Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Uprising: Patriots Offense Unleashed vs Commanders | Joint Practice Latest

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pats answer the bell in their first big test of camp and flip the script from 2024. That's where we start on this episode of Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcasts Network, your team every day. What's up, Patriots fans? I am your host, Nick Cattels, born and raised in New England. Also host of the Everything Pat's podcast, co-host of the Greg Bedard Patriots podcast with Nick Cattels and a sports talk show host veteran. On today's episode, the defense gets punched in the face, but manages to punch back. Also, Coach Vrable continues to leave his imprint early with this football team. But first, Drake May and the offense gave everyone reason for hope and their first joint practice of 2025.

Starting point is 00:00:55 We appreciate you joining the show, making us your first listening for being an every day or the lockdown. Patriots Podcast, a proud partner, the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Josh McDaniels and Drake May cooked against Washington in the first joint practice of 2025. We've talked about this joint practice since we got the camp schedule. This was one of those dates that you circle on the calendar saying it's a pretty big day. It is truly the first big test for this football team. And the offense, they passed that test. Dard writing on the offense, offense looked very sharp, especially in the red zone, especially

Starting point is 00:01:36 in the red zone, which should be music to everybody's ears, given some of the struggles from May and the offense in the low red zone area. Red zone today, mostly, really, really good. And as we go through what the offense did today, I want to make sure that everybody understands that this is a joint practice, this is not a Super Bowl, we're not anointing the Patriots champions of any kind, but you do have to walk away feeling optimistic with the trajectory, especially for this offense. Let's start with May.

Starting point is 00:02:14 He was good to very good during this practice against the commanders. Mark Daniels of Mass Live posts May starts practice going 10 of 12 against Washington starters. You have Evan Lazzar posting. May was feeling it, looking off coverage, off platform throws, et cetera. Back to Bedard, outside of the interception, which happened late in practice. We'll get to that. He was very sharp, speaking of May, finding open receivers all over the field.

Starting point is 00:02:45 For team periods, want you to absorb this. For team periods, May was 14 of 20, but that included drops from Henderson, Trayvion Henderson and Pop Douglas. So he should have really been 16 of 20 in team periods. Drake May had not one, not two, but three passing touchdowns. He had a scrambling touchdown. He did take one sack and again had that interception on his final drive. But what we are seeing from May on the balance of this camp is a comfortable Drake May,

Starting point is 00:03:19 is a confident Drake May, is a May that has chemistry with his wide, receivers in a quarterback that looks decisive. Now, as far as that late interception in practice, he had Pop Douglas wide open, tried to get it to Pop. Bobby Wagner got his hand on it at the second level, tipped it up, and it was picked. Similar to what happened in the scrimmage with May. So I know Bedard kind of threw out the idea of May changing his arm angle on those kinds of passes, but it was a tip pass by Bobby Wagner and then that led to the interception.

Starting point is 00:03:57 But overall, don't get it twisted. Drake May was good to very good in this joint practice. He wasn't the only one. The wide receivers showed up. Yeah, I didn't make a mistake when I just said that. I know it's hard to believe being a Patriots fan and watching that position for the past couple of years. But the wide receivers during this joint practice, they showed up.

Starting point is 00:04:20 They made plays. would point out as well. Stefan Diggs was late to this practice, not sure why, but he was late to the practice. He did participate in seven on sevens. We'll see if he's out there on Friday night in the preseason game. But a lot of the damage, pretty much all of the damage, was done by receivers, not with the last name Diggs, which to me is a great note. It's pivotal that you're getting production in this kind of situation when Diggs, is not out there consistently for this joint practice. And what we saw from the receivers today, according to all reports, was promise.

