The Patriots welcomed the Eagles to Gillette Stadium for their lone joint practice of the summer on Tuesday morning. Chris Mason and Mark Daniels break down the eventful session with thoughts on Drake Maye, porous offensive line play, a reason for optimism on offense, and more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday ticket on YouTube TV I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better with NFL Sunday ticket and YouTube TV You get the most live NFL games all in one place every game every Sunday And you can even watch up to four different games at once with multi-view one of my favorite inventions of this decade It's exactly what you need to catch all the action make your Sundays more magical and also YouTube TV is great. I got it this year. It's awesome Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS device and content restrictions apply local and national games on YouTube TV And if I'll Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games at blue Nile calm You can find endless ways to make your moment sparkle from classic and timeless jewelry gifts to creating The custom engagement ring of her dreams all at prices you won't find at a traditional jeweler and right now You can save up to 40% on fine jewelry and 25% on engagement ring settings during the blue Nile Anniversary sale going on now go to blue Nile calm to shop the blue Nile anniversary sale and save up to 40% That's blue Nile calm This is I on Foxborough the premier podcast for all things new England Patriots brought to you by mass live Welcome back to I on Foxborough I'm Chris Mason here with Mark Daniels. We are here at Gillette Stadium where our team just beat Mike Catholic's team in the Patriots media game Really big news now. That's what you all want to hear on today's podcast is results of the media flag football game But I do have to say your guy Chris Mason was our defensive MVP. It was two or three sacks with the safety I don't know if it was two or three. I don't I didn't keep stats We won well, we're not about stats here But we won 20 to 16 and the game ended abruptly because of a dislocated kneecap as media games do But way more importantly the Patriots took on the Eagles in joint practices today Jerrod Mayo before the session called it a real measuring stick for them in mark. How do you think they measured up? Not great Chris. Let's put it this way Drake base started 10 to 10 and Jacobi Percette started 10 of 11 So they they started great But to describe the end of practice and how the offense went about playing against the Eagles defensive line I think the word that comes to mind is terrible. Maybe awful. There was a book I used to read to my kids It was called like Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day Basically sums up the Patriots past protection issues by the end of it Jacobi Percette was 12 to 24 with two interceptions Drake May was six to 12 each quarterback completed 50% of their passes and team drills and that was because of The pass rush so to put it put it like this Drake May his last nine dropbacks in Practice against the Eagles. He was sacked six times People that's not good. That's 66% right there a quick little math right there It was really really really bad and frankly it was tough to watch and for those who listen to our podcast You know, we've talked about this a lot like hey our biggest concern the Patriots right now It wasn't even necessarily they don't have a number one receiver the biggest concerns They're offensive line and there's no doubt to meet that the unit Drake May is playing with is really really really bad I actually almost said Mac Jones there because it actually reminds me of what happened the last couple of years with Mac Jones and the Patriots offense Their pass protection wasn't good enough christen right now and training camp and a joint practice against the Eagles It wasn't anywhere close to good. Yeah, and so to pull the curtain back a little more and like dive more in depth into these periods The first period where they started off really well was seven on seven, right? So there's no offensive line play there in those periods Jacobi Percette went five for six and Drake May was six for six with no pass rush Then in the 11/11 period to start they were in the middle of the field and Drake and Jacobi neither of them were really pressing it down feel they're doing anything But they were taking what was right in front of them You know checking it down when they had to but the ball was moving Things really got complicated when they moved into the red zone the field was condensed So they couldn't really do that they didn't have the checkdown options there very often And that's when things got really messy and the offensive line couldn't hold up The set the backup offensive line really can't pass protected at all and it looks way more glaring But I thought the starting offensive line had some issues in the run game too Which doesn't show up the same way You know when there's a jailbreak in the backfield in the quarterback can't throw the ball Everyone knows the offensive line isn't doing his job, but I didn't think the first off It's line was great in the running game either Calvin had has to be though the equals have one of the best defensive fronts in the league Like they are very very talented up there But this was supposed to be a measuring stick and I think you saw how they measured there Yeah, and the red zone Drake May and Jacobi Percette they didn't do well And there was sort of two things that stuck out to me there was one They didn't have the players who were getting open and two their offensive line couldn't pass protect And really though things sort of started to fall apart as you know practice went on for example There was this run when Jacobi Percette he started off great. He had two passes in a row You know complete and then he tripped over Antonio Gibson on like a you know Especially a play action pass he tripped and got sacked next play darius slave pass breakup Fault then a false start on city. So then a tyke want Thornton drop Then an overthrow to hooper and it ends with a interception And