From the Hart: Reactions from Thursday’s OTA action
Written by Andy Hart on May 28, 2009 – 1:59 pm -The Patriots just completed the morning OTA session here at Gillette Stadium, the first full-squad passing camp workout that was open to the media. Not surprisingly a huge gathering of media – both local and national – was in attendance to see Tom Brady and Co. workout. Brady took part fully in the session that lasted a little over an hour and a half. The practice took place in cloudy, damp, cool conditions with players wearing helmets, jerseys and either shorts or sweats. Brady wore sweat pants, covering the knee brace he’s wearing on his surgically repaired left knee. To summarize his day – Brady looked pretty rusty and described himself as such in his extended meeting with the media after practice. For full coverage of Brady’s comments to the media, including a story, transcript, audio and video of the Q and A session, check Patriots.com later this afternoon.
Beyond that, here’s one man’s observations from the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium.
–Seventy-six players were on the field for the morning session – 43 on offense and 33 on defense. Those on the roster but not on the field were: WR Tyree Barnes, WR Shun White, WR Brandon Tate, DB Brandon Meriweather, RB Sammy Morris, CB Mike Richardson, DB Ray Ventrone, LB Jerod Mayo, LB Tyrone McKenzie, LB Tedy Bruschi, C/G Al Johnson, T Mark Levoir, NT Vince Wilfork, DE Ty Warren and DE Jarvis Green.
–I was glad to hear Brady say he was rusty, because I didn’t want to be characterized as Mr. Negative when I described him that way here on the blog. Many of his throws were off target, including a number of under thrown deep balls toward Randy Moss and Joey Galloway. Actually all the QBs seemed to struggle with a lot of their throws, maybe thanks to the wet conditions.
–I thought the most interesting answer from Brady was to a question wondering whether he was confident he could be the same player he was before last season’s major knee injury. He responded with “We’ll see….talk is cheap.” Interesting answer — check out the audio for yourself. It came late in the chat session.
I also like another answer he had saying the team was trying to do some thing special and that they haven’t had the season they’d like to have in going on five years now. It’s about the rings in Foxborough. Nothing less.
Brady also seemed genuinely excited to work with veteran offensive newcomers like Joey Galloway, Greg Lewis, Chris Baker, Fred Taylor and others. He said he likes having new veterans on the team and that their learning curve is generally accelerated thanks to their experience in the league.
–Leigh Bodden joked afterwards that he wasn’t surprised to see so much attention focused on Brady by the media saying, “I’d interview him if I could.”
–Nick Caserio, New England’s director of player personnel, continued to spend a lot of time working with the wide receivers in today’s OTA session. Caserio threw to the players during positional drills, working alongside wide receivers coach Chad O’Shea. During team offense work both quarterbacks coach Bill O’Brien and Caserio stood out, with O’Brien clearly was the guy sending in the plays, running the script and taking the lead with the group as a whole. Caserio spent time in group work talking one-on-one with Moss and some of the other receivers at various times.
–Joey Galloway is fast.
–Greg Lewis seemed to have a little trouble with the wet turf on a couple of occasions. He slipped and fell a couple times coming out of his breaks. He took a lot of reps on the outside, although I’d expect to see him work out of the slot at times down the road as well. He drew Brady’s praise for a great catch during the workout in which he extended deep for a ball, beating Shawn Springs to Kevin O’Connell’s throw. I really think Lewis could be an under-the-radar addition that could really help this offense this year.
–With Morris out of action, Laurence Maroney took the initial snaps behind Tom Brady in group work with the offense. He spoke with the media afterwards. One thing I found interesting was that he admitted he’s talked to Fred Taylor a little bit about the fact that the former Jaguar was once thought of an oft-injured player, something Maroney has been dealing with early in his career here.
–Sebastian “Sea Bass” Vollmer took reserve reps working at left tackle while George “Bus” Bussey worked at right tackle.
–PFW in Progress friend Alex Smith was right, he took reps throughout the day lined up at a variety of spots on offense, including in the backfield and in motion in a sort of H-back role. David Thomas also took reps from a variety of spots, including lined up in the backfield in a three-point stance.
