t96

And again. I do think this is good for the young guys to take their lumps in the preseason.

Tough rep for the left side. But that’s why they’re in there, they’ll learn from that

Great start on D. Marc Jones wears braided belts

I don’t blame him, I did the same thing. Thought about going tonight but Gillette Stadium is the biggest pain in the ass in the world and I wouldn’t get home until 1am or later even for a preseason game. Seriously, horrible setup, 1 road in and out that is basically stopped for hours after games

You forgot Baker’s 2nd season but yeah point still stands for last year

Expecting to see multiple posters seriously talk about Super Bowl after our backups wipe the floor with Marcy Marc Jones and his funky bunch

Can't edit the post any more but the "solid run" bullet point obviously should read "solid run defense." It's hard to judge the run game in the camp but I think they look better this year than last year, not a high bar, I know. But that would be really nice if that isn't a weakness this year. And you're all welcome.

As some of you know I attended our joint practices with the cheaters here in MA, finally got around to organizing my notes and pictures/videos from day 1, so here’s some good stuff for you guys to hold you over until 7. Overall I think it was very positive and we got the better of the Pats these 2 days but of course as Allen Iverson said, we’re talking ‘bout practice so read into it as much as you want… My main biggest takeaways from both these days: - The energy was incredible. The guys on the team really seem fully bought into Rhule and his “process” right from the first drills with the Pats. Compared to last year’s joint practices with the Colts where reports were we lacked energy and looked flat I see this as a big positive. Maybe it really did take 3 years for Rhule to build his program and he can still be successful. Lots of cheering from our sideline through both days and obviously the fights. - We all know by now and have known all along but Baker took more 1st team reps than Darnold and did much more with them. He is so obviously the starter. - Starting OL was consistently Icky, BC, Elflein, Corbett, Moton, they started together even before the Bozeman injury. That was really unfortunate timing for him as now I’m positive Elflein will get first dibs even if Boze is cleared for week 1. It will take Pat struggling for Boze to get a shot. Hopefully he just plays lights out but I am happy to still have a decent backup plan at our weakest spot on the OL. Jordan didn’t see any team reps at 1st team LG so looks like that spot is Brady’s, so hold off on the torches and pitchforks for now. This unit actually performed solid together, some hiccups on day 1 but much better day 2. I think as they continue to gel together they’ll only get better - McCaffrey dominated, pure cheat code all camp. If he stays healthy I really think his presence is game changing, of course we all know that health is his only question mark at this point and it is a real one. - Horn, Henderson, DJax and Taylor is about as good of a CB group as we’ve ever had. All 4 of these guys were impressive. Some highlights and general observations from day 1: - Baker deep shot to TMJ, nice pass maybe a bit out of his reach but could’ve caught it: MVI_0294.MP4 - Shi hanging on through a hold in 1v1s. He had a really nice couple of days and looks like a roster lock with a potential role in our offense too: MVI_0272.MP4 - Burns was all over the place talking to guys, hyping them up, watching the 11v11s with Matt Rhule, etc. Only player near the head coaches watching those plays. Looks like he’s developing into more and more of a leader: - Horn, Shaq and Chinn were inseparable on the sidelines. I see all 3 of these guys being core pieces of our D for years to come: - Solid run MVI_0299.MP4 - Swing route from Baker to McCaffrey for a big gain in 2min drill: MVI_0320.MP4 - A nice play from the D on a HB screen pass: MVI_0301.MP4 - Horn near interception of Mac Jones. Nice coverage but I think he was out of bounds: MVI_0302.MP4 - Keith Taylor with a nice PBU on Mac Jones: MVI_0303.MP4 - Mac Jones under heavy pressure and intercepted by Luvu in 2min. drill: MVI_0328.MP4 - Baker deep shot to DJ: MVI_0310.MP4 - Horn and the defense celebrating DJ’s catch: MVI_0311.MP4 - Kirkwood had a great day, several contested catches. Higgins was solid too. WR group is really deep