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July 2006 ArchivesJuly 31
FOXBORO - I learned my times tables up to 12. As a result, I bludgeoned the numbers when computing 14,000 x 4 and came up with $90K. Maybe I should use a pencil and show my work when computing. Either way, if the Pats are fining Deion Branch $14K per day during his holdout (as his agent Jason Chayut says he expects them to) he's up to $56,000 in fines. Tom 
FOXBORO - Bill Belichick spoke with fondness the other day of the down-and-dirty "Oklahoma Drill." So now, it appears, every time two guys square up in a drill we newspaper writin' types are going to call everything the Oklahoma Drill. Observe from Belichick's press conference today: Q: What was the name of the drill you were doing when they bounce up? It looked like a poor man's Oklahoma drill.
FOXBORO - Tom Brady is sitting out his third straight practice this afternoon. The Pro Bowl quarterback hasn't been on the field since Saturday evening. Sources say there is nothing amiss. Brady is just getting a break while backup Matt Cassel gets a chance to take some extra reps and gain experience. The team goes again tomorrow morning (8:45 to 10:45) and then there's a season ticket holder event tomorrow night in the stadium which is closed to the general public. For anyone still skeptical about Brady's condition, put it this way: if he sits out the stadium practice tomorrow night, there's definitely cause for concern. Also, the Patriots signed veteran free agent defensive lineman Eddie Freeman and first-year free agent wide receiver Kelvin Kight today. Long snapper Lonie Paxton has been activated from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and wide receiver Michael McGrew has been placed on the reserve/left camp list. Freeman, 28, appeared in 20 games for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2002-03 and played in the NFL Europe League during its 2005 and 2006 seasons. The 6-foot-5-inch, 310-pound defensive lineman has recorded 39 tackles (17 solo) and 4.0 sacks for 27.0 yards in his NFL career.
FOXBORO - Sports Illustrated's Dr. Z (aka, Paul Zimmerman, a man who was on the Jets beat when Joe Namath was a kid out of Alabama) has been in Foxboro the past two days. He dined Saturday night at Al Forno in Providence and he said the antipasto was as good as the meal (not that the meal wasn't good), the mint juleps were the best he's ever had and the dessert was a "knock 'em dead" berry cobbler.
FOXBORO - Jason Chayut, the agent for Deion Branch, said yesterday he believes the Patriots will fine the wide receiver the maximum amount allowed by the league for players who fail to report. That's $14,000 per day. Chayut said he hasn't received a bill yet (that's not the way it works apparently). Nor has their been any movement on a deal getting done. If the Pats are charging full freight, Branch is up to $90,000 in fines already.
FOXBORO - Tom Brady got the morning off from practice today as the Patriots manage his reps early in camp. This was the second straight practice Brady missed (he sat Sunday afternoon) but sources tell us there's nothing amiss with the quarterback. The team is merely resting his arm (which they did last season as well) and allowing backup quarterback Matt Cassel to run the show. Tight end Benjamin Watson and wide receiver Troy Brown also took the morning off. Long snapper Lonie Paxton returned. Head coach Bill Belichick spoke briefly to reporters on the practice field after the morning session but had to skip his daily press conference because of a conference call. He looked heartbroken about that. The team goes again this afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
July 30
FOXBORO - Things got a little tense between rookies Corey Mays and Laurence Maroney during the afternoon session. The two got locked up pretty good in a blocking drill and Maroney’s helmet came off as the two fell to the ground.
Maroney immediately jumped to his feet and looked as if he might get into it with Mays. But then the two just slapped hands and that was the end of it.
``It’s just football,’’ said Mays when asked about the incident later.
When Troy Brown missed practice on the first day of training camp, fellow teammate Tom Brady called him ``country club.’’ So what did Brown have to say when the quarterback was not in attendance at yesterday’s practice?: ``I told you, his golf swing is better than mine. You know who spends the most time in the country club. He deserved it. He’s been working hard the last couple days, so he deserved a day off.’’ Tedy Bruschi also was not at practice. Deion Branch was still missing in action.