–Bill Belichick wore a blue, Boston Patriots hooded sweatshirt with a 50th Anniversary logo for the session, proving it’s the offseason by forgoing the usual cut-sleeves, grey, hoodie that’s the game-ready norm.
–I thought both Leigh Bodden and Shawn Springs had a very practice, both guys making nice breaks on the ball at various times. Bodden talked afterwards of the advantage those guys have working against the likes of Moss, Wes Welker and Galloway and that they won’t face better receiving corps on game days very often. Jonathan Wilhite had a nice interception on a Brian Hoyer throw in team work. The competition already looks like it will be really strong for roster spots, jobs and playing time at cornerback.
–Chris Hanson was absolutely killing the ball for most of the day. Working in between the practice fields with his special teams buds and Scott O’Brien, Hanson got off one high, deep boomer after another. He then put in some pretty good efforts working on some coffin corner kicks as well.
–This time around it was veteran Nathan Hodel who had at least one bad snap. He bounced one to Hanson. Last week rookie Jake Ingram was off mark a couple times. Those guys need to tighten things up in the race to replace Lonie Paxton.
–Laurence Maroney and Matthew Slater (wearing a heavy wrap on his left wrist) were the first returners in line for kickoff return work. The next group included Terrence Wheatley and Darius Butler. Maroney misjudged one kickoff, allowing the ball to bounce off his hands and go over his head. Julian Edelman and Terrence Nunn also took reps returning kickoffs.
–With Mayo and Bruschi not on the field, Gary Guyton led the huddle and took the calls from the sidelines during team defense work. Newcomer Paris Lenon didn’t seem to take too many reps, seemingly spending most of the day with his helmet off and standing next to linebackers coach Matt Patricia.
–At the conclusion of the main practice, many of the young players on both sides of the ball kept working out while the more veteran players did a series of sprints on the other practice field. Notable in all sprints and pre-practice running is that rookie safety Patrick Chung seems to always lead the pack, bursting out well ahead of the rest of his teammates.
Posted in General |
May 28th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Andy this is the second post where your doubting Brady. Your not saying it but you are.
It might not have been you with the post about Parade but here we go again with the doubting and putting words in Bradys mouth.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Dorian, you might be new here but I’m not doubting Brady in any way. If you have been around, then you remember last fall the very same week Brady got hurt I said he would return to the game with his passion and fire burning hotter than ever. I think I’m going to be right with that prediction. I liked everything he said in that regard this week. I only pointed out that he was rusty because he was. He knew it. I knew it. Everyone watching knew it. And the post I put up with regards to Parade had nothing to do with me. I was simply drawing attention to a strange quote in a publication that probably isn’t read regularly by Patriots fans. Glad we could clear up this little misunderstanding. Thanks for reading.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Andy, I know this will never be known, but is it possible that Jarvis Green was not there due to it being the 2 year anniversary of Marquise Hill’s death today.
It saddens me that I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere today (haven’t downloaded the show yet, so not having a rant at you guys yet!)
RIP Marquise, #91 always remembered.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Just listened to the Maroney Interview, he sounds like he gets it. He is saying the right things and I think he may be on his way to the rushing total with a comma that Andy predicted.
Andy, This is obviously going to to be running back by commitee at the start but is there a chance Maroney could take full control of the backfield and become the guy who carries the ball around 60-70% of the time?
May 28th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
WOW, Galloway looks really old in the picture on Patriots.com.
May 28th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Excellent Work Andy. Thorough and to the point while touching on many topics that we wanted to hear about. When is the next big thing after these OTA’s to look forward to?
May 29th, 2009 at 2:32 am
Keep tellin’ it like it is Andy (and let us fans continue to play our part as the resident “Homers” )
I see this teamed as being stacked like no other PATS team …ever .
(and I was one of the many that predicted the 16 - 0 2007 campaign )
That said , I see us going 13-3 this season ( but unlike 2007 … we go 3-0 in the playoffs )
BRING ON 2009 !