and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. - Several plays by our D that were clear and obvious sacks but play continued and the Pats would come up with positive plays after it would’ve been dead anyways. I noticed this caused a fair amount of bias and inaccuracy in reports/tweets from Pats writers Some play by play notes: *note I missed several plays and my notes were not perfect but here’s what I got for play by play. Also, when uploading my pictures/videos they got all out of order so can’t say exactly where all of those fit in, when I was filming I wasn’t taking notes too so those plays likely won’t be listed below. After warmups practice started out with 1v1 drills against the Pats. I was seated closer to the WR/CB matchups and the HB/LB and TE/LB matchups so focused mostly on those, wasn’t able to see much of the DL/OL matchups from where I sat. - Baker and Robbie seem to have developed pretty solid chemistry, they had a few nice plays in these drills. - Zylstra and Shi both stood out in their route running in these drills. Saunders was pretty invisible, I don’t think he has a shot at the roster this year with other WRs stepping up despite some of the early hype. - McCaffrey destroyed the Pats LBs every snap running routes. - TEs and HBs generally looked good in pass protection which was nice to see. I thought Foreman did a better job than Chuba, he may have a leg up for backup RB because of that but I think this is close and both will likely see snaps in the regular season. Next was Panthers punt return, Shi saw most of the time there and looked pretty comfortable but had a bobble on a high wobbly punt. He recovered it quickly but not ideal. Pressure on the punter looked good to me, had a near block. Next up was 11v11s, our offense was on the field nearest to me. Our D was on the far field and I really couldn’t see those plays very well so mostly focused on the offense. One thing I’ll note about our D on the opposite field, there was more cheering coming from our sideline than the Pats’, and it seemed like we were stopping the run pretty well and not allowing anything deep but did allow a fair amount of shorter passes. Baker started with 1st team, starting OL 79/70/60/63/72. - Baker nearly picked on first play but it was dropped, was a bad pass and not sure who he was targeting. - McC with a nice run with some big holes, Baker sold the play action fake well in my opinion - Next play was a run bottled up easily by their D - Baked found Robbie open in the middle of the zone D, good pass and good protection, decent gain. - McC with another nice gain for 5-10 yards Sam in: - Run stuffed - False start called by refs on Daley - Sam PA to Jared Scott for about 10 yards - Run stuffed x2 - Zylstra quick out for just a few yards - Break/I think this is roughly when Bozeman got hurt, I did not get a good look at what happened to him. 7v7s: - Sam to DJ for about 7 yards - Sam targeted Shi short, broken up by the DB. Shi probably could’ve caught it but just couldn’t hold on with the contact. - Next play right back to Shi for about 10 yards - Higgins open down the middle for 15-20 yards - Dump off to Chuba for a few yards - Zylstra wide open down field but Sam missed him, looked like a miscommunication. - Didn’t see much of our D during this period but heard some cheers and what may have been an interception from our 2nd team? Baker in: - Baker to Kirkwood for a short gain - Baker broken up intended for Derek Wright - Baker deep to Kirkwood for 25-30 yards, really nice catch in tight coverage - Baker pass tipped and could’ve been picked but still caught off the tip by Higgins, nice concentration from him a decent gain of 15 or so Sam in: - Swing to McCaffrey who made a nice move on the Pats defender for a first down - Really nice corned fade to Higgins but he couldn’t hold on - McCaffrey run through a big hole for a first down - Fight on far field happened, I didn’t see it at all but our entire offense ran over to join so practice stopped briefly Did not take good notes on the 2min. drills from this practice. Much better notes and more video from that for Day 2 which is coming next.

Test MVI_0310.MP4 test

Good. Pats are playing their 1st team, Corral would get eaten alive. Let Corral get a ton of time against the backups.

I still wonder what if with Otah, the guy was an absolute stud when healthy. Having him in 2013 to bookend Gross could've put us over the top that year honestly.