Kickers were a topic of conversation during coach Bill Belichick’s meeting with the media this morning. Stephen Gostkowski, selected in the fourth round (118th overall) by the Patriots, comes out of Memphis where he holds the top three spots on the Tigers' single-season record list for points scored by a kicker, totaling 101 points in 2003, 108 in 2004 and 101 again in 2005. Belichick was asked this about the rookie and the process he will go through to find a replacement for the departed Adam Vinatieri: Q: Gostkowski never really had a position coach in college. How appealing was it to you when you were evaluating him that this guy had never really been coached and now you can put him under Brad [Seely's] tutelage and maybe take him to another level? BB: I think for the most part that's a common situation with specialists in college. Having coached special teams for a number of years in the National Football League, I can tell you that is what most college specialists say coming in the NFL. Even if somebody was responsible for them, they had a coach so to speak, but in college you're limited to whatever the size of the staff is, eight coaches or whatever it is. . . . I think there's more of a priority in college for recruiting and things like that and some bigger picture things than just to coach one or two players on a specific techniques. I would say that's fairly common. Q: In your experience, you try to simulate those situations where you create distractions for the kicker. Is it really kind of hard to tell no matter what you do, how they're going to react in certain game situations and react to certain pressure situations without actually seeing them in it? BB: Well, I think the more time you spend around them and the more situations that you put them in, the better gauge you can get and that to me, that is what training camp and the preseason games are for. Fifty practices. Four games. Some situational stuff inside the stadium. That's a lot of plays, at any position, and we'll know a lot more than we know now. And that is true of all of our players. To try to make a judgment on one practice, one kick, two days, you just run a much higher percentage that you're going to be wrong. That's all. Q: Can kicking to win a job approximate kicking to win a game in terms of pressure situations? Can you see how these guys respond? BB: Definitely, without one you don't have the other anyway. Yes there is definitely pressure at a position like that, where there are only so many you can keep. It's not like offensive linemen where you can keep 10 guys or nine guys, however many you end up keeping. It's a little bit different at positions like punter, kicker, long snapper, quarterback. Q: Have you ever gone with two kickers? BB: Not that I can remember. The media caught up with Gostkowski following yesterday afternoon’s practice session at Gillette. Here’s what he had to say: Q: How long were your last field goals of practice today?
Q: Is that something you could take with you into camp as a positive? SG: I tried to. You try to live off your last kick, and I made my last kick today, so I feel good going in. You’re only as good as your last kick. Q: How's (fellow kicker Martin) Gramatica? SG: He’s good. I can’t worry about what he does. He’s good competition. I think he’s good, but I can’t speak to what he’s doing or how he’s been doing. We all get along out there, and we’re just trying to do the best we can and make the decision as hard as we can for the coaches. Q: How do you reconcile the way you like to kick as opposed to Brad Seely’s suggestions?
SG: It's tough. You just have to come out and try to get better everyday. You have to bring the same concentration everyday and that's just what I'm working on: getting better every practice.
Q: How do you feel about the ongoing competition? Is there overwhelming pressure with every kick? Do you know they're watching? SG: When you're kicking, all eyes are on you anyway. So you never feel good when you miss; you feel good when you make it. You just have to try to be consistent. That's all I'm trying to do right now. If I miss one or two one day, I just have to shake it off and go out the next day. There aren't many kickers that don't miss at all, so I just try to go out there and make a lot more than I miss. Q: How do you feel it's going so far in the regard? Ones you've made versus ones you've missed? SG: The ones I've missed I know what I'm doing wrong. It's so early in camp we have plenty of time to go and preseason games. I'd rather miss them in practice than in the games so I'm just working hard everyday. Q: Do you feel like you are yourself right now or do you feel there are some early camp jitters that you need to get over? SG: I still think they're a few jitters to get over, but it's expected. I think I've handled it pretty well so far and I feel like I'm doing well. I'm trying to get better and better everyday. Q: How does it feel to have a coach, a position coach, who knows the ins and outs of kicking probably better than anybody you've ever dealt with? SG: It's good to have the attention. I try to use what he says and we collaborate together, look at my kicks and I try to take it out there on the field. Q: How much is it the kicking versus the time? I see him sometimes with the stopwatch; is it more of the form or trying to get the timing down? SG: It's whether the kick goes through the uprights. You want it to be done in a certain time and to be a certain height, but if it goes in at the end of the day you're not going to complain. That [stopwatch] is just top make sure you have the same time, every time. --Carolyn Thornton