May 29th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Thanks, Taz. We have more OTA access on June 2 and June 9. We’ll also be at the Patriots Charitable Foundation on June 8 and will have full veteran mini-camp coverage from June 10-12. Those three days should include plenty of interesting stuff from the practice fields, player interviews and Bill Belichick press conferences. That’ll be a busy week. Then we’ll have a pretty slow period from then until training camp opens in late July.
May 29th, 2009 at 9:09 am
In football terms, the 37-year-old Galloway is pretty old. At least the 15th-year veteran doesn’t look as old as Paul Perillo!
May 29th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I do think, in an ideal situation if everything plays out in a positive fashion, that Maroney could end up the primary ball carrier. But it’s unlikely he’ll get top the 60-70% level. Based on the team’s rushing numbers from last year 60-70% would equate to somewhere between 307-359 carries for between 1,366-1,584 yards. While I’m pretty hopeful for Maroney’s production, and the low-side of the yardage might be a somewhat realistic goal, I don’t see him getting 300-plus carries at this point in his career. Remember, he’s never had more than 185 carries as a pro and could also be the team’s primary kick returner. 300-plus carries would be way too much to ask for. I’ll settle on a comma in his rushing total at the end of the season and be very happy with it.
May 29th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I have been here reading this blog for quite awhile but I havent been upto date with the podcasts. Thats why I have posted and questioned it. its my fault for taking your words somewhat out of context.
May 29th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
what about chung? anything worth mentioning besides that he sprints when they’re running?
May 29th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I’ll be honest, Alex, Chung didn’t do too much that stood out to me in Thursday’s OTA session. I saw him getting reps. Saw him leading the pack in all the running. Other than that, I’ve got little to offer from the workout. Sorry. I’ll try to keep a closer eye on him next week and report back to you.
May 29th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
why does brady look skinnier than normal?
May 29th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Andy , PREMIUM work overall. Out of all of the cornerback combos that you saw which seemed to stand out the most, and look to be the most effective ?
- Mikey Vandalism
May 30th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Three players I’ve been very happy for The Patriots to pick up are Joey Galloway, Greg Lewis, and Leigh Bodden. Galloway is one of those ageless vets, which is suprising for his position, but now he fills the crucial role that Stallworth filled in New England in 2007. Lewis to me seems like a guy who will work very nicely in the slot opposite of welker, I’d say 40 balls at least for him if all goes well. Leigh Bodden will be a very nice thing to look forward to on game days because he’s got SIZE!!! Ive always had problems with the patriots trying to utilize undersized CBs, now we have a guy who will be able to match up with the big, physical receivers out there and I expect him to have about 5 picks but theres a gut feeling he WILL provide the pats with some very solid coverage. I hope Fred Taylor will bring a good contribution to the pats too.
May 31st, 2009 at 2:18 am
i was wondering what is bill (belichick) and robert (kraft) thinking about not reconstructing vince (Wilfork)’s contract? I mean he has been a productive player since his rookie year. I mean don’t get me wrong i know about the whole salary cap space and everything but i trurly think that patriots need to re-sign vince (wilfork) to a long term deal. He is pro bowl caliber and out of the whole defensive line i think even ty(warren) has even made a name for himself and richard (seymour) hasn’t played to his full potentional since around his rookie season and seymour is getting paid more then both wilfork and warren.. So to me re-signing vince to a long term deal seems like a must in bill (belichick)’s and robert (kraft)’s mind
May 31st, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Excellent work, Andy. I appreciate the fact that at least one person watching actually decided to give us the pertinent information regarding the team - as opposed to whether or not Brady wears a bike helmet. While it’s obviously good to hear from Brady, it’s also nice to hear some of the other observations from practice. You think we’ll see Freddy T blowing up some rookie DB’s this season? I seem to be in the minority here, but if Taylor stays healthy, I envision him returning to form and taking over for Maroney as our #1 RB.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I agree if Taylor stays healthy we will see Maroney on the bench, but Morris will be the RB that leads the team in rushing yards.