at that point I was like, oh man, the Patriots offense doesn't look that great. Let's see how Drake's may Drake may his unit Goes in in this run what we saw was A low throw to a tight end a sack. He hit kishan booty then there was a bad snap that was fumbled It was on atonia mafia Then he was sacked twice in a row and one of those sacks javon baker also drew a flag for offensive pass interference So like back-to-back offensive drives by the offense just it didn't go great at all And then chris we got into the two-minute drill and you should start this off man I thought the two two-minute drill was just it was it got even worse somehow for Drake It did so jacobis offense did move the ball down the field like they hit some speed bumps along the way But they got down to the eight-yard line Then they had first and goal from the eight and it was four straight and complete passes And that's really where that stalled out. So in a game you think like all right They're probably kicking a field goal there. I understand the nature of it. They all ended up with no points It wasn't good, but it wasn't as bad as drakes when he got under center And he just had no chance in four dropbacks in the two-minute drill. He was sacked three times That's impossible where you know, you're in a situation It's an obvious passing situation the Eagles defenders are pinning their ears back And they're just blowing by the backup offensive line and there's nothing they could do that He is really diplomatic afterwards. You know, he took the bland said it's on him. We watched practice That wasn't on him. That was a jailbreak. No, drake may is a great I'd say this a great leader already as a young 21-year-old rookie You asked him what something went wrong in practice. He always always puts it on him He he even said he put it on him that he didn't like a pass He threw to the corner of the end zone to jail and poke But the truth was poke got jammed by an Eagles receiver and the ball actually landed in the corner of the end zone Well, he probably wanted it to be but like drake may is the type of guy who's gonna put it on him He's not gonna put it on anyone else But his two-minute drill was just tough. It starts with the sack And second-down sack third down he tried to throw a vacation on booty It just it fell incomplete and then fourth down you got to have it You got to move the chains and it was another sack with the uh, it should go be bersettes You know first team offense after the game or after the practice Ramondre Stevenson just said they they played a situation where they had a score touchdown in the game They were trying to simulate that so when they're on the eight-yard line The reason they didn't take it for the goal was because they were trying to simulate. Hey, we need a score to win it Um and jacobie bersettes actually his actual last snap of the game people it was a sack So I had jacobie bersette down for four sacks. Um drake may down for six And that'll bring us really into the thursday night. Um when the Patriots take on the eagles Gerard mayo said that drake may will play more Chris would you play drake may with that second team offensive line against the eagles on thursday night I would try and keep the starting offensive line out for an extended period of time where maybe jacobie gets the first three drives and then drake gets Forward them because the sauce fence line needs to build some continuity too where they've had the same five guys out there at practice every day They need some game reps together and they need to do more and more I don't see a reason why that group can't play like seven series in this game And then you can hand the reins over to baleys appie joe milton whoever you want to do after that I mean, I don't feel great about playing drake with that back off back up offensive line the way it is There's some ways you can try and scheme around that but I don't think you're going to learn a ton about drake If he's just throwing quick outs the whole time, you know, it's screen passes Yeah, things like that So I think there are ways to keep him safe with them, but I also ultimately don't think you're going to learn a lot that way So I think that he should get some run with the first team offensive line on thursday night for sure Yeah, I agree with you. Um, I think the Patriots know that jacobie bersett's going to start this game And and really jacobie's already played for Alex van pelt and as we've talked about ad nauseam On this podcast the way to develop drake may is really to give them more reps in the summer because come week one The focus will be on the bangles and it's all going to be all about getting jacobie ready I'd love to see drake may with the first team offensive line because I just think that's the best way to evaluate him right now Like frankly, I think the hardest thing for me when it comes to evaluating drake may are the players he's on the field with You know, it's like some of the receivers I think like jvon baker and jaylin poke would play it really well But you look sometimes and his tight ends or the michael petway and in mitchell wilcox You know, he's not throwing a hunter henry and austin whooper all that much but on top of it as we've mentioned several times by now The backup offensive line people it just really stinks and I think it leads into what might be my biggest issue with the team right now Um, we we talked about this on the last podcast and I thought chris made a great point Like what else was elia wolf supposed to do like for those who don't remember and free agency the Patriots big move attack It was resigning michael when the other option at left tackle was Tyrone smith but tyron smith didn't want to come to new england. He wanted to go Play with a veteran and I believe you sign with the jets right? Yeah, so I'm the jets to play with erin roger's that wasn't happening and then in the draft The Patriots did target caden wallace at the top of the third round You I guess you could have argued, you know, they could have traded back up into the bottom of the second But at that point, you know, we'll have to compare in the future how caden