Latest / Patriots Unfiltered / Training Camp-Cast 8/17: Special Teams Takes Center Stage, Maye-Brown Heating Up, Ponder Excelling on Edge

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Training Camp-Cast 8/17: Special Teams Takes Center Stage, Maye-Brown Heating Up, Ponder Excelling on Edge · Patriots Unfiltered

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Training Camp Practice number seventeen is in the books, and
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the Drake may Aj Brown Connection is coming alive. Let's
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: break it down. Well, come everybody to the Patriots Training
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Camp cast presented by New Balance, and yes, Patriots are
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: backing pads for a tenth time today. Guys. It seems
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: like it's been a little bit of a grind here.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: We had the game on Thursday night, we had backing
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: pads on Saturday, a little walkthrough on Sunday, and then
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: here today on Monday. Physicality picking back up and Paul,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to start with you and little drill that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: interests me and interest Corey Durton too. Almost like we're
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: putting on display some of the younger guys here. The
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: team gathered around, we had you know, some punk protections,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: some punk gunners trying to get down the field. Seemed
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: like Mike Rabel was trying to put these guys maybe
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: a little bit on stage and let them perform in
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: front of their Teammates's kind of fun.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's a quote. Corey Durton. It was dope.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: You know, it was a little bit different. I've been,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously at a million of these training camp
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: practices and I hadn't really seen anything really like that where,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: you know, and I think Durden sort of explained it.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: It was an opportunity to get a lot of young
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: guys on display in front of the whole team, got
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: a little juice and energy going, and yeah, different kind
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: of blocking because it's it's gunners going against vice guys,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: it's interior punt protection, it's a running back on a
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: blitz pick up. So it was a lot of different
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: things going on one on one matchups. It was a
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: little bit of a breakup of the camp monotony.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Have you had some standouts?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was pretty cool. I hadn't seen anything like
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: that before either. I think the closest thing I could
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: come up with was that at the Senior Bowl they
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: often do this at the very end of the practice.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: They put the best edge rusher in the practice against
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the best tackle in the practice, and so on and
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: so forth. It was cool. Yeah, I thought a couple
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: of guys stood out in it. Khalil Jacobs had a
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: really nice blitz. Riley Wilson continues to kind of bring
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: some physicality to practice, But I thought the biggest one
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: was Lomu over at Akis you know, I thought that
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: was a really good rep for Caleb, who had on
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: the right side too, at right tackle, going up against Zakis,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: so kind of you know, usually when they go to
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: one on ones, they have stations and it's O line,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: D line and wide receivers and corners and tight ends
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: and safeties and you know, linebackers and running backs, and
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: this one was like the whole team together, so it
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: was kind of like, uh, you know, a showcase, I
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: would call it. It was pretty cool.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, what was interesting to me was just that
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: you saw a lot of the depth guys and these
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: are like things we've been talking about where the roles are,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: you know, no Brendon Schooler. There's obviously special teams jobs,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: you know, not just here in the preseason, but going
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: into the regular season. So just giving those younger guys
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to kind of really put the put the
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: spotlight on them, let them compete a little bit. I
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: just I thought it was interesting you can see the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: camp battles and where like these jobs are down the
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: depth chart a little bit where guys are trying to
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: carve out roles. So that was fun. But then of
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: course we're waiting for the eleven on elevens and you know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: to get into things, and you know, I just we've
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: talked about Drake May has been good. You know, maybe
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: they'd been some slow starts during camp. I thought today
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: was one of his most consistent days. And let's call
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: it out the big the big play, big passing play
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: down the field to Antoni or toy.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Aj Brown.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: We saw him, Paul, we saw him opening. We're like,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: throw it, throw it, yeah, nice big play.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: He was opened a couple of times down the field today.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: That was the one that they targeted him. And what
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I liked about it is if you remember way back,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: you know, everybody's like, well, you know, he's gone downfield
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  Speaker 2: from before there was kind of a double move and
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: they sort of fooled Christian Gonzales on that play. This
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: was just you know, off the line. Mike and I
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: immediately it was like, you know, the old Randy Moss
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: with the middlebe like he was. He was opened ten
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: yards into the route, just really separated. Nice to see.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: I was joking ev with Mike during practice. I could
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: really see virtually anything from Aj Brown this year. If
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you told me he was going to catch one hundred
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: for fifteen hundred yards and twelve touchdowns. I'd say, yeah, okay, yeah,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: I could see that or something much less than that,
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: because there are times where he runs down the field
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: like that and he's five yards in the clear on
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Charles Woods, and there's are the times where he's getting
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: locked up on the sideliney by the same guy on
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: an out. So good to see a big play like
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: that from May, though, because I don't think we've seen
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: AJ Brown downfield all that often.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely the most separation he's created on a route
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: down the field, and it was good to see. I
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: thought the throw in the two minute drill was even better.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: A J.
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  Speaker 3: Brown was ridiculous. I mean, that was a sick throw.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: I thought that two minute drill in general from him
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  Speaker 3: Drake May today was really sharp. They threw a lot
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: of blitzes at him, and they had a lot of
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: blitz beaters that they had planned and Snuckermandrie Stevenson behind
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: the blitz for a big game to get him down
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: into field goal range. That was probably the best. You know,
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: they don't do two minutes anymore, is now a minute
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: in fifteen or a minute in five That was the
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: best two minute drill they've had all summer. I mean,
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: five for five, super sharp, all the way down the field,
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: highlighted by the Brown play, but a couple of downfield
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  Speaker 3: completions to Brown, couple of downfield completions to Dobbs. Again today,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: especially in that first team period, I thought they were
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: at The offense in general was really sharp.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Paul, you noticed on one point a little you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: little cadence work for Drake May, some of the pre
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: snap stuff. I think that's an area I'm really focusing on.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: It's so critical for his development.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like this when we talk about the
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: you know, the team's doing situational work, go down and
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: distant stuff. You know, that's the kind of thing. I
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: think it was a third and two in that period
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: that we're talking about, and they're looking to get a
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: cheap first down, so they run to the line. You know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: they get settled up and it's a hardcount for Drake May.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Now the defense was disciplined, they didn't bite on it.
