Training Camp-Cast 8/23: Biggest takeaways from Day 1 of Joint Practices with Raiders

This is Mike Dousseau joined by Evan Lazar from Patriots dot Com, and we are fresh off the field of the first joint practice between the Patriots and the Raiders. Evan, right off the top, let's just start with the good vibes of the reunion. There were so many Patriots players. There's all of a sudden, you know, Julian Edelman pops up. Mike Lombardi. You're just seeing all these kind of reunions happening between former players. So at the beginning of practice,

it was a nice happy vibe. Everyone catching up. Yeah, exactly, And he saw Julian Edelman was several Patriots players is greeting them big hugs all around. I tweeted out before a practice started at Edelman, was there a little celeb shout out for Julian Edelman and got a lot of questions about whether or not he was in pads for

the practice. Is absolutely not. He did not participate in the practice, but I saw that he was did something with our Patriots dot com social team that's up on our channel, so you can check out maybe Edelman's take of practice today or something like that, or maybe just a quick load of Patriots fans. Yeah. Yeah, he had a little bit of fun with it, and uh yeah, I think, like I said, I think the Patriots might might have been able to use him today Before we

get into the practice, those same attendance as yesterday. Uh not, no real surprises really, Ronnie Perkins, Harvey Longy, Taekwon Thornton, as well as Christian Wilkerson. We're not present and not participating. Otherwise, it seemed like Isaiah Wind didn't put the red jersey back on, so he is progressing as well. Uh. We got into practice, and we should have a quick disclaimer

that the media tent here in Vegas. As much as Bill Belichick praise this, you know, I think he called the Tataj Mahal today, for the media, it was a little bit more difficult. We were stationed on one sideline of three fields. So we did get an up close look at a lot of Raiders stuff, especially early on, which was which was kind of cool. But for the Patriots, a lot of things happening on that middle and far

field that that we weren't quite able to get. So, you know, no one on ones in terms of the defensive line and blockers and all that kind of thing. So you know, these are our thoughts of the practice, but we were with the media other media, so I think everybody kind of had a similar consensus, and and that was I mean, really kind of more of the same. For the Patriots offense, it was really you know, a struggle in team periods, and you know, they did bounce

back at the end. However, I just it matches what we've seen. It's it's in each kind of team drill period they make a player two, but then there's a lot of incompletes, there's a lot of running plays into traffic, and it just again, it just doesn't seem like they've established a rhythm and practice this summer at any point

where they've you know, really strung some play together. But I will with one caveat maybe maybe the last series that maybe offiction, hope, But you know, otherwise though, kind of what we've seen all summer. Yeah, we can get to that last two minute joke because that's sort of the saving grace of this entire practice for the Patriots, because we shouldn't have sugarcoated. This was not a good Patriots practice. The Raiders dominated almost in every phase until

the very final sequence of practice. Besides maybe the Patriots defront against the Raiders O line, it seemed like the Patriots defensive front held its own for most of the practice, but other than that, it was all Raiders. And I think with the Patriots offense you were alluding to it just now, what is their identity? What is it that they're good at right now that they can say, if all else fails, we can hang our hat on this one thing, and we can do this one thing. And

at the moment, I don't know what that is. I think over the last couple of years, for example, eighteen nineteen, the last couple years with Brady, it was one personnel fullback in the backfield, we're gonna run the ball, We're gonna incorporate play action, and they had that as something that was consistent offense for them in a consistent way to move the football. I think even last year at

times that was their core identity. Now it doesn't feel like they have anything that they're consistently good enough at that they can say this is what we do. This is Patriot offense. And I would love to ask. We talked to Mac Jones tomorrow, so maybe I'll try to phrase this question properly and see if we can get an answer from Mac. What is the identity of this offense? Right now? What is Patriots offense in twenty twenty two?

Because they've dipped their toes in the Shanahan stuff, they dipped their toes a little bit in some of more spread style elements, or they have Mac and the gun, and none of it has really consistently stuck. And that's what I'm waiting for, is just one of these practices, and we're there student to close the doors on us even after this week, right so, I don't know if we'll ever actually see it in until it happens in a game, But what is the Patriots offense in twenty

twenty two? I still think that that's a mystery right now. Well, we'll leave the last period for after this because I want to finish on a high note. Um, But I now at this point, and you tweeted about it, just a chance to see Davante Adams and Hunter Renfro up front, up close. They are phenomenal. The number of downfield passes. I mean, I'd have to go through and chart all my notes exactly, but I mean I have, like looking right now, three catches us right off the top. Four

even Um. You know, for for Adams, he was all over the place. Started in one on one drills where you know, I he was running up the sideline with Jayala Mills. Look like Jayala Mills had him pinned and pretty good coverage right hit to hip and then all of a sudden, Davanta Adams just turned it on, burned by him. Easy completion downfield. Hunter Renfro is just money