wallace looks up against looks Compared to guys like patch up paul and kingsley sua matilla, you know who were drafted later in that round But really the Patriots I guess in a way they did try they brought in chuksa core for they drafted caden wallace and they brought back Um, you know michael when I think right now though, chris. I'm concerned. I'm really concerned. I I don't have high hopes for this season Um, maybe four wins again. I mean they have time to change my mind I agree that there's not much I would have done differently in the draft though Because first of all if you want to get back up in the second round So you have to have someone that's gonna trade with you and when that run on tackles is happening I don't know that you're gonna find someone that's willing to duck back out And like I that was a sweet spot in the draft too where there's still a lot of good players on the board It could have been done But ultimately like there's nothing i'm doing to change their first two picks where obviously been on board with drake the whole time I think that's the right pick and jaylin paulk is really impressed me this summer Yeah, I think he's In the second best receiver on the field you can argue that he said the best camp because pop douglas hasn't been out there all the time And paulk had another good day today where he was the he was like the human highlight reel and one-on-one drills against eagles defensive backs Where he won all three of his matchups the first one He absolutely blew by this defensive backshaun steams a line of scrimmage And he did the randy moss like through the hand up like hit me right now Which is really funny to do in a one-on-one drill because you're the only receiver in the pattern but he ran by him so far and uh Drake overthrew him a little in the end zone and he still dove made the catch hauled it in and then celebrated like he should You know it was a really good catch Uh, he won his next rep too and then he drew a defensive hold on the third one So three and oh right there he's still showing up every day and I think that if you're looking for a reason to be Positive about the offense. I think jaylin paulk's your guy right now So i've got some training camp stats for you christ not counting today's practice everyone I didn't add them up today. However, after 13 days of training camp what I went I what I did this week I'm kind of a nerd. I went through every day of practice and I tallied up How many passes every receiver tight end and running back caught and I put them into an excel spreadsheet because I love excel spreadsheets Uh after 13 days of practice jaylin paulk has the most receptions and team drills with 29 Right after him there with 22 is pup Douglas That's actually an amazing stat because pup was limited and didn't participate in team drills and after him It's kj Osborne with 21 So jaylin paulk has been the most involved receiver in training camp and everyone we ask about him They give him credit by saying he's done a lot of different things and what they mean by that is He's not just playing out wide in the slot. He's playing really zx slaw jaylin paulk is lining up everywhere And as we've come to see he's really reliable and he's really consistent I think that jacobi mire's comp is fair, but i'll say this. I have a hot tick I think jaylin paulk is the best Maybe I'll say this. I think he's the best rookie receiver I've seen in training camp and the only one that's really rivaled him in my opinion is pup Douglas last year pup was really good and he really popped but what we've seen this summer jaylin paulk just does something every Single day and he's consistent and he's not making mistakes and even today before practice drad mayo said His his run blocking and his past blocking has really impressed me. So like christ i'm i'm with you man I'm super high in jaylin paulk. I I would not change the patriot second round pick Yeah, and with pop to going back to him last year It was kind of a different kind of impressive where he was Embarrassing people and one-on-one drills. He was getting so much separation and just flat out embarrassing defensive backs And then he was good in team drills too where with paulk, I think you're seeing more production in team periods right away It's some of that's the opportunity he's getting right because the wide receiver depth chart is what it is right now But I think uh, yeah patriot's fans should definitely be high on him and I thought drad lauding his run blocking was Like really notable in practice or before practice today, too I was watching that a little closer and yeah, he finishes his blocks There is one where he really went through the whistle and he's taking it's very seriously He's taking all of his responsibility very seriously. I think the patriot should feel good about him right now Yeah, absolutely and it's funny because after practice to drake mayo was actually asked about javon baker Another guy who we connected with multiple times say he had some nice passes to javon baker And he said that javon baker is constantly coming up to him and the huddle and saying throw it to me Give me the ball and he was like he said he said jaylin paulk and javon baker both want the ball in their hands And their qualities that he really likes but I think you know for the patriot's rookie class like Take a step back chris like the future of the patriot's franchise I don't think this is like crazy for me to say it really hinges on the success of this draft class, right? It starts with drake may and guys like jaylin paulk and javon baker if the patriots can hit on just one receiver And drake may turns into a franchise quarterback, you know, they have something going here I mean I just think there's so much riding on this because as we even saw today when the offensive line was struggling It's like wow the patriots are really missing a lot of talented pieces But a lot of that stuff could be solved if they hit on the rookies And I think that's highlighted too just by them striking out in free agency to the level they have too is You know if they can build a homegrown core and really supplement that rather