It was a surreal day to say the least. It was my first time as a credentialed member of the media so I got an up close look at practice, but it also just happened to be the day Rob Ninkovich, a longtime favorite of the blog, announced his retirement.
My head was spinning, between meeting some of the Patriots writers I’ve followed and tweeted with for so long to then suddenly sitting in the press conference room surrounded by the team as Ninkovich hung them up, it was an awesome day and one I won’t soon forget.
But ultimately I was there to finally get an up close look at some football and that’s what this was all about. I even bought some binoculars as I learned are a must-have for these kind of practices where the team can often be all the way across the field working behind a wall of players. Hard to see it all, but I still saw plenty.
Let’s start with some officially credentialed observations from practice.