in the bank. You think about. We see a lot of Patriots practices where they're checked out, you know, they just right down to the middle, the little guy that just scorts out the running back, scorts out of backfield turn That's what Hunter Renfro was for them. Went when in doubt, he just threw it a Hunter Renfro. He catches it every time in the middle. So you know, those two players certainly gave the Patriots. It's I think the biggest challenge they've had this summer as far as

receiving talent. Absolutely has vibes of Welker and Moss right where it's like Adams over the top and Welker underneath their Renfro underneath in this case. And I'm not saying they're going to be as good as the O seven Patriots by any means, but that's sort of the look of what I think Josh McDaniels is building. And the Raiders didn't even have Darren Waller out there today. He's injured and wasn't at practice, so they still have another weapon that they didn't have out there on Tuesday. So

I think the biggest thing that you see. You got to tip your cap to the Raiders that they have a good team. They have a lot of talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Derek Carr is not the best quarterback in the league, but he's more than capable of distributing the football to guys that are open, like Davante Adams was for pretty much the entire practice.

And I wanted to get into this with you two, Mike, because we've been talking about this idea for I don't know, maybe a week now, about game planning and the fact that the Patriots are not game planning the Las Vegas Raiders like they're going to game plan them come December. And I'm not saying this to make excuses or to sugarcoat things about what we saw out there today, but I do think that context is really really important, especially

with the Patriots defense. I still go back to the identity thing with the Patriots offense, and I'm not entirely sure that a game plan is going to fix all of those problems that ail the offense at the moment.

But defensively, I think they have enough talent and we saw it at the two minute drill at the end that we keep on teasing, they have enough talent on that side of the ball that I think Bill Belichick, Rodmeo, and Steve can put together a game plan to hold some of these high powered offenses at least somewhat in check. And I wonder, and we talked to Devin mccordy about this, Adrian Phillips about it after practice, and they're like, no, this is just play, this is roll the ball out.

It's our ten basic concepts, whereas their ten basic concepts. It's fundamentals, it's basics. It's essentially a collection of eleven individual one on ones, right, it's not actually game plan football. So when the Patriots play the Raiders in December and we're back out here in Las Vegas, they're gonna have a game plan for Davante Adams, and they're not gonna say to Jalen Mills and Jonathan Jones, you got seventeen,

like go get him, right, like good luck? Right. They're gonna have safeties over the top, they're gonna have bracket calls, they're gonna have different looks thrown at Davante Adams off press, you know, all those types of things. And today it's basically just one on one mano Imano, like, good luck to you out there against seventeen. And he's just an all world player and that's not gonna go well for

pretty much any cornerback. I think maybe like Prime Stefani Gilmour could take him on an island in a joint practice, but other than that, it's it's really not easy matchup for anybody at any level. No, and that's I mean, I mean, even with the game plan though, you still got problems. If you're gonna double him down the field, you're gonna still have to deal with Renfrom and you're still gonna have to deal with Waller and talk about

their their running games. So you know, that's what they're telling us right now that you know, this is where we're just working on fundamentals. So that's all fine. But I've watched enough of these training camps now to know that what I've seen this summer just hasn't quite clicked yet. We'll see if it does. So let's you know, but

let's get into the final period. Because they you know, at the end, did some eleven on eleven work, They did some red zone stuff, they did some then they did some full field stuff where they put up on the clock twenty to twenty four for the for the offense, they've got to go down with about like a minute twenty left, they've got to go down and score. To

that point, it had been pretty rough. But then the defense I think started started it off with you know, came down towards the end, they had it, you know, a near pick and incomplete. I I wasn't sure. I think you said it was Jude on then with back to back kind of sacks at the end to close it out. I thought one of them was ouch, but

again it was hard to tell. But all of a sudden, you know, at the end they clicked in on defense and the offense would soon fall a sweep, but they were able to get some plays and get off the field there. So definitely, at least, you know, start with the defense. They then ended with a high none and just one more point to make. I think the run defense was okay today. You know, some of the some of the runs look similar to what the Patriots were look and where it's you're just running into a crowd,

and you know, would he scored it out. Probably not, but you know it's hard to tell for sure without without any tackling at all. But but that was a good sequence for the defense. Jonathan Jones, I know popped up earlier. You know, I did have a pass defense on Davante Adams, which was a nice play for him. So to start with the defense a nice little end

for them. Yeah, And I think what we've seen consistently all summer is at the defensive front, especially that third down or two minute pass rush package with Judeon and bar Moore, josh Ucha on the other edge opposite of jude On, maybe a Dietrich Wise as the other interior guy.

