Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - LOCKED ON PATRIOTS-8/1/17- Day Five of Training Camp

Episode Date: August 2, 2017

Chris Simoneau, Patriots Insider for Scout.com, updates you on all the developments from Practice Five of Patriots Training Camp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. Good evening. I'm Chris Simino, Patriots inside of a scout.com, and also your host of Locked On Patriots. Today is Tuesday, August 1st, 2017. August is here. Unfortunately for you kids that are in school, it's starting to get close to school. It's starting to get close.

I actually work in a school, so I feel your pain. But we're getting closer and closer to the end of the summer here. You really start to feel it once preseason starts, and that's about a week away. So actually nine days away. Also getting deep in the training camp, and things are starting to get very interesting as we saw today. So we're going to get you guys updated on all the latest developments from practice five of camp. That's where our main focus is for today's show. That's where it's at. We're training camp. We're in deep. So we'll get to all the other position battles.

We'll do that after the first preseason game. We're going to start really getting into that because we're going to start really getting into that because we're going to get an idea of what we're looking at here. But we do have some very interesting things that we saw today from camp and just some developments that have happened over the last few days that are good, positive things for this Patriots roster. Before we get started, I just want my listeners to know that I can be found on Twitter under the handle Chris underscore Simino.

You can also be found, if you want to connect right to the show, it's LockedOnPatriot on Twitter. If you have any questions for the show, be it about the Patriots, myself, Patriots Insider, or if you're looking to advertise here on LockedOnPatriots, you can email me directly at Siminoe, S-I-M-O-N-E-A-U dot Christopher, C-H-R-I-S-T-O-P-H-E-R, the number 5 at gmail.com.

If you are a member of Patriots Insider on scout.com, and if you're not, you should be, you can contact me directly on the site via message, and that is one of the best ways to get a hold of me. So, let's get right into it. Today was practice 5 of training camp. Patriots were off yesterday, They did not have practice. So today was hot out there, but they were back out on the field. But you could definitely see that that heat had a major effect. So Julian Edelman and Stephen Gilmore got into a pretty heated fight in practice today and were kicked out.

Edelman got angry because he thought Gilmore pushed him, so he turned around and pushed Gilmore in the back, and then all hell broke loose. It happens. Like I said, the heat definitely affects people. Guys are dragging. They weren't having a very good practice. Honestly, the secondary has been getting the better of the receiving core

the entire training camp so far. So you add all those things up, and a fight's going to happen. Again, like I said, I coach high school kids, and I see the occasional skirmish breakout. It is what it is. It's a very physical game. There's a lot going on. There's a lot of pushing and shoving.

That is the game. So when it gets hot out and guys have been going at it for a few days and specific guys have been battling against each other, it's going to happen. But Bill Belichick's rule is no fighting. So, again, they did get tossed from practice um might have been a blessing in disguise for both of them because they didn't have to practice on that heat anymore i wonder if they planned it no i'm just kidding uh so duron harman and cody hollister were held out of practice again today uh it's never a good idea to rush

these guys back especially a guy like harman who is going to be a key member of the secondary, as I discussed last night. So Cody Hollister, he's another guy that he's one of the one of two twins that's on the team. Hollister, he's got a chance to make it maybe on the practice squad. So for him, you know, it's tough because not being out there and not having a chance to show what he can do do that definitely is major issue for him you know he was signed as undrafted free agent and a guy like that you know if he wants to stick on the practice squad he's

going to get back out there so hopefully hollister can get healthy soon harman's uh... fifty three man he's a lock so for him it's good you know just get him healthy make sure that leg is not bad uh... for hollister i hope for his sake that he gets back soon so he at least gives himself a chance to make maybe the 53 man, but most likely not, but at least give himself a chance to make that practice squad. Malcolm Mitchell and Danny Amendola continue to be limited.

They stretched with the team before practice, during the beginning of practice, and then they went off to conditioning. Again, this is the time of year to manage these guys, especially with Danny Amendola, People don't realize that they do. Some people do. He's very crucial to this offense. He makes big plays for Brady, and he always steps up in big moments. Malcolm Mitchell, as we saw last year, as a rookie, emerged as one of Brady's top targets in the Super Bowl in that fourth quarter. He was huge, huge.

