down team throwing the football last year. I want you to talk about your running game – Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Danny Woodhead – and how when that improves it will create more throwing opportunities on the early downs.
“As I said earlier, part of the passing game is seeing what they’re taking away, then doing something different. That’s the running game too. If they want to play pass and double coverage and who we’re bracketing, then you have to run it. I think we have some guys that we can really make some big plays with – between Woody and Rid and Shane, to see what they’re able to do. They’re out here working hard. That’s part of what the offense needs to be. It can’t be 2 yards, 3 yards. You have to make them pay. Some of the best offenses that we’ve ever had here, the running game was a huge part of what we did, especially situationally. You’re not always going to be able to pass it. When it’s third-and-1, you have to be able to run it. When you’re on the goal-line, you have to run it. When you’re backed up, you have to run it. Four-minute offense at the end of the game with the lead, you have to run it – they know you’re running it and you still have to make yards. That’s part of being a great running team, too.”

On being reunited with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels:
“It’s been a lot of fun. We know each other so well.”

I didn’t know Nick Caserio beat him out for the quarterback job in college…
“I know, they’re like little brothers out there. They’ve been here for the same amount of time. We’ve got a great core group of coaches and players that have been around each other, that know each other well, so there is a lot of camaraderie with the group. I think guys are comfortable with one another and comfortable enough to be coached hard. That’s part of, look, not a lot of coaches would come in to a veteran quarterback and coach me the way that I love Josh coaches me. He doesn’t expect anything less than my best. That’s what I want to give to him every single time I go out on the field.”

Let’s talk protections for a minute, without giving away any trade secrets. I’m going to guess you like five-man protections. I know you said to us before, ‘We have to have them all’ and I get all that. But that no-huddle package with the five-man protection…
“We’ve done quite a bit of that. It’s stuff that you talk about and work on. You feel like you try to get mismatches out there. However you’re going to get a mismatch, that’s what you’ve got to try to do. We feel like we have guys that, 1 on 1, can get open. It’s just a matter of us hopefully being able to call the plays where you can really dictate what the defense is doing, and not just necessarily calling the play blind and hoping you’re getting the right matchup. You have to try to get them in the right situation where ‘This is what we’re expecting and you try to take advantage of that.’”

We all know Wes Welker gets out of his break as good as anyone ever could, but Tim grabbed a birds-eye view of Aaron Hernandez coming out of a speed out today. I don’t know how you cover it, when you anticipate and throw the ball as he’s about to be coming out of his break. Jerod Mayo was on him, but as soon as Hernandez stepped his feet in the ground, it was instantly a yard-and-a-half separation.
“He has that ability. It’s a really unique skill to be running full speed and plant. Early in his career, he was planting so hard, a lot of times he’d be on the ground. I think he’s really gained a lot of body control, and he’s really become a dependable player in our offense. You get those 1 on 1 matchups, and he got a lot of those last season and made a lot of yards after the catch as well, because he’s tough to guard 1-on-1. He’s really become someone that our offense can really trust.”

Have you noticed opponents packing in with underneath coverages? You have so many underneath options. 4-under is never enough. Five might not be enough the way you set it up. Do you see some unusual underneath coverages?
“Yeah, and I think over the course of the season, a lot of teams were trying to pack it in tight, and make us throw the ball deep and up the sideline. I think hopefully we can take advantage of that. Like I said, if you’re going to guard us short, we have to be able to throw it past you. And if you’re going to guard us deep, we’ll throw it underneath. You have to change up and have a lot of weapons. Like a boxer, you can’t just have one punch. You have to have many punches, and be able to set them up and throw them when you want to throw them, and bait a guy into thinking this is what you’re doing with something else.”

It’s fun football…
“It is, especially for guys that are coming into this offense – like Brandon [Lloyd] and Jabar [Gaffney] and Donte’ [Stallworth], who have all gone away and come back, Deion [Branch], they really enjoy it. They say ‘I’m going to get my opportunity at some point and I want to be able to take advantage of it.”

Can you go anywhere in the country to an event – a racetrack, a concert – and run into an NFL receiver who isn’t trying to figure out how he could come to New England?
“[Laughs]. I’m trying to recruit them, too. The more good football players we have, the better we’re going to be. I wish I was in the situation to sign all of them, but that’s not my job.”