FOXBORO - (Opening comment)...We'll have one practice today after having two-a-days the past two days then we'll get back on that (two-a-day) track tomorrow. We're getting into some situational stuff -- red area, two-minute -- we're moving along. It's time to string some good practices and consistent improvement together and not keep slipping back and having to repave the same road. (WHY TWO-A-DAYS BACK-TO-BACK AS OPPOSED TO ALTERNATING DAYS? ) (HOW MONTY BEISEL AND TEDY BRUSCHI WORK TOGETHER INSIDE) When you're confident you can be more aggressive and you can be more assertive. When you're less confident, you don't want to make mistakes and it tends to slow you down a little bit. Optimally on the football field you want everybody to know what they're doing, be confident in what they're doing, be confident in what the people beside them are doing so they can just be aggressive and do their job. Whether its a quarterback throwing the ball because he knows where the guy's gonna be because he's done it so many times and he's consistent. Whether it's a linebacker filling the gap or a defensive back jumping a route because he knows he's protected in the coverage. All those things. I agree there's a growth process with everybody at every spot. I experienced it doing what I do. The more you do it, the better you get at it. The quicker you process it, the better you'll be at it. And then you move on to something else and you continue to get good at another skill and separate them and know when to apply them. (MORE LATER)
FOXBORO - It was, as Bill Belichick termed it, a "Friday crowd" at his 11:30 a.m. press conference this morning. In other words, only print reporters were in the house (about 10 of them) with no TV cameras. Belichick was slightly late for the debriefing having spent some time with Sports Illustrated's venerable Dr. Z before the talk. Some of the items discussed were linebacker Monty Beisel and the topic of playing with instincts, receiver John Stone, roster manipulations for third quarterbacks and kickers, the more intense start to camp and the work (or lack thereof) of defensive lineman Johnathan Sullivan. The only practice today is at 2:30 p.m. Lemme do some transcribing now and I'll get ya some Beli-quotes. Tom
July 29
FOXBORO - A fierce rainstorm swept through here about an hour ago (no thunder) hitting just as the players were getting going with their stretching for the 5:30 p.m. practice. Fans scattered but the players stretched on while the coaches walked among them, unimpressed by the rain. Two rainbows appeared when the rain stopped. And I left my sunroof open. Troy Brown and Ben Watson were back for the afternoon practice (players were in shells). Matt Light was absent. So were all the other guys who are on the PUP list (scroll down to catch their names). Bill Belichick spent a long time working with linebackers Monty Beisel and Eric Alexander on a block-shedding drill. Special teams coach Brad Seely drilled his punt-rushers in getting off the ball low, taking seven steps and then putting their hands at waist-height to block the punt down. Wide receiver John Stone continues to be the No. 3 wide receiver with Chad Jackson out and Deion Branch holding out.
FOXBORO - The Patriots went for nearly two hours this morning in full pads before breaking practice. The running backs took time signing autographs on the sides of the practice field after practice for about 20 minutes. Toward the end of their signing session, something caused a few fans to go onto the field to be with a player (it may have been at the players request, we were 100 yards away), which touched off a fan stampede. It was mostly kids just dashing over to players for autographs but it was fairly comical to see the "Hey, if they're all going, I will too..." mentality in action. Probably between 100 and 200 fans hit the field before they were herded off within a minute or so. Among the talkers were Tedy Bruschi, Kevin Faulk, Laurence Maroney, Troy Brown, Eugene Wilson (we'll feature him in a Sunday story tomorrow), Ben Watson, Mike Vrabel, Larry Izzo and Matt Cassel. Vrabel had this to say about his time spent at inside linebacker last year... "At times it was difficult (but) there's a lot of guys that play a lot of different spots. Chad (Brown) played inside, Chad played outside. I played inside and outside...." (On what he learned playing inside) (Explanation: the "edge" is where the defensive end or outside linebacker goes