Starting point is 00:05:00 Pop Douglas continues to be a stud. I know I said a moment ago that he dropped the pass, but really, I mean, he has been outstanding. He's been outstanding. It continued during this joint practice. Taylor Kyle's of CL&S, he called Pop Douglas today unguardable. And you could say that about Pop throughout most of this camp, seven or three. sevens, 11 on 11s, scrimmages,

Starting point is 00:05:26 one-on-ones, doesn't matter. Pop Douglas keeps getting open over and over and over again. And how about Kay Shan Booty? Kisham Booty has shown the consistency that we were all hoping that he would somehow find he has shown that throughout this camp so far.

Starting point is 00:05:47 I think that outside of Mack Hollins being the veteran and and signing in the offseason and the history between Hollins and McDaniels. If you're just looking at this, receiver versus receiver, Kishon Booty right now is the third receiver on this team. Diggs, Douglas, then Booty. That's how it would be if all things were equal. And he might be the third receiver on this team

Starting point is 00:06:13 when all is said and done when we are ready for week one against the Raiders. But Kishon Booty continues to show up, continues to make plays, at practice in a variety of ways. Evan Lizarre made to booty on a back shoulder fade from the high red zone for six. So a touchdown catch by booty, another one, back shoulder. What's that tell you? Chemistry. Even more important about booty.

Starting point is 00:06:37 Here's what Drake May said post practice. This was transcribed by Los Talk Pats on Twitter. Quote, coach keeps saying you do the right thing and you keep doing it over and over. I can trust you. It's comforting knowing that booty's. going to be in the right spot and it's my job to give him a chance unquote booty is showing that consistency he is showing some maturity for sure and he has earned the trust of drake may continues to have a good camp but it didn't stop there jvonne baker who really has been defined

Starting point is 00:07:14 by his inconsistencies we've discussed that well over the past week or so he is showing that consistency. You can pretty much count on Baker to make at least one, if not multiple good plays in a practice. And he showed up at the joint practice, caught a goal line slant, according to Evan Lazar, for a touchdown from Joshua Dobbs. And as Lazar put it, Baker's roster push continues and it does. Right now, Jayvon Baker is your sixth receiver, I would say. If you are bringing six out of camp, Baker is the sixth guy. And then you had Mac Hollins, and he had an impact. Badard wrote about Hollins, showed why the Patriots signed him as a big red zone target.

Starting point is 00:07:58 He caught four of five passes from May and a touchdown. Mark Daniels wrote that Hollins just hauled in a really nice 25-yard touchdown from Dobbs. And beyond those guys, Efton Chisholm had four or five catches in this practice. Really the only receiver that you'd be looking for that didn't do much, according to what I read and heard, was Jalen Polk. not much written about him, and he might be losing ground. He's definitely lost ground to Baker, and he might have lost ground during this joint practice to Efton Chisholm.

Starting point is 00:08:28 How about the offensive line? Good news. Will Campbell, the trends continue? And the trend has been good in team, good with run blocking, some wins and losses with the one-on-ones. And that's what we saw during the joint practice. Chris Mason from Mass Live, Campbell held up well in pass. pro during the first 11-on-11 period looked just fine. But Dard on Campbell, Campbell mostly held

Starting point is 00:08:53 his own, played very well in the 11-on-11s, including a big block on Dietrich WISE to spring a big Trevion-Henderson run. He didn't give up a pressure in team periods that I could see, not one pressure. One-on-ones were a mixed bag in three reps against Wise. So mostly what Campbell's done throughout this camp. He has looked good when it comes to 11-on-11s, those team drills, he's doing well, one-on-one. ones. He loses here and there. Run blocking, doing a good job. Nothing alarming so far, no matter what anybody's saying out there, don't listen to the noise. There's been nothing alarming about Will Campbell and his camp to this point. Wise was asked about Campbell. Again, transcribed by Los Pat's talk, quote, he's really good at using his hands. Very strong

Starting point is 00:09:41 guy has a very high ceiling. I face tackles who have short arms before. It's all about the heart. And if you're wondering about Jared Wilson, he also had a good day. Bedard wrote, Wilson looked really good against a good commander's defensive tackle group in one-on-ones. Wilson beat Doran Armstrong and Cleland Farrell. He had a draw against Duran Payne. So if you're looking at that, young left side of the offensive line, Campbell's solid, Wilson maybe even more than solid. And it just didn't stop there because the rest of the offensive line, breaking news, was not a dumpster fire. Nothing crazy happened. Morgan Moses, by the way, was out.