We had Brandon Lloyd on the show, and asked him to tell the listeners something about Tom Brady. He talked about how he made a diving catch on a corner route for about a 28-yard gain, and went back to the huddle with a big smile on his face. And there you were, saying, ‘You have to flatten that route out, man. Let’s run that route over.’ It seems that you’re pretty tough on receivers when it comes to route-running, depth …
“We have to be able to anticipate what each other are doing. You can’t wait for things to happen, and then react. You have to be proactive in everything you do – at quarterback and receiver … When we go out to practice, we’re talking and saying, ‘If we get this coverage, this is what I’m thinking. This is when I expect you to break. When I see this hint of your head and your shoulders, this is what I’m thinking.’ A lot of it is anticipation. For example, when I see Brandon break and I throw it to a spot, and then he’s 4 yards away from that spot and he has to make a great catch. For him, I’m saying, ‘This is not where we talked about you being.’ Sometimes I make a bad throw and he says, ‘Tom, no, this is what I saw.’ That’s part of the communication. Someone like Brandon, that’s a great example. Between Deion [Branch] and Wes [Welker] and Jabar [Gaffney] and Donte’ [Stallworth], I mean, I’ve thrown thousands and thousands of footballs to Wes. I haven’t thrown a ton to Brandon, so he and I need to put in a little bit more work than what you put in with the other guys, just to get up to speed with everybody else. His willingness to come in here and learn, and do whatever Coach asks him to do, I’ll be out there all day. That’s the fun part about it. Brandon, I think it’s his 10th year, and he still has an excitement of a young player – ‘Look, I want to come in and I want to be the best player that I can be.’”

For you personally, how do you keep the humility? Your lifestyle and what you’ve been able to accomplish on the field, your supermodel wife, all great stuff, how do you stay humble?
“I have a great mom and dad. You grow up in a house with three sisters, you have to learn to be pretty sensitive to feelings and emotions. I don’t think things have ever come easy and I know everybody has a story. I think part of being a team player is being the best you can be for the team. I said yesterday that the one thing about Coach Belichick is that he doesn’t give you anything. You have to earn it. That’s the only way that you want it. Especially when you’re a member of this team, you don’t expect him to give anybody anything, so why should he give you anything? You want to go out there and play with the best guys you got, and it’s not because the guy is a first-round pick or a second-round pick and he’s going to play. He may not make the team. You’re going to go with the best guys you got. So every day you’re out on the field, you have to prove it to him that you’re the best player when he puts you out there and trusts you to win a game.”

You played with four different centers last year. People underestimate the relationship between quarterbacks and centers.
“I have had such a great rapport with Dan Koppen over the years, and he got hurt in the first game of the year. A guy landed on him. It was a tough injury. Then Dan Connolly came in. Ryan Wendell played for us. Then Nick McDonald played for us. A lot of the times, it’s about timing, getting the center/quarterback exchange. It looks like the easiest play in football, and you can’t run a play with the center/quarterback exchange, so when we do it in practice wrong, we’re running laps and Coach Belichick is saying ‘Foxboro High School can do this and we can’t get the center/quarterback exchange!”

I noticed the laps today. Ryan Mallett took one, and I noticed that he didn’t even wait for someone to tell him to run it. He just took off. Have you had to take a lap in the last year or so?
“Koppen and I dropped a snap last year in training camp.”

And you took a lap?
“Oh yeah. I’m getting yelled at just like everybody else. Hopefully it doesn’t happen too often. You take a lot of pride and discipline in that, to take care of the little things. We go out there before practice every day and work with the different centers and get the timing and hand placement.”

The shotgun snaps from all those centers. Are they different? People might just think the ball comes back automatically.
“I know. I think Dan Koppen is extremely gifted in that, the tempo of the ball as well as the placement of the ball. Like you said, when you’re grabbing the ball quickly to throw it, you don’t have a lot of time to find the laces. When the ball comes back end over end, like a punt, it’s really hard to find the laces. If it’s spinning so quickly, you can’t find it. So a lot of times I can see the laces and manipulate my hand to actually hit the laces and grab it and throw it quickly. If you don’t find the laces …”

For listeners, when you see the shotgun fast-pass, appreciate the little subtleties that no one is talking about…
“Yeah, it’s challenging. But we work at it and hopefully you make those plays because they should be easy plays.”

How would you describe owner Robert Kraft’s influence on the team?
“It always starts at the top. His ownership, his enjoyment being around this team, we came in this year basically to a new part of the weight room and an entirely new cafeteria. We’ve really made a bunch of upgrades to this facility in the last six months. He cares about the players, he cares about the families. We have a barbeque here in about 3 or 4 weeks, at his house down on the Cape, which is a lot of fun. He’s been through a lot, over the last three years really when Myra was first diagnosed with cancer. He’s battled, and she certainly battled for a long time and was a great inspiration for all of us last year. I certainly wish we could have finished the season off like we wanted to last year.”

There seems to be a great connection between players and owner here.
“It is. I think there is an expectation that when you come in here, you have to represent this organization the right way. Coach Belichick finds those players. Mr. Kraft and Jonathan Kraft, that’s what they care about. If you’re a bad guy, you’re not going to be around. If you’re not going to fit in, you’re not going to be a very good football player. We’ve had so few of them over the years that just don’t really work out. You come in and the expectation is to win, so it should be all about winning. If your attitude is somewhere else, then it’s hard to find a group to hang out with here. You end up kind of being a loner, and you don’t enjoy it very much, because you have to worry about winning football games.”