to help turn sideline running plays back inside. When setting the edge, the OLB in the Pats defense anchors himself at the end of the line and turns in toward the center of the field, funneling everything back to the defensive linemen, inside linebackers and safeties. During camp, Bill Belichick and the rest of the coaches are often heard exhorting players to set a good edge). (On whether versatility they were forced to build in '05 helps the Pats be more complex) (On the team drafting two tight ends) "I always wach draft day. Since I've played that gimmick tight end position, we've taken Graham and Watson in the first round, now Thomas in the third and Mills in the fourth. They're trying to keep me out of there the best they can." *** "If there are breakdowns it will hurt you. There were some breakdowns last year. Some early in the season, some later. (This season) there are a lot of new faces and a lot of bodies. Everyone's fighting for a job. And whoever's there at the end of the day is who's going to be there. It's pointless to do predictions because there's so much that can still happen." (On losses like Matt Chatham, Christian Fauria and Tim Dwight) "We lost people. Which is normal. People come and go every year in the NFL. The organization will find somebody to get the job done." *** Belichick brushed off questions about Deion Branch by saying, "I'm talking about the players that are here." He also praised Matt Cassel and Vince Wilfork's development so far. More to come from Beli later...The team practices again at 5:30 p.m. and has one session tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
FOXBORO - A little more than halfway through the first of two practices today, here are some quick-hit observations. * Defensive end Marquise Hill left the field limping about 20 minutes ago, going down during a short-yardage drill. * Ellis Hobbs didn't fare particularly well in a few 11-on-11 plays. One in particular came when Reche Caldwell scorched him on a wide receiver screen (one juke and gone). * Eugene Wilson continues working out primarily at corner instead of safety. Yesterday, he and Asante Samuel were the first pair of corners on the field in the 11-on-11 drill (Artrell Hawkins and James Sanders were the safeties). * Players not on the field: Bam Childress, Chad Jackson, Randall Gay, Patrick Pass, Rodney Harrison, Patrick Cobbs, Garrett Mills, Lonie Paxton, Dan Koppen, Nick Kaczur, Troy Brown, Daniel Graham, Deion Branch, Ben Watson and Richard Seymour. We'll check back after the Beli-Conference. Tom
July 28
Q&A with Tom Brady after the first practice of training camp Q. How did it go on your first day? TB: It's our fourth day for quarterbacks. Hopefully all of the rust is off and it's nice to be out here. It's nice to have all the veterans here, all the familiar faces. We're all working. It's going to be a hard camp. It sets the tone. It's going to be tough. Q: Have you communicated with Deion Branch? What's the latest? TB: I talk to him. You know, he's one of the favorite guys that I have on the team. I hope he gets here soon. It's not up to me, but I wish that it was. Q: As a quarterback you must want him back, but as a player you understand what he's going through? TB: That's exactly it. I'm there to listen to what he says. But he's a great guy. I love Deion. He's such a fun guy to be around and you definitely realize when he's not here. But like I said, it's out of my hands, it's out of my control. It's between the club and Deion. It's not like it doesn't happen so you just go with the flow and roll with the punches. Q: Short a tight end, short a receiver, how much does that hurt what you're trying to do? TB: You do what you can and you try to do your best with what you got. We did some good things today. Reche (Caldwell) did some good things. I'm glad he's here. He's an exciting player. And Ben (Watson) stepped it up and the younger tight ends have done good. We continue to build and I think it starts with the first practice today, second practice. You know we're all going through this "Groundhog Day" type of camp.
Q: $14,000 a day. Did you talk to him (Deion Branch) about that? TB: I know. I know. They sprung that rule on the players like a week before camp. But like I said it's part of what we deal with as players and it's really only on the players and Deion and the club and that's what we'll leave it at. Q: What about the new receivers learning the system? TB: There's quite a bit of learning through the season. You learn all the way through the year. A guy like Deion (Branch) and Troy (Brown) have been here for years and they're still learning. You put in new offenses and you face new defenses, and there are new routes and techniques. You just try to get up to speed as fast as you can. Q: Have you worked with Reche Caldwell or any of the other guys in the offseason? TB: Yeah, we've been getting together for probably three months now. The only way to do it is to work at it. You communicate and watch the film and talk about what you did and what you are going to do.