That group has been able to get after quarterbacks. Whether it's the Patriots quarterbacks, or it's these joint practices against Baker Mayfield or today against Derek Carr, they've been able to pressure quarterbacks with that front and control the line of scrimmage at times. And I think that that's really where this defense's strength is going to have to be, and they'll be able to be multiple and mix and match some of their blitz package in there as well,

and be able to get after some quarterbacks. Judeon he drew a hold. I think ja was the one that maybe got to Car eventually, but I think it was jude On that drew a hold on that play on the tight end. Then he comes back on the next play they ran a kind of like a zero look and bluffed it and then Judon got another sack of Derek Carr to end that drive. So a really good sign that Judeon back to back play is basically wrecked to drive single handedly for against the Raiders. And then

you mentioned the pass break up to Jonathan Jones. We talked to Phillips, like I mentioned earlier, after practice, he said he actually dropped an interception, that he jumped a route and dropped the pick. It was pretty hard on himself for dropping the interception, but the point is as he was in position to make a big play for the defense and potentially turned the tide there on the Raiders.

Even more so, that drive was the best sequence of the practice for the Patriots, and that pass rush package and that kind of third down look that the Patriots can give you defensively has been really, really good, I would say throughout both joint practice sessions and obviously against the Panthers in the preseason game when we did see it a little bit there last Friday night. That's been

the most consistent thing the Patriots have going right now. Yeah, you mentioned that, you know one thing that's kind of starting a pop for me, But it seems like Christian Bamber were getting a little bit of look with the base defense up top at the right defensive end position that we saw a lot of teacher Kwise Henry Anderson. So I think that's you know, good sign certainly for both of us who want to see him become a three down player. Let's set the stage though for the

last offensive possession. Um, you know, but the previous two I've got you know, they had six reps in the previous two eleven on elevens. I had the first one, nice nice touchdown passed to Davante Parker. Um. But that was the only completion they had in the initial red zone series. The second one I had, you know, one one to Agalore. That was it. Other that three more incompletions, uh and it looked like maybe two kind of runs. So set in the stage you're going into this final

that you're on the clock. It's you know, Pressuron not really expecting much. I'm gonna I'm gonna do my rudimentary just kind of run down of how it went because it was it was pretty surprising. First one, nothing crazy, just seemed like a little five yard checked down and believed to Harris. Second one I didn't get a good look at, but I know it was incomplete. Then they

then they started hitting Myers, uh tie Montgomery. They got a real nice throw I thought to Davante Parker again which was right along the sidelines, a little toe tap and out for a first down. Um. The next completion was to John H. Smith. I thought it was a touchdown. I didn't know. I don't know. They marked it down on the one yard line, but it didn't matter. They came back in the next one and Mac found Kendrick Bourne in the back of the end zone. Big spike

from him. We know he's been going through some some you know things right now, trying to improve his playing time, and you know, with sitting out the game last week, so you know, just like that, it was a real nice finish. It was, I mean, really one of maybe the best possessions I've seen all summer in terms of just sheer volume of completions and nice plays and you know,

nice throws by Mac and good catches. So I guess we're the point we're at right now after kind of being depressed for most of the practice, was Hey, they finished off strong. Maybe this is something that they can build off of. I still think, and look, you can't play in the two minute hurry up for for six minutes, right,

you can't do it all the time. But when they spread the field and they put their best skill players out there and they just kind of let Max sling it Yeah, it really feels like that's the best that they've looked all summer when they give him those opportunities. You mentioned the throw to Myers, which was a third down play they had to move the chains, and then the one to Parker. Those two really stood out to

me the most because they were timing routes right. It's a speed out to Myers and it was like a deep out to Parker and he hit the back foot, the ball was out on time, the receiver was where he's supposed to be, and it was a complete and we moved the chains. Those are the types of plays that I feel like we haven't seen quite enough of, where the timing, the rhythm, the execution, everybody's on the same page, the blocking holds up and it all looks

the way it should. I think a lot of the offense that we've seen it's kind of like that Nelson Agloor play we keep on going back to on Friday Night against Carolina, where it's one big play down the field of races a bunch of other things, or DeVante Parker goes up and wins a jump ball on one

against a defender. I'm not necessarily sure that is the most consistent or efficient way to move to football when you get into these plays or these sequences where they're hitting Myers on time and rhythm, they're hitting Parker on time and rhythm, and even the touchdown to Bourne that was on time and in rhythm as well. So I think that those are the types of plays that you're

hoping you see more of from the Patriots offense. Well, it's hard to believe, but we're only gonna get to watch one more practice this summer, so I don't want to make it up to be the climax of the summer, but you know, certainly the stage has been set based on what happened today. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of rite ups today focusing heavily on the struggles of the Patriots offense. So we'll see how they react tomorrow. But it's it's again, it's hard to believe.

Summer is almost over. We're not going to get to watch another practice after tomorrow until next summer, and then the climax, of course of the preseason will be on Friday night here against these Raiders. So we will be back tomorrow with the final camp cast to wrap everything up for you. This was a thorough one. We really dove into it, so hopefully we can provide some light on it out here in Vegas of what's been going on. We'll see how things develop, and we'll catch you next

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