Starting point is 00:10:23 Vrable said he's dealing with something, but the offensive line, if you were wondering, they held it together during their first big test at this joint practice, much like the wide receivers in Drake May. They passed. They passed that test. The defense starts slow, but we'll tell you why you should be excited about how things ended. That's next as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. your team every day. Summer sports are in full swing and whether you're all about baseball under the lights,

Starting point is 00:10:58 golf on the greener high stakes, soccer action. Fandul is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You're already following the action. Why not make it a little more thrilling? With Fandul, you can get in on the game while your friends are getting sunburned down at the beach. I've been using Fandul to track my favorite matchups, easy to use, fast to pay out, makes even regular

Starting point is 00:11:18 season games feel like must watch events. If you're not involved with Fandul, what are you waiting for? Placing a same game parlay, watching a bet ride into the ninth inning. Fandul makes it feel like I'm part of the action. We'll do the same for you. And if you're new to Fandul, new customers can bet just $5, just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Open the Fandul app today.

Starting point is 00:11:43 It's easy. Or if you don't want to do that, visit fandul.com slash lockdown. Again, it's just five bucks. You get 150 bucks in bonus bets. If your first bet wins, go to fandul.com slash lockdown or the Fandul app today to get started. Not everything is going to be perfect. We understand that. But it truly is all about how guys and the team respond.

Starting point is 00:12:10 How do they respond to adversity? If you get off to a slow start, do you respond and pick things up? Or do you just kind of wilter? and let the ball keep rolling down that hill. I bring that up because I want to talk about the defense at the joint practice against the commanders. Andrew Callahan posted, Jaden Daniels carved up the Patriots defense to start, but finished five of seven with two sacks in the opening team period.

Starting point is 00:12:35 So Daniels started hot, then faded a little bit towards the end. And as this practice went on, the defense played better. The defense improved, which is exactly what you're looking for. Mike Tyson, right? Everybody's got a plan until you get punched in the mouth, whatever that saying was.

Starting point is 00:12:53 You know it. You know it at this point. It's been mentioned so many times when we talk sports. A Patriots kind of got punched in the mouth defensively to start the practice, but they responded. And they said, okay, well, maybe the beginning plan wasn't exactly what we're looking for, but let's adjust, let's do something here. Let's compete at a little bit of a higher level.

Starting point is 00:13:14 and let's make sure that we get the best out of this practice, and that's really precisely what happened. Now, I will also be fair to Washington, and I'll also have the Patriots, obviously, they didn't have Christian Gonzalez. They didn't have Carlton Davis. They didn't have Caleb on Chase on. So they were missing some important players,

Starting point is 00:13:32 but Washington was also missing important players. Cosmy and Coleman on the offensive line, but most importantly, Terry McLaurin was not out there. He did not travel with the team as he continues to have that, contractual battle with the commander's front office. But, you know, the defense continues to trend in the right direction, no matter really who's out there. And it starts with the pass rush.

Starting point is 00:13:57 The pass rush all camp long has been effective. And during this joint practice, Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, they showed themselves out there and did some effective things. Back to Andrew Callahan, Barmore and Williams, each with monstrous wins in one-on-one pass rush versus the commander's offensive line. Mike Giarty wrote this about Barmore. I'm not ready to declare that he's back, but there are flashes of that snap your fingers get off. Barmore had a handful of disruptive reps, a handful of disruptive reps. And it's not just the interior defensive line we're talking about getting this pressure and making some play.

