2012 Training Camp Thread

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Oswlek said:
Deion neither needs to work, nor the wear and tear. I wouldn't read too much into his absence.
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That may be true, but neither does Welker, and he's out there all the time every practice.
 
PatsFanLisa said:
That may be true, but neither does Welker, and he's out there all the time every practice.
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Wes is a bigger part of the offense as not nearly as much of an injury risk. It might also be a factor that the three guys who would take Branch's role were free agent signings.

Yes, I know that Gaff and Donte were here before, but they still need to get up to speed. Had NE made a big FA splash in Welker's spot, he'd probably get more bench time as well.
 
FWIW, Branch has been absent in every Patriots camp since 2004.

2005 - held out of all four PS games despite being clearly the top option.

2006 - Didn't report.

2010 - Wasn't here at the start of the year

2011 - Didn't have a single catch all preseason, though he did play more than usual.

2012 - Spending a lot of time on the sidelines.

Perhaps the cause of 2012 is different, but the trend is pretty telling. NE doesn't want to expose Deion to too much risk until the games are real.
 
Meh. The teams practice differently, so this isn't surprising. The Saints run a high tempo more physical and repetitious type of practice while the Pats run more of a technique oriented and slower more finesse practice. I would expect NO to be more successful in a team drill at a joint practice right now.
 
HSanders said:
Yeah...so my pathetic joke isn't working I guess. ROFL

I remember one fine year, the Pats were looking kind of raggedy all preseason and the last game was the final straw. I was all ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I thought of curses that Bart Scott hasn't even laid upon the defense. The O was tremendous(ly awful). They were obliterated by the Bengals. They couldn't score a SINGLE POINT...against a team coached by JACK BLEEPING DELRIO. Again...JACK....BLEEPING...DEL....RIO.

DOOM.

The year? 2004. :coffee:
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Jack coached the Bengals in 04? Really? Damn.

I smell what you are cooking here, H. Most of us are so amped up for the season to start and try so hard to read all the signals we see in the players and schematic things we see that we forget that BB will do whatever he thinks necessary to get the team ready for the real games and does it his own way.

He might sit Brady in the 3rd game, might tank one here or there so that he can rip into the players, or play a kid both ways and on STs just to see if he'll crack. He could leave the starters in for 3 quarters in the 1st or the 4th game. He could show absolutely nothing but vanilla looks or throw in the kitchen sink. He teaches people to expect the unexpected and keep everybody on edge.

He controls the process as he sees fit and when he sees fit and that means whatever we are observing in a particular game could be a complete and total smokescreen.

We've just got to relax and enjoy seeing how the new guys look in a uniform and maybe look for the flashes here and there that are telltale signs of another juggernaut team getting ready to whip the ass of anybody on the schedule. Even if we go 0-4.

I love me some preseason, but as you nicely illustrated it isn't worth taking it seriously.
 
Right, absolutely nothing to be worried about from this practice.
 
HSanders said:
Yeah...so my pathetic joke isn't working I guess. ROFL

I remember one fine year, the Pats were looking kind of raggedy all preseason and the last game was the final straw. I was all ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I thought of curses that Bart Scott hasn't even laid upon the defense. The O was tremendous(ly awful). They were obliterated by the Bengals. They couldn't score a SINGLE POINT...against a team coached by JACK BLEEPING DELRIO. Again...JACK....BLEEPING...DEL....RIO.

DOOM.

The year? 2004. :coffee:
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I remember that one. 31-3 in the all-important 3rd preseason game. The first team defense pretty much played the entire game. I don't recall Del Rio coaching them, though, I thought it was Lewis.
 
Oswlek said:
I remember that one. 31-3 in the all-important 3rd preseason game. The first team defense pretty much played the entire game. I don't recall Del Rio coaching them, though, I thought it was Lewis.
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yup. Stay in there til you stop something.

Also, the Colts throughout the '00s never it seems went better than 1-3 in Preseason and always looked bad doing it.

