Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots were back in action on Monday for their 14th training camp practice of the summer, and the first without a non-media audience. With a travel day looming on Tuesday, the intensity was dialed back for what largely felt like a regular season practice.
Here is what went down on the fields behind Gillette Stadium.
Attire: Shells
Duration: ca. 105 minutes (10:15 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET)
Conditions: Sunny, temperatures in the high 80s
It was another hot day behind Gillette Stadium as the Patriots just wore their uppers for Monday’s session. For the first time this summer, New England did plenty of scout team work to help set the stage for a busy week in Minnesota.
Not participating: CB Christian Gonzalez, WR Ja’Lynn Polk, LB Marte Mapu, RB Deneric Prince, CB D.J. James, RB Rhamondre Stevenson, LB Jahlani Tavai, WR Kendrick Bourne, TE Hunter Henry, LB Elijah Ponder, DT Joshua Farmer
Departed: RB Terrell Jennings
New England’s running back depth was tested on Monday as Rhamondre Stevenson missed his second straight practice while Deneric Prince, who was signed on Sunday, also was absent. Then, second-year back Terrell Jennings left practice early heading straight to the locker room with a trainer.
There were no other surprises on the absent list. The fellow new additions — Marte Mapu, D.J. James, Hunter Henry — all left Sunday’s practice early.
Hurry-up mess: While much of the practice consisted of scout team work, New England did end the day with 1:30 on the clock and the ball spotted on their own 25-yard line for Drake Maye vs. the top defense. Needing just a field goal, Maye and the offense continued their summer struggles in the hurry-up situation.
After a trio of check downs, Maye dealt with a handful of pressure — including K’Lavon Chaisson getting home on a stunt working against Will Campbell and Jared Wilson — while Marcus Jones also broke up a pass among several incompletions. Following the downs being reset to keep the drive alive, Mike Vrabel then gave the offense a earful about the clock after an apparent delay of game penalty. The drive ended with Vrabel repositioning ball again to get a long field goal attempt (appearing to be around 55 yards) off which Andy Borregales missed short.
Maye and Co. will have a good chance now to bounce back against another opponent in the joint practices in Minnesota this week.
Kicking woes: In addition to Borregales final miss in the live situation, both of New England’s kickers had a rare off day in their field goal period. Working between 33 and 50 yards, Borregales connected on just 2-of-4 while Romo had his worst day of the summer making just 1-of-4.
One of Romo’s misses came after what appeared to be a low snap from rookie long snapper Julian Ashby.
“We’ll see what happens at the end of training camp cause we still got a long time to go,” special teams coordinator...
