PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

Training Camp

Tweets of Note: Patriots Monday Camp Practice

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I’m winding things down on vacation in Philadelphia today, eager for a long drive back tomorrow and then full preparations for the rest of preseason and the start of the Patriots regular season.

Quick story, I’m here for a hockey coaching seminar during which the speaker asked the room, filled with Eagles SB52 fans all decked out in swag, to name some good coaches. The first, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, and of course a Boston native. Next? Someone from the back, sadly not I, shouted out Bill Belichick. The crowd groaned but begrudgingly acknowledged the coaching ability of the hoodie. No mention of any of the bullshit, just a bunch of coaches admitting they know who one of the best ever is.

I had a big grin, and was slightly sad it was not I who called out the name.

Here are the Tweets from today that stood out.

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Tweets of Note: Patriots Sunday Training Camp Practice

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Greetings from Philadelphia, where so far I haven’t been too subjected to too much Super Bowl 52 misery. In fact, you’ll be pleased to know that most Eagles fans seem to have returned to the norm, being totally miserable about their opening preseason loss. We’ll see if my Patriots-plated car is still in one piece when I pick it up from the parking garage on Tuesday morning.

Imagine what’ll happen if they lose to the Pats Thursday? Won’t make up for the Super Bowl that’s for sure, but it’s always nice to see Eagles fans miserable and really, it’s their natural state anyway.

There’s only two more training camp practices open to the public left. That means, unfortunately, I won’t get to see them again and will instead have to rely on the great reporters whose job it is to be there in person.

It looks like it was another interesting day of practice after what has become a standard downpour that has affected numerous practices thus far. Here are the Tweets of Note…

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Pats Posits: Real and Fake Concerns, Excitement

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I’ve got to head down to Philly for a few days so I won’t be able to jump into film analysis of this game as I’d like to, but maybe that’s for the best because nothing gets overreacted to like the first preseason game. The void of football games since the Super Bowl left the media circus chasing their tail all offseason. Now they’ll effortlessly jump into the attempted analysis of a football game that should be taken with a very big grain of salt.

What’s real and what’s not? There was plenty in the first half to get annoyed about but will those things actually matter next month when the regular season starts? What about the good stuff of the second half? Can we get excited about that stuff? It’s hard to sort it all out in the preseason, with no gameplanning and scrubs often on the other side of the ball.

Let’s break down what’s real and what’s not in some Posits before I hit the road in my Patriots-license plated car, praying I don’t get egged by some unruly Eagles fans.

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Patriots Start Preseason with a Comeback Win

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The Patriots and Redskins played a preseason game Thursday night but the result doesn’t matter, even if it was a slightly fun comeback win for the Pats. What really matters is that football is back and the 2018 Pats have taken another major step as they progress toward the regular season.

Yes, they came back from 17-0 down in typical Patriots fashion. You know, it’s infuriating watching teams walk down the field on them and the offense sputter. Then all of a sudden the ‘Bill Belichick is unhappy’ switch kicks in and they start playing well. The running game keyed things in this one, which shouldn’t be that surprising since no one had really tackled this summer until now and the backs were running hard.

Here are the Ups and Down and notes on the game.

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Patriots Camp Leftovers

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Real-ish football is finally back tonight with the Patriots taking on the Redskins at 7:30pm. No, the game doesn’t really count and all that truly matters tonight is avoiding injuries, but it will be fun to finally see the new and young guys have to deal with tackling. We’ll finally get a sense of who might be the guys who just rise to another level in game action.

I had a chance to catch five training camp practices so far, each time scribbling down furious notes on the roster and often forgetting to mention bits and pieces that I might’ve caught but didn’t warrant a full article.

To help get through today, here are a bunch of rapid-fire notes and things I left out of my last couple weeks of writing.

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Patriots Gameplan: 5 To Watch vs. Redskins

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For as much as I love it when training camp opens, it really doesn’t feel like football is back until we see the team in uniform in a game, albeit a meaningless one with mostly backups likely to play the majority of the game. Still, there’s a sigh of relief knowing that important players like Tom Brady and Dont’a Hightower won’t take the field and won’t potentially get injured because all that truly matters in these four games is not getting anyone injured.

Last year was a catastrophic situation with Julian Edelman tearing his ACL. There’s just nothing worse than losing a player for the season in a game that doesn’t even matter. Hopefully, the Pats can survive Thursday night and we can start to get a real sense of how good the new guys are in an actual game with hitting and tackling, something we still have not seen. But the most important guys should not be risked here in week one.

It’s hard to judge much of anything without real football, despite our best efforts. So now, we can really start to figure out how the bottom half of the roster looks and who might rise to the occasion under the bright lights with people trying to really hit them.

Here are five areas of emphasis that I’ll be focusing on. I’m not making any offensive or defensive gameplan sections because we can expect to see a vanilla bean scheme on both sides of the ball. It’s not about the Redskins, it’s just about the Patriots and seeing how players handle themselves without having to overthink about disguise and adjustments.

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Patriots Training Camp Report: Friday (TFB-Day)

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Got back from another muggy Patriots practice, that featured alternating rain and glaring sun. I was on my game though, setting up right against one of the few trees on the hill that overlooks the stadium. The advantages up there: shade, slight wind, watching the practice from the end zone which makes it a lot easier to scout the players.

A lot of the important guys had their snaps limited, starting with Tom Brady, but also including Dont’a Hightower, Devin McCourty, Rob Gronkowski and Stephon Gilmore. That gave some of the younger players a chance at more reps with starting-caliber players.

Here are some of those who are getting some more chances:

— Christian Sam saw time playing with Hightower as the top nickel linebacker duo and seemed comfortable within the defense. He’s making strides.

— Riley McCarron got plenty of chances but he showed inconsistency. Not sure him or Berrios can stake a claim on a roster spot right now. Did think it was Berrios’ best practice that I’ve seen, gaining separation on Jomal Wiltz on one snap for whatever that’s worth.

— Wiltz and Ryan Lewis saw plenty of time at cornerback today. Neither stood out like JC Jackson has to me. Jackson is getting time as a gunner too, so he’s really looking like he could have an inside spot on a job at this point.

— Eddie Pleasant and Nicholas Grigsby look mostly like roster locks right now, playing multiple special teams units and getting valuable reps on defense as well.

— The whole offense took a lap after a sloppy exchange. They had already fumbled one. Funny to see Brady, who wasn’t really practicing at this point, take a lap with them. It drew happy birthday cheers from the audience, even though it was a penalty lap.

— Mike Gillislee was back in pads and looks explosive on a couple carries to me. Jeremy Hill has a spot on the kickoff return team right now so it’d look like he’s adding more value than Gillislee so he’s got his work cut out for him.

— I am so curious to see how Jacob Hollister looks in the preseason. He’s been great at camp, catching everything thrown his direction, consistently getting open. When we talk about filling in for Edelman weeks one through four, Hollister could be a significant part of the equation. Between him and Decker, the Pats will have some inside size this year that they’ve never really had.

— If you missed my 53-man projection from yesterday I can say that I feel even better about my defensive picks after today’s practice.