TB: Yeah it was. It was terrible. The goal is to play all the way through the end like we have and once you experience that, you're right, anything short of that is not very exciting, especially when you see other teams out there playing. This team has a great opportunity ahead. We have a tough division with a bunch of new coaches and players, and the nice part is that we're all starting at the same point. Whoever works the hardest, whoever sustains the high level of play that it takes to get to the playoffs and win a championship. We're trying to accomplish that. TB: Well, Deion is a very unique player. When he shows up he'll be ready to go. I mean I'm not worried about him getting here and being ready. I'm sure Deion's further along than all of us. For the guys that are here, we just have to make improvements. TB: He's pretty good at picking that all up when he does get here. I mean there is learning but he can get up to speed pretty quick. I remember a few years ago in the Kansas City game he hurt his knee in the Arizona game, this was like two years ago, he came back and had nine catches for 100 yards and you were like it doesn't even look like he missed a day. Like I said, I wish it was up to me because he'd be here, but it's not. Q: Lot of turnover on the roster? TB: Yeah a lot of change. You know it's like that for every team. Every team there's a lot of movement and scheme changing. This year there are all new coordinators in our division. That's very unique for that to happen but its part of it. Since I've been here, guys come and go, but you do you're job and you play your role. That's really all you can worry about and you try to get everybody else to do that too. This team has a style of play, has a philosophy that we think is very important to championship football and the guys that come here to the program, they are part of that program to learn and assimilate to and that is what we're all trying to accomplish. Q: Where was Troy Brown? TB: Troy is country club like Willie (McGinest) was last year. I guess when you play like 27 years you can miss a practice. He'll be out here though. He'll be out here this afternoon. Q: Talk to David Givens? TB: We've missed each other a bunch of times. David was a big part of this team but he moved on and he's excited with his opportunity and we're excited for his opportunity. He's a great guy and a great friend and he always will be. TB: When I walked out and saw #87 I flinched a little. But there's a new guy in that spot, and Reche can take advantage of that opportunity. He's very exciting and is going to be a really great playmaker for us this year. Q: Young quarterbacks behind you. What is it like now to be the veteran? TB: Yeah, we were joking the other day that we probably have the youngest quarterbacks room in the league with the players and the coach. We have had veteran players here, but I'm kind of the veteran now and I expect that responsibility. Hopefully the younger guys can come in and learn and work hard. They're expected when they go in to play well. That's what I expect of them and that's what the coaches expect of them. This offense really relies a lot on the quarterback and the decision making that we're a part of. If our fundamentals are lacking or our confidence is lacking, then that carries over to the whole offense. Q: You said it was going to be a hard camp but aren't they all hard camps? TB: They are. Coach seems like he's setting a different tone. They are no excuses, no breaks. Bare down and fight through it. Maybe that's something we lacked last year. I'm not saying that we don't have tough guys, I'm talking mental toughness. Q: What's it like getting the new guys on to the high level that they're probably not used to? TB: You come here and you get in shape and you shake the rust off from months of not having football pads on. You come here and you work hard. This is our job. This is what we do. We show up and there are 5,000 people cheering us on. I don't think that the UPS man has someone cheering him on. That's what makes it fun for us. It's work but it's still a lot of fun. Q: What does Benjamin Watson bring to the offense? TB: He's made significant improvement. In the last year, from last year at this time to now, he has so much more confidence in himself. He's been here and we've been throwing and he's just a different player. He's going to need to be because he is going to be relied on heavily to make plays. When you lose guys like Tim Dwight and David Givens and Andre (Davis) and Bethel (Johnson), guys that you're familiar with and Ben (Watson) is one of those guys. He's got to produce and I am very confident in him. Q: How are Ben Watson's hands? TB: Very good. Very smooth athlete. Very smooth runner. He's so big and strong. He's freakish.
Q: Anxious to see the faces that you will be throwing to most regularly come back? TB: You'd love to be able to build continuity between us. Last year, we had a bunch of guys that were here one day and then they got a bunch of injuries and guys are out. In preseason games some guys didn't play and I didn't play in one preseason game so we just didn't build up that continuity between us. I think that is why we started off 2-2 and then 3-3 and 4-4, we couldn't recover toward the end of the year. This has to be the place where you build your foundation, you go through your learning curves and you talk through mistakes. Preseason games are warm-ups to the real things and if you don't make those mistakes and correct them then they're just going to keep popping up through the year.