By the way Middy your 1st cousin, Chicken Little, called me a few minutes ago and asked me to tell you to chill. Oh, and she needs your new cell phone #.:LOL:


Cheers, BostonTim
 
Some notes from Berdard. You can read the whole article here but I edited it for some key parts. http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2012/08/practice_rundow_10.html:

The Patriots had it taken to them by the Saints in 11-on-11 situations, and it started up front. The Patriots’ offensive line was one big sieve against the Saints’ active front and it threw off the entire offense, including QB Tom Brady, who only completed 7 of 16 passes (43.8 percent) and threw an interception. And because of injuries, the Saints were down to their 4-6 CBs for much of team drills. Conversely, the Saints’ terrific offensive line easily handled the Patriots up front as Drew Brees hit on 18 of his 26 passes (69.2 percent) with an interception.

One on Ones:
The Patriots defense concluded before the offense so we were only able to see five reps for the Patriots, and it wasn’t pretty. RT Marcus Cannon, LG Dan Connolly, Brayon and RG Donald Thomas all were handily defeated by Junior Galette, Cameron Jordan and Braylon Broughton, respectively. C Ryan Wendell completely shutdown DT Alex Daniels, while LT Nate Solder did a real nice job against DE Will Smith.

Jones did a solid job against Jermon Bushrod, who is a good LT in the NFL. Jones held his own strength-wide, and kept his feet moving in a stalemate. Charles Brown’s initial punch stunned Jones on his next rep, but he didn’t back down. He also had a pass breakup in 11 vs 11.

(Saints were without their top 2 CBs) In CB/WR one-on-ones, Saints quarterbacks started 21 of 24 before finishing with three incompletions. Ras-I Dowling lost all three matchups against Saints WR Andy Tanner, who was on the practice squad last year. Devin McCourty was beaten twice by Marques Clark. Kyle Arrington was the most competitive of the Patriots’ corners. Sterling Moore was made to look bad by Saints WR Lance Moore, who does that to a lot of people.

When the Patriots had their turn, Brady was 12 of 13 and Brian Hoyer was 13 of 18. Some nice back-shoulder catches from a host of Patriots. In 7-on-7s, Brady was 11 for 13 with an interception. He did go deep to Jabar Gaffney for a touchdown. Hoyer was 2 of 2.

More OL Woes: In 11-on-11 after Brady zipped a completion to TE Rob Gronkowski between two defenders, Connolly got blown up to allow RB Stevan Ridley to get tackled for a 4-yard loss, and then Brady had to throw a screen into the turf because the blocking was so bad by Cannon. Both Connolly and Cannon were yanked for a few plays as a result

Later, Solder was smoked by DE Will Smith and was benched for a few plays.

OG Jeremiah Warren had the kind of practice you’d like to forget. He allowed Ridley to get taken down for a loss at one point, and then on the final drill he was beaten twice for would-be sacks in the span of four plays
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So, it sounds like the OL had a particularly bad day but it is not an incredibly deep group.

Edit: Left this out--he also stated that Brandon Bolden was the best RB today against the Saints. Really good story this offseason with Brandon and Justin Francis.
 
JD10367 said:
I'm remembering why I don't come here often. I have middy on iggy and I still want to punch someone in the face just from reading his asinine overreacting that people are quoting. Please, for the love of God, go be a frigging Jets fan or something. How the few remaining Planeteers stand you is beyond my comprehension.
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Was any of that needed? Yo want to punch someone in the face? None of what you just said had any place to what I have said in this thread at all. We are talking about football...this is a football board, and I thought this crap was not in these threads.
 
BostonTim said:
yup. Stay in there til you stop something.

Also, the Colts throughout the '00s never it seems went better than 1-3 in Preseason and always looked bad doing it.

By the way Middy your 1st cousin, Chicken Little, called me a few minutes ago and asked me to tell you to chill. Oh, and she needs your new cell phone #.:LOL:


Cheers, BostonTim
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Yeah my wife says I am black and white like that. Either the world is ending or everything is kitten butts and rainbows...as I said, I was a little worried when a team without any coaches seemed a little ahead of our team....I mean the way they kept talking about it on several outlets, It probably concerned more than just me....but as you said....its preseason.
 
