On the first day of Training Camp, Tom Curran asked me to help him out with something. Here’s the result:

Posted: July 27th, 2008 under 2008, video.
Comments: 3

Due to inclement weather, otherwise known as torrential downpours practice was held inside the field house. Mrs. B was smart staying home, because I got drenched walking from the stadium to the field house. Due to the fact that the field is only 70 yards long inside the field house, it is hard to tell whether the team is doing red-zone drills, or just regular drills.

Attendance:      New Offensive Lineman Pete McMahon will be wearing 64.
Those not in attendance: Richard Seymour, Matt Light, Jason Webster, Vince Redd, Marcus Pollard

* Jordan in his 3rd practice continues to impress
* Three players took a lap tonight: Logan Mankins, Steve Fifita, Jimmy Martin
* Randy Moss joked around standing in the middle of the endzone and yelling right before a receiver was supposed to catch the ball. He also tried to deflect a pass, which didn’t phase the receiver.
* The running backs are doing a drill where one of them is the running back trying to hold on to the ball, the other is trying to cause a fumble.
* TE coach Pete Manguarian worked 1 on 1 with Ben Watson.
* Brady was firing bullets tonight having not thrown this morning
* Belichick ran right into the middle of the line of scrimmage, squirted water either at the lineman or on the ball, and then ran out (talk about situational football)
* Linebacker Gary Guyton got praise from Belichick for picking up on something the other linebackers in the play didn’t
* All four quarterbacks looked impressive with tight spirals on most of their passes
* Chad Jackson looked like he had a better handle on adjustments as compared to last year when Brady, Belichick, or McDaniels used to scream at him
* Bob and Myra Kraft took in practice, with Bob spending some time talking to Ernie Adams
* Once again our first defense included: Vince Wilfork, Ty Warren, Le Kevin Smith, Adalius Thomas, Tedy Bruschi, Tank Williams at Linebacker, Pierre Woods, Fernando Bryant, Lewis Sanders, James Sanders, Brandon Meriweather
* Offense we had of course Tom Brady, Laurence Maroney, Ryan O’Callaghan, Russ Hochstein, Dan Koppen, Logan Mankins, Wesley Britt, Randy Moss, Jabar Gaffney, Chad Jackson
* Running Backs, Tight Ends, and Quarterbacks signed tonight, and with only VIPs in attendance they seemed to luck out
* Perhaps in response to having most of the practices in pads, Belichick gave the team the night off.

Posted: July 27th, 2008 under 2008.
Comments: 3

So, I came home from the Christening and got into my Pats gear (although it was raining here for a couple of hours) to  set out to camp then called and they finally officially canceled it due to rain. See you tomorrow for the single afternoon session.

Go Pats!

Posted: July 27th, 2008 under 2008.
Comments: none

Just in from this morning’s session and I’m throwing out things from memory really quickly because I’ve got to get ready for the Christening this afternoon.  I left the house late this morning because it was raining here for hours and I kept calling the hotline (1-508-549-0001) to check to see if it was canceled or not. Obviously it was on and I so I headed out with Jake. It turned out to be a hazy but nice morning for camp.

Here are the quick tidbits for today:

• It was the 5th straight “practice” in full pads. Last night was just a (closed to the public) walk-through session so it doesn’t really count in my mind. Even the PUP guys were allowed to attend.
• Kaczur is off PUP and as you know, Mruczkowski retired yesterday.
• Brady took it easy today again, deferring to his understudies.
• I didn’t spot Seymour out there (but admittedly didn’t specifically look for him; just realized now that I didn’t see him) so I’m not sure if he was out there or not.
• Lamont Jordan suited up and is wearing #32. He got lot of carries today when working on the running game and looks to be a powerhouse. In a rare move, Brady fumbled a snap.
• Bruschi batted away a Cassel pass in tight coverage but I missed the intended receiver. (That’s what happens when I camp with friends and chat. Richardson also batted one away.
• Gary Guyton had the sole pick of the day (and a good one at that) with a one handed, over the head pluck of a Guitierrez pass at the line of scrimmage that he likey would have taken to the house.
• Chad Jackson had a better day than Friday  (although nothing outstanding) and once again was the primary kick returner.
• Gutierrez and Connolly took a lap together.
• Kelley Washington did his best to get the crowd to make noise during the special teams portion, signalling for noise by raising his hand above his head to the crowd.
• Jonathan Stupar missed a short Cassel pass and when it went right through his arms, the crowd reacted loudly.
• Mayo and Hobson worked together on the inside with the second team again today.
• Gaffney got a big crowd reaction with a corner TD catch in double coverage by Wheatley and Meriweather. On the next play, Moss caught one at the post and the crowd made noise once again.
• Gostkowski was at 100% with field goals at the end of practice. The first one took the newbies on the hill by surprise but then the tradition of catching the balls and tossing them back was in full swing. Tedy was having fun encouraging the kids to make the catches and could be heard at one point laughing and yelling  “Anyone over 40, is not allowed to catch them.” Clearly, he got a kick out of watching the kids.
• For the Jake Exclusive of the day: From where he was sitting, he saw Crable dog it on the last play of one of the drills and Sealy went off, mocking him and imitating his lame effort. He yelled “Try to act like it’s your job. BECAUSE IT IS!!”
• In the absence of Vrable, Tedy hangs with Adalius and Tank on the sidelines.
• Linebackers signed today as did Brady. Tedy was the first over there and got his usual ovation followed by the cries of “Brady!”  when he made his way there. However, the crowd went WILD asa smiling  His Hoodie-ness approached the sidelines to sign. The crowd began chanting Bel-i-chick, Bel-i-chick… which is what I heard as I was making my way to the car to get home on time.

There’s another session tonight which I’m going to try to make but I can’t guarantee since I have that party to attend. Will we see shorts and shoulder pads tonight, or will the full pad streak continue on?

Jake took some great pictures which will be posted later on my Flickr account and look for a podcast later tonight.

Posted: July 27th, 2008 under 2008.
Comments: 1