So I think Mitchell is another guy that they want to make sure that they're managing because he had some off-season surgeries, as did Amendola. So they want to make sure that these guys are healthy and ready to go. Mitchell's battled injuries throughout his career, as has Amendola. But, again, they're great players that do produce when they're on the field. And good organizations know how to get the most out of these guys some of these guys that may get dinged up sometimes and they know how to manage it and that's what the Patriots are doing with Mitchell Amendola and again even with Harmon that's how it appears

to be no changes on the pup list so far Allen Branch Dante Hightower are still sidelined while they recover from their offseason surgeries. Again, I feel the same way. I feel about the aforementioned three guys, and Hollis is in a different situation. But same with Harmon and Mitchell and Amendola. Branch and Hightower, you know, these guys, they play a lot of games. They're in the playoffs every year.

They're in the Super Bowl, AFC Championship. They're in the AFC Championship every year, so that I can say, I mean, Dante Hightower has never, when I think about it, I don't think Dante Hightower's, Dante Hightower's been in the AFC Championship every year of his career, that's amazing, and just thinking of that off the top of my head, Dante Hightower's been in the AFC Championship in every year of his career, so yeah, he's played a lot of games. Let him rest. So Tom Brady today, we'll take a look over at the offense there. Tom Brady was 19 out of 28 today in the 11-on-11s. He did spread the ball around like he usually does.

But today, Brandon Cooks, oddly enough, was completely shut out. No catches, no targets, nada, shut down. He was covered by Stephon Gilmore, who's been I'm going to have about 15 different times. I'm going to either call him Stephon or Stephon, so get used to that. This is how I mispronounce things all the time when it comes to names. Sorry. Sorry, kid. I'll call him Gilmore. It'll be easy that way. Chris Hogan actually had a good day today. Six catches. He was was leader in camp now with 16 catches so far in the 11-on-11 drills. Jimmy Garoppolo today was 11 out of 19. He threw a couple interceptions, though, and he was actually forced to take a lap.

I'll get into that a little bit more. A lot of guys took laps. Garoppolo moved it around. He actually hit 11 different receivers. So he was 11 out of 19 at one point to 11 different guys. Burkhead, Foster, White, Allen, Edelman, Slater, Gronk, Lucien, Tony Washington, Anos, Austin Conner, all involved. So one of the things about Garoppolo, and I know a lot of you guys are out there, you're clicking on our links and you're seeing, oh, wow, Jimmy Garoppolo struggled today and this and that.

He's experimenting in camp. He's trying to mix it up. He's trying to fit the ball in the areas. He's not the best practice player. He never has been. But I think people need to calm down a little bit when it comes to Garoppolo. And some of the media doesn't really know the game as well. They think they need to kind of pull back a little bit on their opinion on Garoppolo.

Because, yeah, he wasn't perfect today, and he definitely had some bad moments. But to say that he's struggling, I don't think the coaching staff sees it the same way that the media, who thinks they know what they're talking about, do. So don't freak out about Garoppolo. I think everything's fine. Again, he threw a couple picks today, but he spread the ball around 11 to 11 different guys. That's getting it done. Jacoby Brissett was pretty good today.

He was 7 out of 12. He actually worked with the starters for a little bit, so that's the most he's had, actually the most he's worked with so far. He had a couple of completions to Austin Carr, one to Burkhead, another one to Lewis. Cooks actually caught a ball from him, but he didn't catch anything from Brady, so that was unfortunately for Mr. Cooks. Washington and Hogan each had a catch from him, too. The completion of Cooks, actually, that one was nice. That was a nice throw by Percet. It looks like the Patriots

are trying to tinker a little bit with Percet with his throwing motion and trying to maybe get the ball down a little bit. The way he holds it high, one of these quarterbacks, when they come out of college, they're so robotic, and I think they're trying to work on getting him to be a little bit more loose, not loose, but able to move around and move the ball around a little bit because holding it up the way he has, it's too robotic. They've got to work with him on that.

But he did play pretty good today. So he had a nice throw also to Austin Carr down the right sideline. They beat Kenny Moore, and Kenny Moore's been awesome, so that was impressive. There were a couple drops today. Burke had put one on the ground dwayne allen who was guaranteed for at least one drop every time he put one on the ground too but i'm gonna put this out there though dwayne allen you know he was not that good in mini camp but he has been very good so far in training camp in fact today he uh trey flowers he really took

him out had an impressive block on him they had a one-on-one and he just he he took them out. Had an impressive block on him. They had a one-on-one. He just took them out. He didn't quite pancake them, but he made them look like he was on skates. It was a nice block. Defensive back Justin Coleman has been a standout so far in camp. He had a pick. He broke up two passes. But he was really good. He's been solid all the way through. He did get beat by a touchdown by Matt Slater, which is unusual because Matt Slater is not really even a wide receiver. He just doesn't practice because that's what he's listed as, but the guy's more of a special teams guy

than anyone. But Coleman obviously wasn't aware that apparently he didn't realize that Slater's the fastest guy on the team, and he went right by him. But Coleman has been good, along with some other defensive backs. You know, Eric Rowe, still doing pretty well. DJ Killing stepped up a little bit. You know, another guy that I actually, you know, haven't really talked about him all that much, but one of the big things that we have talked about on this show is that the Patriots are going to have some issues as far as pass rushing because of the fact that Rob Ninkovich is retired. Well, Dietrich Wise, the rookie that they selected, is looking like the real deal.