Starting point is 00:14:41 Harold Landry has had a good camp, and Evan Lizar wrote that Landry continued to have a good camp during this joint practice against Washington. Landry's been active today, Lizar wrote, seen him in Jaden Daniels's face a few times. Giardy, meanwhile, pumping Elijah Ponder's tires, somebody we've talked about recently. Ponder showed up with another couple of pressures off the edge, and maybe one of those pressures would have been a sack. if contact was allowed on the quarterbacks. So Landry, Ponder, no chase on today, but you're still getting some pressure from the edge, which is a good sign as the interior defensive line

Starting point is 00:15:23 starts to pick things up a little bit. Now, I didn't see much on Keon White. I'm not sure if it was just a quiet day, if he just really didn't do anything. I didn't see Keon White mentioned anywhere. So we keep an eye on that with White's, you know, somewhat of a roller coaster 2024, but White not mentioned much. It was mostly Landry, it was Ponder, you know, Williams and Barmore making some plays.

Starting point is 00:15:54 That was on the defensive line. Let's talk about this secondary. Again, no Carlton Davis. He was out there, had pads on from what I read, but he did not get involved in the practice. And Gonzalez is still out with that hamstring injury. but you know the backup cornerbacks especially the ones kind of towards the top of the depth chart right now they played fairly well the guy that really stood out was Alex Austin and I've long been a fan of Alex Austin we've seen flashes we saw flashes at the end of 23 we saw flashes at the end of

Starting point is 00:16:28 24 when he came back from injury and Andrew Callahan wrote about Austin he made a big fourth down pass breakup in the end zone to force a turnover on downs against Daniel. and the commander's starting offense in a team drill that started from the 25 yard line with 45 seconds left. So end of game situation, that's the scenario. Alex Austin makes the play in the end zone and forces the turnover on downs. Callahan wrote that the coverage was excellent during that entire series from the 25 yard line with 45 seconds left. If you think that sounds good regarding Alex Austin, Giardi was even higher. on Austin. He wrote Austin looks like he could be a starter in this league, important considering

Starting point is 00:17:15 the injury history of Davis in particular. And yes, it is. We have mentioned that multiple times. Davis misses pretty much a month every single season. And you need that third corner to be reliable if you are banking on Davis to be your number two guy opposite of Gonzalez. So Alex Austin, Good Camp continues, made a big play. the very end of this practice. And if you just look at the top four, let's say hypothetically that Gonzalez and Davis are ready by week one, I feel really good about these defensive backs,

Starting point is 00:17:50 the cornerbacks specifically. I feel really good about them. Gonzalez, Davis, Austin, Marcus Jones, DJ James has had a very good camp. I feel good about those cornerbacks. But not everything was great. I don't want to sit here and tell you that, Every single solitary thing during this joint practice was awesome because it wasn't.

Starting point is 00:18:15 Patriots defense, not necessarily great against the run. Again, to Giardy, who was covering the Pat's defense during this joint practice. New England struggled setting an edge on runs designed to hit outside the offensive tackles. And this is where we bring up Anthony Jennings. One of the questions I've had and continue to have, can you rely on the defensive ends that you have currently on this roster, aside from Jennings, can you rely on those guys when you get into the season to defend the run consistently? Now, Chayson's done fairly well in camp.

Starting point is 00:18:50 Again, he wasn't there today. Landry last year, good against the run. But do you keep Jennings just in case? You might have to. You might have to. And it's not always on the defensive ends. Let's not forget. It's also on the defensive backs allowing guys to get to the outside and hit that perimeter.

Starting point is 00:19:07 You got to make sure as a defensive back, that you're guarding against the boundary and you push the runner inside to more bodies, more traffic. So some of this is also on the defensive backs. Another part of the practice defensively that did not go great, defense against Zach Ertz. How many times we talked about that over the past few years? Just the lack of an ability to cover tight ends by this Pat's defense. And it showed up again during the practice.