Rhule took a chance on a bright young offensive mind, which Brady still is despite his failed tenure here. Frankly, not a whole lot different than Jay Gruden hiring Sean McVay as OC in his first year as HC. McVay was able to take the bull by the horns and quickly prove he's an elite football coach. Brady struggled and we moved on. I don't see this as a negative for Rhule but actually a positive. Only took a year and a half to move on, Rivera and many other coaches would've taken 4 years... And McAdoo seems like a really good choice but we will see soon enough.

I would agree with all of these. Honestly I think we have a better roster around Baker than the Browns did when they made the playoffs with him. Will come down to coaching and my guess is if we miss the playoffs Fitts gets to handpick his guy there. Scott has done a great job with this roster.

practice paused and both teams chewed out after a late hard hit on McCaffrey starts another fight. Christian is fine

Granted, the Pats D did get the upper hand in general if I had to pick a winner between our O and their D but it was not as much as our D beat their O, and it wasn't as bad as it's being made out to be. We had several very positive plays on O

Also, anyone know the best way to go about uploading embedded video into posts here? I have .mov files and am struggling to get them embedded. Attaching the file itself isn't working. Tried using imgur to host and that works and I can post a link to it but it won't embed... Have a bunch of content from today I'll be sharing once I get all this figured out so any help is appreciated.

FYI offense wasn't great but it wasn't nearly as bad as the Pats reporters are making it out to be. Pats offense has been HORRIBLE this offseason and it wasn't any better today. They need some positives to report on, but those positives from the Pats D today are being inflated. Definitely some concerns for our offense, but not the disaster it's being made out to be. Just my take anyways from someone who was there today.

test http://i.imgur.com/a/PHF4pfU.png

test

Pretty obvious to me that it should be: Icky - BC - Boze - Corbett - Moton. Bummed about the Boze injury today, I didn't see it but Elflein is a weak point if he has to step in at C (or if we give him the job even with a healthy Boze, which is very possible).

OK sounds like coverage wasn't great so I'll put some more effort into getting as much as I can from today in a post (or multiple posts). I saw much less of our defense as they were on the far field but still have plenty of highlights (and some lowlights) from pretty much every phase of the practices today.

yeah my phone mostly stayed in my pocket all day, took notes and a bunch of pictures/video from my digital camera so didn't get to post anything in real time, will need to get it all on a computer today/tomorrow.

don't have much time right now to look through this thread... how was the coverage from our "beat writers?" Any video? Pats were very strict on video/audio recording but I was still able to get a fair amount and a few really good plays. If someone can give a breakdown of the coverage we got today that would be helpful for when I put all my stuff together, would rather try to fill in the holes than post what our beat writers captured anyways...

Guys, got a ton of great content from practice today coming, may be a day or two, gotta figure out how best to post video too. Really solid day of practice and will be back again tomorrow

The reps are to evaluate what to do with the QBs, going in predetermined to slot guys in as starter, backup, 3rd string, cut/PS, etc. is ridiculous. None of the reps have anything to do with making players more attractive trade options. Darnold is pushing Baker, Baker has clearly won (or will within the next week or so). Then from there the question is how can we get rid of Darnold and clear some cap space if possible? Ideally we retain about 75% of his contract and trade him for a conditional 7th or something. We free up $4-5m and don't give anything up, the acquiring team gets a decent QB option for a cheap 1 year deal and no risk (Rams make a lot of sense, McVay can coddle him like he did Goff, if Stafford were to miss time with his elbow issue). If we can't get rid of Sam or decide (based on the reps and what each QB does with them) that it's better to just keep him as backup at his absurd cap hit because PJ/Corral are so far behind, then so be it. If we can offload him and free up cap space then the question is who is the backup between those 2? PJ is clearly ahead of Corral, and if we are going to be able to get rid of Sam to free up space, PJ should be getting reps. A lot of moving parts and all 4 guys getting reps makes sense to factor into decision making. This type of thing is common throughout the league across all the positions. Corral is a 3rd round rookie QB, the Huddle needs to give him time. His reps will increase.