Pop quiz, what are two of the sweetest words in the English language no matter whether you’re in elementary school, high school, college, or if you work in a cube at Initech?
SNOW DAY!
That unexpected day off, there’s truly nothing better.
The Patriots are deep in the dog days of camp and everybody’s having their good days and bad days. Some worse than others:
Look through the bodies and you'll see Deatrich Wise come off an Isaiah Wynn block and absolutely level Jeremy Hill. #Patriots #PatsCamp pic.twitter.com/cbCklfAwJb
— Evan Lazar (@ezlazar) July 28, 2018
So on Monday night to close out the team’s night practice, rookie offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn got to take a crack at a classic Bill Belichick challenge - catching a punt.
No pressure, rook!
Uh oh.
Isaiah Wynn dropped a punt at the end of practice. The team almost uniformly fell over in disappointment. Guessing there was something on the line.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) July 31, 2018
Do or do not, Wynn, there is no try!
The Pats closed out tonight’s practice by sending rookie OT Isaiah Wynn back deep for a punt. He dropped his first attempt. Here was his second: pic.twitter.com/lX0HM74QyX
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) July 31, 2018
After dropping the first, rookie Isaiah Wynn catches the second punt and his teammates go nuts pic.twitter.com/iEbxQXBK7R
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) July 31, 2018
Let’s get a close-up of the sweet taste of victory!
Isaiah Wynn takes advantage of a second chance to catch a punt at the end of Monday’s @Patriots practice. And the crowd (of teammates) goes wild! pic.twitter.com/n5SISR2Oij
— Bob Socci (@BobSocci) July 31, 2018
What’s a bet without some stakes, though? Anyone who’s played a friendly game of poker or pong can tell you it’s 100x better with something on the line. How about another throwback: no curfew?
Best moment of training camp so far: rookie lineman Isaiah Wynn successfully fields a punt. (He did need two tries.) Per Danny Shelton this means no curfew next two nights. pic.twitter.com/5orFAuKqZM
— Nora Princiotti (@NoraPrinciotti) July 31, 2018
Arguably the best moment of training camp just happened as Isaiah Wynn made good on his 2nd chance to catch a practice-ending punt. Team now gets the next two nights free according to Danny Shelton.
— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) July 31, 2018
For those of you with a long memory and/or have watched the 2004 episode of “America’s Game” way too many times after getting home from the bar (....what?), you’ll remember that Bill’s been playing some variation of this game since at least the 2004 season, when he bet offensive lineman Matt Light (hmmm, noticing a pattern here) that if he caught a punt, Bill would give the team the night off, but if Light missed, the whole team ran 30 extra sprints.
Skip to about 5 minutes in to see Light make the grab when Isaiah Wynn was probably still in elementary school:
Those Patriots though, man, they never have any fun. SMH.