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The New England Patriots were back on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium today for their third straight practice. The biggest story of the session was of course the 41st birthday of quarterback Tom Brady – even though he was basically given the day off.
Let’s recap the action:
Attendance
RB Sony Michel, OT Marcus Cannon, and OG Jason King were not present. (source) Newly acquired WR Eric Decker was not spotted. (source)
WR Kenny Britt and CB Keion Crossen returned to the field. (source)
CB Jonathan Jones, CB Cyrus Jones, and SS Nate Ebner were present bud did not participate in any drills. (source)
RB Mike Gillislee did no longer wear the red non-contact jersey. (source)
Injuries
Kenny Britt left the practice fields midway through the session. He participated in one-on-one drills and conditioning, but was not part of any team activities. (source)
Trey Flowers left practice early, and it might have been injury-related. (source)
Offensive lineman Brian Schwenke was carted off. (source)
Rookie tight end Ryan Izzo walked off the field and appeared to be in some pain. Trainers looked at his hand. (source)
David Andrews talked to trainers after the session ended because of what appeared to be heat-related issues. He did, however, later join his teammates during conditional hill runs. (source)
Offense
The quarterbacks performed as follows during 11-on-11 work: (source)
Brian Hoyer: 18/31, 2 INTs
Danny Etling: 6/13
The quarterbacks performed as follows during 7-on-7 work: (source)
Brian Hoyer: 4/6
Tom Brady did not take a single snap on his birthday, while Rob Gronkowski also had a very light day. (source)
Both backup quarterbacks botched at least one snap today, with the team – including Brady – having to run a penalty lap after Brian Hoyer’s second fumble. (source)
Overall, the session was as a rather sloppy one for the offense between dropped passes and dropped snaps. (source)
Even though he was covered tightly by Ryan Lewis, Cordarrelle Patterson was able to make another spectacular one-handed catch. (source)
Braxton Berrios was more active today than fellow slot receiver Riley McCarron. (source)
First-round rookie Isaiah Wynn saw some reps at guard. (source)
Defense
Jason McCourty and Jordan Richards registered back-to-back interceptions of Brian Hoyer. (source) Richards’ pick in particular is noteworthy as he made a leaping interception in front of tight end Will Tye. (source)
Speaking of Richards: With Chung getting a quasi-day off, the fourth-year man saw plenty of time with the top unit. He still appears to be the number two at the strong safety position. (source)
Brady and Gronkowski were not the only starters to receive a lighter workload: Stephon Gilmore and Patrick Chung also saw fewer reps than is the norm. (source)
Eddie Pleasant, Dont’a Hightower, Duke Dawson, and Damarius Travis all registered pass breakups. (source)
Speaking of Hightower, he is no longer wearing a knee brace. (source)
Adrian Clayborn dominated Isaiah Wynn during one-on-ones. (source)
Special teams
Jason McCourty saw some time returning kickoffs. (source) Cordarrelle Patterson, Patrick Chung, and Riley McCarron also ran back kicks. (source)
Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, Rex Burkhead, and Patrick Chung practiced punt returns while their teammates ran on the hill. (source)
Miscellaneous
The first song of today’s playlist was Jay-Z’s Public Service Announcement, which of course is Tom Brady’s warm-up song before games. (source)
Both the audience and the team sang Happy Birthday, because of course. (source)
Former Arizona State head coach Todd Graham was again present to watch the session, as were coaches from Harvard. (source)
New England closed out the session by doing conditioning runs on the hill. (source)