Pats Training Camp Observations

Posted by Mike Giardi August 5, 2008 at 5:53 pm

Just got done with the Pats afternoon practice session. Another minus the big guns. No Tom Brady. No Randy Moss. I’d be surprised if either played Thursday night in the preseason opener. The good news is that Mike Vrabel has been activated from the PUP. He doubts that he’ll play against the Ravens either, but did say that’s not his decision (gee, I wonder who’s it is??)

Some observations:

- Rookie cornerback Terrence Wheatley made a nice play during the 7-on-7’s, deflecting a Matt Gutierrez pass that was intended for Jabar Gafney. Gafney had beaten Wheatley to the corner, but the ball needed a little more air underneath it.

- Gutierrez biggest mistake came right at the goal-line. He didn’t release the ball when he should have (his internal clock should have expired), then threw too late to the sideline. Whoops. Antwain Spann picked it off and would have taken that one to the house.

- Earlier in that same drill, another example of why Chad Jackson isn’t there. Matt Cassel was clearly eyeballing the wideout, but he did a poor job of finding a hole in the secondary, sliding into- coverage instead of toward a vast opening away from the goalpost. That’s where Cassel threw it. I think for emphasis.

- During 11-on-11’s, tight end Jonathan Stupor was all alone in the right flat. Cassell dumped it off to him, and Stupor turned his head before he caught the ball. That drew some “ughs” from a nice crowd.

- Cassell also had a chance to hook-up with Wes Welker on a deep ball. Welker was staying on the numbers, but Cassell led him into the hashes and - more importantly - into coverage. The pass went incomplete.

- We didn’t have to watch Chris Hanson punt the ball very much, but he put on a clinic. On consecutive punts, from 40-plus, he basically deadened the ball on the one-yard line. Impressive.

- Lastly, its important to note that whoever was in charge of music during stretch did a nice job getting in a little “Dissident” by Pearl Jam.