Starting point is 00:19:36 and it was mostly on the linebackers and Kyle Dugger. And Spillane and Ellis, they've got to make sure that they're better in coverage. And Dugger, we know the issues with him trying to defend past catchers at times. So a little shaky there. Not everything was perfect. Not everything was clean. Speaking of clean, Mike Vrable's face wasn't clean by the end of this joint practice. Vrable gets involved in a fight.

Starting point is 00:20:06 in some other takeaways from the first big test of camp. That's all coming up as we continue with today's episode of Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. This episode is presented by Yahoo! Fantasy. It's the best time of the year. NFL kickoff almost here, and that means fantasy football season is back in full swing. And this year, Yahoo Fantasy is turning things up with a fantasy football experience

Starting point is 00:20:35 like never before. Whether you've never played on Yahoo Fantasy or not, it doesn't matter. Get involved right now. Yahoo Fantasy has been around for 28 years, and fantasy football greatness is what they're about. And Yahoo Fantasy is dropping 28 big new features over 28 days throughout August. To kick it off, they just dropped Yahoo Fantasy Guillotine Leagues, a killer new way to play fantasy football on Yahoo, where the lowest scoring team gets eliminated each week until there's one team left standing. With the season around the corner, now's a the time to get your league together and give this new mode a try. If you're more into the classics, you can still play in head-to-head private leagues or

Starting point is 00:21:12 join a public league. Stay tuned for more killer announcements and start playing Yahoo Fantasy football now at Yahoo! Fantasy.com slash lockdown NFL. We talk about the details all the time and the details are important. And we gave you a lot of details about this joint practice in the first two segments of this episode. but I also think the 30,000 foot view is important.

Starting point is 00:21:40 Let's not forget. Mike Vrable is trying to build a program. And building a program is all about consistency. It's not about one joint practice. That's why you don't throw a parade because you had a good joint practice against the commanders. This is about sustaining success in building the program correctly. The culture fits and Vrable, making sure he's setting the tone of the locker room and guys believing in this coaching staff

Starting point is 00:22:06 and mostly believing in Mike Vrable to begin with as far as week one in this season against the Raiders. You've got to have that belief. And during the joint practice, it's pretty obvious. Vrable and the team, the players, they have each other's backs. There was a kerfuffle during this joint practice where Trayvion Henderson was blocking Von Miller. Miller was blitzing and Henderson picked up the blitz.

Starting point is 00:22:34 great job by Hendo, if I can call you Hendo, that okay? Great job picking up the blitz by Miller. They go to the ground, there's a little bit of a tussle, back and forth. Will Campbell jumps in, love it, and Vrable ends up jumping in. And when all was said and done, he's at the bottom of the pile, gets up bleeding from the cheek. And, you know, I do think that this, while it's entertaining and the bloody cheek is going to be, I wouldn't compare it to Kurt Schilling's bloody sock, but it is going to be talked about an awful lot

Starting point is 00:23:08 over the next couple of days. And I don't mind it. I'm kind of in on that. But there's a bigger message here. And Karen Geregian of Mass Live wrote about it on the Patriots identity being created through their head coach. And here's what Geregian wrote. The Patriots have been pushovers the past two seasons.

Starting point is 00:23:28 Yes, they were deprived of talent, but sometimes hard work, commitment to the goal. an extra level of toughness and resilience and having the group work as one can make up for a team that's lacking in the star department. What happened in the fight spoke volumes about Vrabel and his team. It spoke volumes about

Starting point is 00:23:44 where they're at and where they might be headed. It's stamped. That identity. Then I saw two quotes from two veterans on this team. And that's when I really bought in to what

Starting point is 00:24:00 Karen was writing about. Hunter Henry said, quote, he's right there with us, man. I think the player comes out in him a little bit, too. You got to love a coach who loves to compete and has those competitive juices just like us, unquote. Feeling the connection with the head coach, the competitive juices. You got to love a coach who loves to compete. And then Christian Barmore said, quote, he's one of us. he's got our back we've got his back that's a coach we love there's the word again i love there

Starting point is 00:24:38 it is again his energy he's a real great coach we're talking about belief we're talking about confidence we're talking about credibility and also toughness and understanding understanding that your coach is there for you and he's competitive he's feisty he's more trying to break things up he's not getting into this so it's a fight anybody but the fact that he gets his hands on people he gets involved it makes the players feel like he is fully invested he's all in and you can you can tell that by what henry and barmore said that belief that confidence that credibility, that toughness, it's all there. It is all there.