than going outside to try and buy all the groceries here I think you have something So while the patriot's offense was on one field their defense was going against fillies on the other So mark and I were focusing more on the offense today. Well, like watching the defense when we could between plays Uh colleague karen garrigan was watching the defense and then watching the offense between those defensive plays And so she did some charting for us and aj brown Had seven catches on the patriots defense today But jabril peppers had quite a quote afterwards when someone asked him about, you know brown having a good day He said i've seen him catch two or three passes that would have been complete in a game If we could hit i don't know he hangs on to a couple of those Patriots defense has some swagger and you know the reports were that they looked really good on that side the pass rush look good They were speeding everything up And I mean that that peppers quote just jumped out to me like okay And he later was asked him out of my game. He was like, yeah, I mean, I know he has strong hands But like I hit pretty hard too. So there's at least one of those where we would have been on a collision course and And of course, I don't think it's wild to say that like the hopes of the patriot season It's sort of arrests in a lot of way with their defense like what they have to do this year is have a top tier defense I mean, I think they have to be better than top 10 You know if they're gonna win because I don't see this offense putting up over 25 points per game and like Maybe they're not as bad as they were last year, you know when they finished dead last and scoring I think it was under 14 points per game I think they'll be better than that which kobie bersett and you know some of these guys But they really need that defense to carry that swagger through practice And then he players like christian gonzales and you know if matthew jr. We can talk about that to step up Yeah, one thing that also jumped out to me is while the offense is on one field the defense is on the other field Jarad man was with the offense. So he's talked about really want to oversee everything not be a defense of coach But obviously, you know, it's an all pro linebacker Uh, he made his bones like coach and defense coaching linebackers To see him actually just spend all the time of the offense really jumped out to me is like, okay Like jarad is really serious about trying to be like a full-on Head coach like i'm not going to be geared towards one side of the ball because the offense is what needs more work right now Right, that's what he needs to be watching more closely So that it was telling that he was over with them the whole time where it's probably not something people expect You know, you always hear he's a defensive head coach or whatever I don't think that's what jarad wants to do. No, I mean he said the word like collaboration a lot I mean he hired a defensive coordinator to mark his covetington and he's letting him really run that show over there and call defensive play So it wasn't a surprise to me to see jarad may over with the offense because as you just so crass There's just so much work that needs to be done and the patrons really need to figure out You know over the next couple of weeks here, like hey, do we need to mix and match the offensive line again? Do we have to go out and maybe trade for someone or look on the wave or wire for someone? It was like a week ago where jarad said they were going to work out some offensive lineman after last preseason game But the team only worked out one center I just it'll be fascinating to me to see what this team does over the next like two three weeks before cut down day Do they try to add someone whether it be a veteran free agent or even in the trade market? I mean, I would I would certainly say they should that being said, I wouldn't spend draft capital on someone You want a lukewarm take right now? Yeah, one of the Patriots week one tight ends is not on the roster right now And he's going to come off the wave of wire at some point I've been kind of underwhelmed in the position battle for tight end three right there where It there was an even bigger my magnifying glass on that today with hunter henry was out So austin hooper steps into the number one role who I think he's had a very good camp And I thought he largely had a good day today where he was three no one one on ones And he had seven catches and team drills seven or eight. There was one that's obviously going to stand out It's a red zone drill and 11 on 11 jacobie through a great back shoulder pass Went through hooper's hands went for an interception. He's got to catch that But I thought by and large the good outweigh the bad he also had a touchdown catch today So I think he's been really good But then in the battle for that next spot there's nobody that's really run with it. Nobody stepped up and taken it Yeah, with the Patriots need is a pure blocking tight end to sort of help themselves out And one thing we saw today was them using um, you know, an offensive lineman the name of michael jordan as a blocking tight end and really I thought that was sort of a sign that hey, maybe we don't love our options right there at number three tight end But yeah, it'll be fascinating to see what happens on thursday You know, we'll definitely keep you all in the loop without drink may and jacobie percent looks and I can say this I only hope the offensive line plays better on thursday night I just hope drake gets more time with the starting offensive line so that we can actually evaluate him Because I really don't feel like we learned a ton about him today, you know watching him with this offense the way it is It's like what did you expect him to do there's really nothing there? No, it would be tough to evaluate any quarterback who was sacked, you know six times in the last hand dropbacks of a game Yep. All right. Thanks for following along guys. We'll catch you further on down the trail (music) This has been eye on foxborough brought to you by mass live (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