And it's not a surprise to me to see this. You know, the Patriots, when they pick out guys that they like, Rivers, Derek Rivers is another guy that they like, but I think Rivers, like I said last night, I think he has to be more of a situational guy just for pass rushing, but it appears that Wise can do a little bit of everything. They're kicking him inside, they're keeping him outside, he can get after the quarterback, he can stop the run, and he doesn't look like he's really overwhelmed by that, so to not be overwhelmed by that in your first pre in your first camp it just shows you some of these guys they get out

there and they start to play and they go wait a minute i'm just as good as any of these guys in fact i think i might be better than most of these guys and something clicks and it doesn't matter what round they drafted in you know see when you're 21 22 years old your body's changing you're mentally changing there's a lot of things going on and one of the things that happens is some of these 21 20 21 year olds they go past guys that were ahead of them when they were 19 or 20 18 19 and 20 when they were in college they pass them by they either get physically stronger than them, mentally stronger, or in both. Because the NFL, it's just as much mental as it is physical.

So a guy like Dietrich Wise, he's got the fit, he's got the build to be an NFL player, and clearly he has the mentality to be an NFL player. And if you have that mentality and you have the talent, anything can happen. So it's pretty cool to watch. Wise has been very, very impressive in camp, noted by a lot of different guys. I heard Greg Bedard talking about it today. You know, Wise has been good. Every website you go to, you hear a little bit about it.

But seeing him, you know, myself and seeing what he can do, he's impressive. Dietrich Wise, keep an eye on him and don't be surprised. He was running with the ones today. So don't be surprised if he turns out to be one of the starters which would be very, very impressive. Defensive back Kenny Moore. I like this kid. I like him. He had another couple plays. He had two nice plays today. I deflect the one away from Chris Hogan and then he was able to regain control of the ball, but it was still a nice play. But Moore, he's like a magnet.

He's always around it. He makes plays. He's really flashed during minicamp and during training camp, so I really think that he's a guy to keep an eye on. I don't know if they're going to be able to sneak him through to the practice squad. I think Moore might be a guy that he might make this 53-man roster. Who knows? Strange things happen. Strange things happen all the time.

And when it comes to the Patriots and their roster, they want the best guys. So keep an eye on that. Devin McCourty had a nice play today. He had an interception, made a nice jump for the receiver, picked it off. It was a good play. It was nice to see him jump up there and step up. Tony Garcia, I like him. I like what I'm seeing out of him. I don't think he's going to start this year by any means,

but it's nice to have him as depth if anything does happen. He's not huge, which we knew that. We knew that when he was coming out of college. In fact, I personally asked him the question on the conference call and asked him what was he going to do as far as his weight and would he be able to kick down, would he have to kick down the guard, and he said no, he didn't think he would have that issue, and I actually have seen him now. I think he's going to be okay.

He's nasty. He's a good player. He knows what he's doing. He's got a good head on his shoulders. So Tony Garcia, get used to him, because I have a feeling he's a guy that people are going to really like, New England fans are going to really like when they see him get on the field. He actually got into it with Dwayne Allen today during the one-on-one drills. That was pretty cool to watch. Dwayne Allen today during the one-on-one drills. That was pretty cool to watch. Dwayne Allen's a beast. He is a big boy. So secondary, again, like I said,

I think they've been the real standout over the first five days of practice. They're really good. They really are. I know that they've talked about maybe bringing in a veteran. I've talked about it myself, talking about Rivas and talking about bringing in Carl veteran. I've talked about it myself, talking about Rivas and talking about Brandon Carr. They have different guys. I just don't know.