Starting point is 00:25:33 So if the Patriots end up having a good season, I can guarantee you, this story is going to come back time and time and time again, and it's going to be used to show how Vrable galvanized his roster. Something else about Vrable. He's got the fans excited. I mean, I'm excited. get the fans excited. The buzz is back. The fans are buying in. I saw Mike Giardy post before the joint practice. He must have been stuck on Route 1. He posted Route 1's a joke. And when I was living in

Starting point is 00:26:11 Foxborough, I could tell you last year, you could easily get to a regular season game. You could jump on Route 1 at about quarter of 11. And you could pretty much head right up Route 1 with no problem. great straight up route one to the parking lot to tailgate for a few hours it was easy to get to a game last season so the fact that route one was a joke before a joint practice tells you how excited this fan base is and giardi confirmed that later said the buzz was back in foxborough and you could feel it and it's truly A borderline insane. A 360. A 180. How's that work? If you go 360, you go where you started from.

Starting point is 00:27:06 So I guess it's a 180. There you go, Nick. A 180 from the end of 2024. When you went through the, you know, Jolani to Vi garbage, fans had pretty much quit on the team. And they should have, frankly, with the way that season went and how it ended

Starting point is 00:27:23 with some of the things that the guy said. there was a sour taste in the mouths of Patriots fans. And already, we're not even in the middle of August yet, but already Mike Vrable has turned this thing around, the offseason, the draft, Drake May's progression, Josh McDaniels coming back. It's really lit a fire under this fan base. And I could see people were five deep standing over there

Starting point is 00:27:53 at the Gillette practice fields. So the buzz is back. And if this team competes, if this team plays hard, if this team is in the conversation, as we always say, late November, early December, Gillette might just end up being a pretty tough place to play. And it's great to see the fans have that excitement again. Now, hopefully the team can follow through. All right.

Starting point is 00:28:17 Some other notes, Stefan Diggs again, he was late to practice, but he did get out there. There was some concern, some tweets about he's not here. It's the first time he hasn't been here since the beginning of camp. He got out there. Don't know why he was delayed, but he got out there. He got involved seven on sevens. I mean, maybe the dude just had a poop. Never know.

Starting point is 00:28:35 Happens. Happens of the best of us. Meanwhile, you know who was out there from the beginning and who was great and has been really under the radar this camp, carries Tonga. No one's talking about Tonga because we're all excited about Barmore and other defenders. But Tonga's been really good. And Andrew Callahan posted this. The star of the one-on-ones during this joint practice was Tonga, a late-round journeyman

Starting point is 00:29:00 who's been outstanding all camp and all drills. Tonga went two and zero during his one-on-one opportunities. And it's a significant spot for this team. I mean, he's the third defensive tackle. He's right there behind Williams and Barmore. And he's got a little bit more beef to him, which should help against the run. Not a perfect joint practice, but this team competed. I think this team, you know, will create some, I don't want to go too far.

Starting point is 00:29:30 Let's just say it was somewhat inspiring the first big test that they faced. And they passed that test. We'll see what happens on Friday night. But you walk away feeling optimistic about this football team. And that's really all you can ask for at this point. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel.

Starting point is 00:29:51 And hey, check us out. hit that like button subscribe get the notification bell done all that good stuff uh thank you for being in every day making lockdown patriots your first listen make your second listen lockdown bets lee sterling kevin rogers do a great job you can find lockdown bets on youtube or wherever you listen to podcasts have a great day and we will see you tomorrow

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Uprising: Patriots Offense Unleashed vs Commanders | Joint Practice Latest

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.