TB: Like I said, you love for everyone to be out here, you'd love for injuries not to be part of the game. I learned that you just need to deal with. You'd love to have everyone there every week but that's just not the reality. What do you do? You've got to change the scheme. I've got to learn my reads and go through my progression. I have to be that much better when I'm playing with guys that I'm not as familiar with. Maybe that helps me out too. With Deion not being here maybe other people get the ball too. Now you're forced to throw to other guys and really get to know them. Q: Will it take long to get back on the same page when Deion Branch gets back? TB: I don't think it will take long, I really don't. Like I said, I'd like for him to be here today. But when he gets back, he's going to be excited to be here and I'll be excited to have him here. He's a big part of our team, a big part of our success. Q: He talked about getting Reggie Wayne money. Is he in that same category to you? TB: I mean Deion is a terrific player. I can't compare him to those guys because I never played with them. I can only compare him to guys that I've played with. There are a lot of great receivers on this team, with Reche Caldwell and Troy Brown, Ben Watson, all these guys can play. When he comes in, he just adds another weapon for us. He does things that no one else can do. But that's a role that everyone has. Q: Is the holdout justifiable? TB: You do everything you can to come here and show up. Sometimes the circumstances, you make decisions that you don't ... I'm not in that situation. I've never been in that situation so it's hard for me to relate. When he gets here we'll all be excited to have him, and I mean he's just an awesome player. He adds a lot to this team. We'll love seeing him. It's going to be a great year for us. Q: Is kicker a position that you're concerned about? TB: Adam (Vinatieri) was a great player for such a long time. Who can come in and be Adam Vinatieri? I mean those are tough shoes to fill. Whoever it is, I hope not to leave it up to field goals. Hopefully we are winning by 30 at the end of these games. If it does come down to a kick we have to have confidence. Q: Do you think that you may try to over compensate for not having Adam Vinatieri and force it in there a little bit more knowing that you don't have someone to kick a long field goal? TB: I'm always trying to score. It's (Bill) Belichick that is pulling us off. If it were up to me, I'd pass on every play. He says 'we're going to run it here, we're going to run out the clock,' and I go out and run the play. Hopefully we're not leaving it up to a 48-yard field goal no matter who is kicking. Q: How do you keep you concentration in the game with a lot of bodies flying around you? TB: A lot of practice. A lot of praying. I guess that you practice it so much that it is almost easier in the game. When you're out here (at practice) there is so much going on, and when you're out there (in the game), you're just so focused. The focus from knowing exactly what it is that you have to do. The way I prepare is by becoming as confident as I can by preparing as hard as I can. I know I'm prepared and I know whatever the defense is going to do then I have a lot of confidence. I can be extremely focused, I can drop back in pressure, read the coverage, read my progression and make the throw. Q: Reche Caldwell impress you out there? TB: Yeah, he made a nice catch. He's been doing that all spring, so hopefully there is much more of that. I'd like to put it to him in stride so he can catch it and then run for a touchdown. He made me look good today. Q: Any impressions of him (Reche Caldwell)? TB: He's very athletic. He's smooth. He's fast. He's got good hands. He's quick. He's really going to be an asset for us this year.
Q: With 10 guys unable to perform, what's it like going into a season like that? TB: When certain guys aren't out here, aren't practicing, other guys have to step up. That's why they're in meetings and part of this team, because if they couldn't help us then they wouldn't be part of this team. Those guys have to go out there and do what they do and hopefully it is good enough. Q: What is step one with building a relationship with a receiver? Getting to know him personally or throwing with them? TB: It is personal. A lot of it is that you have to build a rapport. You have to gain a level of respect. I talk to him and he talks to me. Respect in that he is doing his best to help and I'm doing my best to help the team. Because your goals are aligned, your working towards the communication of things and getting things right and there is never any hard feelings or hurt feelings. Then you come out here and you practice. You throw the ball and if it isn't right, Reche for example, I say 'Reche I need you to go to the 14-yard line if it's 13 yards then it's going to be behind you. When you're going on the post get your left arm up so I know where to throw it.' It's what we try to do. For him he might say hold on to it for a little longer. That's how you develop it.
Q: You turn into a receiver coach in a sense?
TB: Sure. The quarterback sees everyone and sees the whole play develop. One guy runs an under and the other guy runs deep, I know that we're trying to create a high-low on a certain player. If one guy is too deep and the other is too short, then you don't get that high-low. We're able to communicate because we know exactly what we want. It's like a coach. I hope I build enough credibility with those guys so they respect me. Q: You ever use the line 'I'm Tom Brady?'" TB: No, never. I don't think it would go very far.