I don't think they have to do it at this point. I think what they have on the roster might be good enough, might be extremely good. I think they might be very strong. I think the only way they would possibly be looking at maybe picking up a veteran is if they're afraid, if somebody was to go down. But that would have to happen sooner than later. I don't see it happening. Plus, with guys like Rivas, I think he's going to probably

wait until the regular season starts. Contractually, it makes sense to do it that way. It's still a situation to keep an eye on, but I don't see the Patriots signing any corners. Cyrus Jones has looked okay. He's finally signed to make plays in the secondary. It's good that Cyrus is starting to get comfortable out there. He's doing better on kickoffs, too, and punts, so that was nice to see. Now it's time to really hopefully see him take the next

step as far as being able to contribute as a defensive back because they need him. He was a good player in college. He was a good defensive back. It wasn't like he was some kind of scrub. He wasn't that at all. So they definitely need to make sure that they have him and make sure they get him going. One thing today that I thought was kind of cool,

I watched Harvey Lange cut some instruction from Bill Belichick. Belichick pulled him aside, talked to him, gave him some pointers on what to do and Lange apparently took the coaching because he went on the next play and he kicked the crap out of the guy that he was facing using the techniques that were just taught to him by Belichick. Belichick's an awesome coach and that kind of stood out to me that he was able to do that. It was very interesting. Belichick may not have played in the NFL, but knowing technique

and knowing what the players are supposed to do and being able to relate to them, being able to teach them what their job is and what the techniques are, that's what coaching is all about, and that's why Belichick is so good. So it was fun to watch. Landon Roberts got a little dinged up today. I'm going to give you guys some injury updates on who got a little dinged up. It was an ankle injury.

He did come back in James O'Shaughnessy's tight end that they picked up from Kansas City. He had an upper body injury. He did not return. So that was from as far as an injury perspective. Not too bad. So other than that, it was a pretty good day down there. Like I said, it was hot. Some of the players were struggling.

The secondary seemed to be very dominant. Coney Ealy got to work with Belichick a little bit today. I like to see that. That's one of the things that I was very angry about yesterday when I heard some different things that had happened during the mini camps. It's good to see that Ealy, hopefully him and Belichick, sometimes these guys, they just need a, I hate to say it, a hard-ass coach, a hard-ass that's going to get on them and work with them and say,

listen, it's either this way or you're not going to be in the NFL. Like I said last night, you're playing for a contract. You need to get your crap together if you ever want to be what you think you could be in the NFL. And we saw it when he completely dominated in the Super Bowl. The reason why there was such a blowout is because of how excellent the Denver defense played. It had nothing to do with Peyton Manning. So that was, if Carolina was to win that game, Coney Illey is the MVP.

He was dominant. If he can regain that, oh, my God, the Patriots would be just so dangerous, so dangerous. But, again, it was a good day overall, I thought, for the defense. I thought they did a good job. But they did have, sometimes they had some communication issues. They actually had to run a lap at one point, the coaches included. That was pretty funny.

But overall, I thought the defense was pretty good. Quarterbacks overall, doing okay. The receivers, with the injuries that they have right now and the depth issues with, you know, Amendola not out there, Mitchell not out there, that's causing some problems then julian and i'm getting thrown out of practice uh for getting in a fight and so they're a little bit a little low down on the uh depth chart a little down low on the totem pole as far as the wide receivers are concerned so that could that's an issue that's something to keep an eye on um but brady still was able to complete 19 out of 28 to guys that will probably be either on the practice squad

or on somebody else's roster or not on anybody's roster when the 53 man is announced. So overall, pretty good day. First real day of heat, and you could see the anger, but it is what it is when it comes to that. The players know that, and they'll what it is when it comes to that. The players know that, and they'll be okay. They'll adjust to it. So, before I let you guys go for the night, I want to talk a little bit about Scout.com.

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for the year you sign up for patriots inside you have access to every single nfl nba major or major league baseball team in the country all the college teams it's awesome go to scout.com slash nfl slash patriots today and sign up get it done this is a no-brainer. $5 a month, $49 for the year. Again, scout.com slash NFL slash Patriots today. Go sign up. I want to thank you guys for joining us for this Tuesday night edition of Locked on Patriots. Be sure to go to iTunes and subscribe to our show today. In fact, if you're on Audioboom, you can look at that little link right over there.

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Here at Locked On Patriots, we're all about getting Patriots fans the most info you need to be the most in-the-know Patriots fans. Tomorrow, training camp. Day 6. We'll have all the info for you guys to make sure that you guys know what's going on down at camp. And we're also going to

give you guys our opinion on what's going on down at camp too, because we like to give our educated opinion to you guys. We think it helps you out. Have a great night, Patriots fans. Thank you again for listening. What you doing? Ran out of space on my phone, so I'm deleting some stuff. Bye singing dog. Bye goal.

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