For a while on the second day of Patriots training camp on Thursday, it looked like the offense could do no wrong.
Mac Jones only threw one incomplete pass going into the final team segment of the day and had the offense in complete control. DeVante Parker had another spectacular touchdown grab on a back-shoulder throw against Jalen Mills, who had tight coverage but couldn’t stop Jones’ dime of a throw. Hunter Henry skied over Kyle Dugger for a touchdown catch. Kendrick Bourne beat Malcolm Butler on a corner route for a score.
Everything was on point…until the last team period.
The offense went 11 straight plays without a completion, with pass break-ups from Jalen Mills and Joshuah Bledsoe (more on him later), solid coverage from Marcus Jones on Bourne to force an incompletion, and some less-than-ideal execution.
But the 12th and final play of practice finally went the offense's way: a rollout completion to Hunter Henry that went for a touchdown and resulted in a second consecutive day of push-ups for the defense.
In the end, if you're only going to get one play, might as well be the one that counts the most, right?
Speaking of Bledsoe…
The second-year safety has been excellent through two days of training camp.
He has three official passes broken up so far in camp, including two on Thursday. The first was a beauty against Jonnu Smith on a back-shoulder throw along the back line of the end zone. Bledsoe wasn't looking at the ball when it was released but made an excellent last-second adjustment to find the football and knock it away from Smith before he could corral it.
The 2021 sixth-rounder blanketed Devin Asiasi, who caught a touchdown pass from Brian Hoyer just the play before, on a flat route and later swiped a ball away from Dalton Keene in the front of the end zone.
With the Patriots potentially looking for their safeties to take on bigger roles with uncertainty at cornerback and linebacker, Bledsoe's strong play will make an already deep room even stronger once Jabrill Peppers (PUP) returns.
As much as the offense and defense seemed to trade blows on Day 2 of camp, one thing didn't change very much: Matt Patricia's high level of involvement with the offense.
Unlike yesterday, Joe Judge did get a chance to read the plays off the call sheet during the first 7-on-7 segment near the start of practice while Patricia stayed with the offensive line during individual drills.
But during the second 7-on-7 period, Patricia left the offensive line to run the show as he did on Wednesday. He stood alongside Bill Belichick radioing plays into Mac Jones while Judge once against stood behind the huddle and looked at his play sheet. And so it continued for the rest of practice, with the quarterbacks conferring with Patricia, not Judge, during full-team segments.
At one point, Judge even walked over to get instruction from Patricia while the offense was on the field.
The pecking order here appears clear at the moment: whatever the titles may say, Matt Patricia is the Patriots' offensive coordinator as of right now.