I know you made him feel really good when you told him you might play for 10 more years…
“I’m on board. However I need to do that, to accomplish that, I’m good. I love being here. I’ve been very fortunate to be on one team for the last 12 years and it’s just been a lot of fun. I love the community, we get great support. I mean, look how many fans we get. I’d be hard-pressed to think you guys go to another place and find more fans. We have 13 or 14,000 fans out there every day. We have our first game here in a couple weeks, everyone is going to be excited for that. In the meantime, we have to go out and string some good practices together. Hopefully we’ll do that.”

Son Of A Vidic

bruschi wrote: »

had a long reply written and computer froze or something and lost it.

basically the crux of it was that it was clear to many Pats fans that there was more than just defence issues last year.

As bad as defensive stats were last year, their red zone defence actually wasn't too bad. Still overall, a big improvement was needed and I think we got them now. Your right about it being more than defensive shortcomings last season. We had no cover at TE, which we seen when Gronk when down. Then playing the season and getting to the Superbowl with no deep threat, was pretty amazing. We can thank Brady's genius for that.

One of the best things for me is the return of Josh McDaniels. He will make the offense even more phenomenal. The last time he was in charge, we nearly went 19 - 0 and Brady threw a mind blowing 50 TD's passes in the regular season alone. This time he has even more offensive toys to play with. So if the O-Line can protect Brady and give him the time, then I can only drool at what lies in store.

Son Of A Vidic

Day 5 of training camp finishes up yesterday and Brady stays on late by himself, stop watch in hand running sprints. Putting in the extra hard slog, when he of all people doesn't need to. What a leader we have.

davyjose

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Day 5 of training camp finishes up yesterday and Brady stays on late by himself, stop watch in hand running sprints. Putting in the extra hard slog, when he of all people doesn't need to. What a leader we have.

Yeah but it's this sort of dedication that makes the greats great. He doesn't need to, but if he didn't have this attitude, he wouldn't be Tom Brady.

Son Of A Vidic

davyjose wrote: »

Yeah but it's this sort of dedication that makes the greats great. He doesn't need to, but if he didn't have this attitude, he wouldn't be Tom Brady God.

Corrected that obvious oversight on your part.

bruschi

cant beat a good training bust up to keep the intensity up!

A spirited scuffle during 11-on-11 work in the red zone highlighted the Patriots' season-ticket-holder-only practice Wednesday night at Gillette Stadium.

Starting left tackle Nate Solder seemed to be one of the instigators of the scuffle, shoving linebacker Brandon Spikes while Spikes was on the ground. That led to a lot more pushing and shoving between offensive and defensive players near the goal line, with some players pushed to the ground.

Solder was sent on a lap around the Gillette Stadium field.

Spikes briefly left the field with a trainer, although he was held out of most drills following the scuffle. He participated in a few snaps in 11-on-11 work.

It had the look of a baseball-type bench-clearing brawl, with everyone stepping into the fray. Most players were attempting to be peacemakers, but there was certainly some pushing and shoving among others.

Earlier in the evening, coach Bill Belichick said that players were entering the dog days of camp, and perhaps that contributed to some of the testiness of players at practice.

Before the Solder-Spikes scuffle, veteran center Dan Koppen was at the heart of two other minor dust-ups.

Receiver Brandon Lloyd, defensive lineman Jonathan Fanene, safety/cornerback Will Allen and center/guard Dan Connolly were among those who did not practice. Also, backup right tackle Matt Kopa didn't finish practice after coming up with a limp in 11-on-11 drills.

On the personnel front, third-year defensive end Jermaine Cunningham saw extended time with some top players on defense. But after his strong start to camp, he cooled down in this session, with offensive linemen handling him in 1-on-1 drills.

Meanwhile, first-round draft choice Chandler Jones had a strong performance in 1-on-1 drills. He is getting some consistent pressure off the right edge in that drill.

This was another great training camp crowd, with those in attendance sitting primarily in the lower bowl of the stadium.

its one of those things though that can be reported either way. Good intenst high pressured training, or trouble at camp and players not getting on and fighting. I'd go with option A here tho!

Son Of A Vidic

Good stuff, I like seeing that fire on the team. Many reporters have stated that in all the years Belichick has been Coach, that's the biggest bust up they've ever seen. Fire, fight and competitiveness will stand them all in good steed.

But that wasn’t the only reason Solder caught some eyes on Wednesday night. He showed a greater level of physicality than what was witnessed last season. Solder plays with excellent bend in his stance, allowing him to fire out at the snap, play with body control when he engages defenders and exert power in his blocks. He moved well to the second level in the running game, knocking over linebackers on multiple occasions.

A big season for Solder, with Light retired he's now playing his favoured position. The great thing about Solder is, not only is he a human mountain but he is also a tremendous athlete. The minimum I expect is a decade of dominance from the beast.

Son Of A Vidic

35 years ago today, a special baby was born....







He grew into a man, who was worshiped by other players....







And he was worshiped by the fans....







But he was no man...







Happy birthday Tom and here's to another 10 years at the top.