Q: Have you got to the point where you know what routes he (Caldwell) runs particularly well? TB: Yeah, it's like Deion (Branch), it's like Troy (Brown). You put them out there and watch them run routes and once you find routes that are good for them you say, 'hey these are your routes.' There are certain routes that we had for David Givens that we never ran before. Deion (Branch) the same thing. We've created probably 20 routes for Deion. They're all part of our terminology. If someone else comes in and can do them, then you do them, if not you don't run them. That's how you develop those strengths and weaknesses, and hopefully you develop an offense where everyone is doing something that they're good at.
Q: What did you do in your offseason? TB: I tried to get some rest. Catch up with family and friends. Q: Did you travel? TB: Not much this year. I just stayed here and tried to stay in good shape and be as prepared as I could be for this year.
FOXBORO - After the very first practice of the Patriots 2006 training camp,Tom Brady said a different tone was being set. "There are no excuses and no breaks," Brady said after the team worked out in semi-oppressive heat for 90 minutes this morning. "We're going to build toughness which is maybe something we lacked last season. I'm not saying we didn't have tough guys, but I think we need to build some mental toughness." From Vince Wilfork's de-cleating of Corey Dillon on the first 11-on-11 play of camp to Tedy Bruschi's meet-and-greet wallop of Laurence Maroney about 20 minutes later, there were certainly occasions of solid contact. Several came during a one-on-one drill called Oklahoma where players attack each other in a small square area. "(It's a drill) you start doing it in high school, college. That was kind of the 'who is the man?, step up, who's tough?, who is going to hit somebody?' [drill]. Put everybody in a close box and you're going to have some contact. So let's see the pads crack." *** Reche Caldwell made the best catch of the morning practice, hauling in about a 35-yard throw from Brady on an out-and-up route past Ellis Hobbs. *** There was no word on why both Troy Brown and Daniel Graham weren't on the field during the morning practice. Belichick merely said that players are at different stages in rehabs and in their careers and that each player is "practice to practice." *** The Pats signed veteran tight end Walter Rasby and released rookie corner Jjarvis Herring. *** *** This is Ryan Claridge's reaction to being released by the Pats on the eve of training camp. http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Jul-28-Fri-2006/sports/8746948.html. Folks are saying that newly acquired Johnathan Sullivan didn't do a wicked awesome job during the team's conditioning run Thursday http://www.profootballtalk.com/rumormill.htm -- Journal sportswriter Tom E. Curran
Patriots players line up during a field goal kicking drill this morning in the first session of training camp. An afternoon practice is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
FOXBORO -- Training camp is under way, and a very, very big crowd is on hand for the Patriots' first workout of the 2006 season. News nuggets from the morning: -- No. 1 draft pick Laurence Moroney has agreed to a five-year contract and is with the team. -- Deion Branch, as expected, is not on hand, officially beginning his long-threatened holdout. -- The Pats are working out in full pads. -- Troy Brown and Daniel Graham are not on the field. They could be working out in the bubble; we'll try to find out what's going on with them. -- Bill Belichick will meet with the media later this morning. We'll have a report after he talks. -- The team will practice again this afternoon from 2:30-4:30 p.m. More later today . . . -- TOM E. CURRAN
July 27
Check here often for up-to-the-minute news from Patriots training camp, beginning Friday. Projo.com will have bloggers posting regularly throughout camp. Journal sports writer Tom E. Curran will get things started with reports from Friday at Foxboro.
The Patriots haven't finalized a deal with first-round running back Laurence Maroney, the 21st overall pick in April's draft. ,The Patriots open camp tomorrow and the rest of the rookies already in but there's still confidence the deal will get done. Negotiations have not been described as acrimonious. Neither side has divulged what the holdup in negotiations is. Meanwhile, the Pats agreed to a one-year deal with linebacker Chad Brown, 36. Brown signed with the Pats in May of 2005. His role figured to be as a pass-rusher but the losses of Tedy Bruschi and Ted Johnson pressed him into regular duty inside. Given Bruschi's return and the hope that Monty Beisel or Ryan Claridge can make an impact inside, Brown now gives third-down depth at outside linebacker -- something the team needs with Willie McGinest gone.
July 10
The Patriots have announced times for the first four days of training camp at Gillette Stadium (all sessions open to the public): FRIDAY, JULY 28 SATURDAY, JULY 29 SUNDAY, JULY 30 MONDAY, JULY 31
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