Went to training camp today. Had a blast!! Brandon Lloyd is a beast and Welker and Hernandez look good. It was awesome there. I am so looking forward to this year!
 
BEEN reading Jones is getting a lot of first teams snaps. I wonder if that means BB will make him the season opener starter.
 
Hawg73 said:
Jack coached the Bengals in 04? Really? Damn.

I smell what you are cooking here, H. Most of us are so amped up for the season to start and try so hard to read all the signals we see in the players and schematic things we see that we forget that BB will do whatever he thinks necessary to get the team ready for the real games and does it his own way.

He might sit Brady in the 3rd game, might tank one here or there so that he can rip into the players, or play a kid both ways and on STs just to see if he'll crack. He could leave the starters in for 3 quarters in the 1st or the 4th game. He could show absolutely nothing but vanilla looks or throw in the kitchen sink. He teaches people to expect the unexpected and keep everybody on edge.

He controls the process as he sees fit and when he sees fit and that means whatever we are observing in a particular game could be a complete and total smokescreen.

We've just got to relax and enjoy seeing how the new guys look in a uniform and maybe look for the flashes here and there that are telltale signs of another juggernaut team getting ready to whip the ass of anybody on the schedule. Even if we go 0-4.

I love me some preseason, but as you nicely illustrated it isn't worth taking it seriously.
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I had forgotten about the Jax game. It was the last game of the preseason.

The one I recalled was the 2nd preseason game against Cincy. BB was so pissed that he threw the 1st teamers out to start the 3rd quarter and they still got their asses handed to them.

The Pats were 1-3 that preseason year.

And there have been years when the Pats were 4-0 and had terrible seasons ('81 is very clear in my mind).
 
The 2008 Detroit Lions went 4-0 in the preseason and 0-16 in the regular season. Preseason wins don't mean nothing.
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I'm sure the O-line will be righted before the start of the regular season, at least to a degree where it's serviceable.

I'm not the least bit concerned right now that Tom threw a pick or two in 7's.
 
@ Hawg & Os,

My writing ambiguousness in the way I juxtaposed my thoughts caused the
"JDR coached the Bengals" thought. They were obliterated by the Lewis coached Bengals (though I think they mustered a field goal in that one)AND the Del Rio coached Jags (they were blanked).
 
There seems to be some discrepancy in our OL vs our DL play, at least to me. Our depleted OL has held its own against our DL in TC for the past week and yet the Saints come in and make our OL look awful. Does this mean our OL is practicing against a DL, ours, that isn't as good as previously thought? I haven't read if the OL failures were due to very good technique by the Saints or if their DL is just so much stronger and more physical than our own. Whatever the cause, Patrick Graham, our DL coach, and Scar have plenty of ammunition for coaching them up.
 
Michigan Dave said:
Meh. The teams practice differently, so this isn't surprising. The Saints run a high tempo more physical and repetitious type of practice while the Pats run more of a technique oriented and slower more finesse practice. I would expect NO to be more successful in a team drill at a joint practice right now.
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Heath Evans commented in this vein last night. He said the real reason the Saints love practicing against the Pats (he was answering a Brees quote to that effect) is that the Pats practices are physically much easier than theirs. The Pats emphasize the film study more than having a high tempo of practice.
 
A different perspective comes from the NO Times-Picayune who says the Saints defenders weren't spectacular and didn't cause Brady's difficulties.

The Saints' defenders didn't necessarily have a strong day against the Patriots' offense. But it was clear that Brady was having an off day.
During a team red-zone drill, Saints linebacker Curtis Lofton intercepted a Brady pass in the back of the end zone.
Later in the practice, during a two-minute drill, free safety Malcolm Jenkins picked off a Brady pass, highlighting the day for the Saints' defense.
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http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/08/tom_brady_has_a_rough_practice.html

Reading the NO paper, it's pretty clear they don't see that practice as lop sided as the Boston writers saw it.
 
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