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  Speaker 2: But some of those kind of minutia things, I think
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: they can get lost sometimes, but those can be really
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: really important plays in the span of a drive, in
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: the span of a season. So Yeah, it was good
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: to see them getting to work on some of that
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: situational stuff.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Successful two minutes your old borg Allis hit the
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: field goal there at the end. I just got to
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: highlight Romeo Dobs too, because it's been, you know, a
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: couple of days since we've done a training camp cast.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: It was good against Saturday. I had a couple catches
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: again today suddenly, and I know you had a small
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: seat concern that slowly sunk to like Twufont and maybe
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: off off the page.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Now I'm a race on it.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: That's small season. He's been the most consistent receiver over
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: the last week and a half in this team. And
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you see now what aj Brown did today, and you
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: see what Dobbs is kind of doing. I said to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Paul in the stands, I'm like, oh, let's talk about
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Kayshaan Boudi and Efton Chisholm. I'm like, I don't really care.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: These two guys are starting to really make it work.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: Pop Douglas has had a good camp offense. I'm getting
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: excited about.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: I thought today it was even better because you know,
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: look with Dobbs, I love the fifty to fifty balls
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: as much as anybody, but I don't want to make
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: a living off of those types of contested catches. A
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: couple of throws that he made to Dobbs today in
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: the first team period, especially strong hands, open at the
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: top of the route, balls out on time. You know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Paul's Patriot plays types of thing, right, It was exactly that,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: and it wasn't look. I love that he mossed a
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: couple guys on Saturday too, but again, I don't want
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: them to make a habit out of that's the only
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: way that they're moving the football. He made a catch
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: in front of I think it was Craig Woodson that
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: he kind of had to go back and grab it.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: It was a little bit and he just snatched it
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: out of the air and then pulled it away from
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Woodson to make sure that Woodson couldn't, you know, bat
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: the ball out of his hands. His hands are really good,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: really strong. You can see that that strength and the
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: ability to attack the ball at the catch point.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Another one low that he caught that felt like he
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: kind of short armed a little bit. One other guy
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: want to bring up those guys is Elijah Ponder, because look,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: we've seen gate backus now for a couple of weeks.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a work in progress with him.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: It's not He's not coming right in and you know,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: doing everything they need him to do. Draymont Jones is
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: a solid player. But I've hit on this point a lot, Paul.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: I feel like the coaching staff is high on Ponder
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: that he had pretty good to day today. I think
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: he's becoming a critical player for this team and could
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: be on the verge of a big season if it
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: all works out.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think, for better or worse, he's probably
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: going to be your starter opposite Draymond Jones. You know,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: when the season starts. I can't imagine how d Landry's
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: going to be up to speed that quickly after missing
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: the entirety of camp, and you're right about Actus, I
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: think it's been a little bit slower. He also missed
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: the start of camp, so he's you know, catching up
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: for lost time. I did notice Pond on back to
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: back plays and one of those the earlier eleven on
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: elevens that were down closer to where the media tent is,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: and you know, he flashes a little bit. I think
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: he's got a great attitude. You listen to him talk
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: and he just you know, he's an undrafted guy, and
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: I don't think he forgot that. Like, I think he
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: knows how tenuous it can be. I think he's constantly working.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: They wanted him to work a little bit more and
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: being a three down player, you know, stopping the run.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: I think he's taken that to heart, working on his
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: techniques in that regard. So that's the kind of stuff
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: you guys want to see. Like you have young players,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: we focus on draft picks, but ef, I know you're
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: going to be working on some year two stuff. That's
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: the kind of stuff you want to see year two
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: guys getting better.
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it just feels like those guys have the most
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: opportunity to increase the ceiling of the team. Because I
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: don't know, not to like talk bad about the rookie class,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: but how many opportunities is that rookie class really going
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: to get when it's all said and done. You know,
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: Caleb Blowmen is going to be a backup to start
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: the season. Eli Orden's going to be behind Henry and
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: maybe he's going to chip in, but he's going to
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: be hunter. Henry Gaye Acus is probably the one guy
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: that maybe has a chance to play early and play
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: a lot. But Ponder has been great. I had him
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: with a couple pressures today, thought he's stuff to run
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: as well. So those are the types of things that
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: you want to see. You know, you can rush the passer.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: I did that last year and did a pretty good
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: job of it. It's gonna be can you play on
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: first and second down and set the edge and stop
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: the run and do that sort of thing. I still
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: kind of feel like Ponder and Acus together as a
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: three down player instead of just one of them playing
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: all three downs, Like maybe Acus is your early down
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: edge setter and then Ponder is your third down pass
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: rusher for Acus in his rookie season, So a little
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: bit of like Anthony Jennings and Ponder last year like it.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Well, that's gonna do it for this addition to the
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: camp cast. But two more practices if you guys can
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: get down here, joint practices against the Eagles on Wednesday
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and Thursday. So this should be a great take last
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: chance to see this team before get going on the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: regular season. Two more preseason games to go. It's all
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: coming together, Okay,