FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots held their final practice prior to hosting the Giants for joint sessions Wednesday and Thursday.
It was on the upper grass fields behind Gillette Stadium, lasted close to two hours and was held in shorts and shells.
There were six new absences, including wide receiver Devin Ross, safety Malik Gant, long-snapper Brian Khoury, offensive lineman R.J. Prince, offensive lineman Marcus Martin and defensive lineman Nick Thurman. It's worth noting rosters need to be cut from 85 players to 80 by the end of the day.
This was in addition to several other players who didn’t participate: quarterback Cam Newton, quarterback Jarrett Stidham (PUP), wide receiver N’Keal Harry, cornerback Stephon Gilmore (PUP), running back Brandon Bolden, safety Joshuah Bledsoe (NFI), linebacker Cameron McGrone. (NFI), linebacker Terez Hall (PUP), tight end Matt LaCosse, wide receiver Tre Nixon and defensive tackle Byron Cowart (PUP).
Myles Bryant returned in a red non-contact jersey, while Hunter Henry wore one as well.
Here are some observations from the session.
— It was definitely a bounce-back day for Mac Jones after he struggled Monday. With that being said, it should be acknowledged the session wasn’t nearly as competitive as the day before, but once again the rookie got a ton of reps.
Jones did have two interceptions, one coming on a pass intended for Gunner Olszewski on a slant in the end zone when JC Jackson jumped the route. This seemed to be the very same play Olszewski beat Jackson on a day prior. The other was by Devin McCourty on a pass that went off Olszewski’s hands.
The rookie had a great 25-yard touchdown throw to Jakobi Meyers where he made a diving grab on and then a perfect touch-pass to Jonnu Smith in the back of the end zone during the same 11-on-11 period. Jones then talked some friendly trash with outside linebacker Matthew Judon where he seemed to indicate they scored two touchdowns that period. This was good to see from the rookie that he feels comfortable to do that with one of the team’s better defensive players.
Jones was put in a lot of two-minute situations, which seems to be a trend over the last week or so. At the end there were plenty of got-to-have-it reps. It’s also worth noting Jones got a lot of 1-on-1 time with Josh McDaniels, as when Brian Hoyer was running the offense, McDaniels was going over things with the rookie.
— Henry was a limited participant as he did not do anything during team drills. We’ll see what he’s able to do against the Giants.
— Jackson had two interceptions — one of Jones and another of Hoyer when he was targeting Jakob Johnson on a deep-ball.
— Damien Harris had a bit of a scare when he collided with Ronnie Perkins in the middle of the session. Both players were a little banged up, but Harris was seen smiling with his teammates on the sideline. Perkins may have taken the bigger blow.
— Joejuan Williams continues to get extensive work opposite Jackson on defense. He appears to be on the bubble, so this is a big next few days.
— Rookie Rhamondre Stevenson got more work as a kick returner and one play was the cause of a very animated outburst from special teams coach Cam Achord. Other players to return kicks were J.J. Taylor and Kyle Dugger.
— While Nick Folk was back on the practice field, rookie Quinn Nordin handled all of the field goal attempts. They were attempted towards the skinny goal-posts so it’s hard to say what he would have gone with normal posts, but just over 50% would be a fair estimate.
— Matt Patricia continues to be heavily involved with things taking place on the field.
— Things will pick up in intensity with the Giants coming to town for joint sessions beginning Wednesday. They will begin at 10 a.m. on the upper grass fields behind Gillette Stadium and free and open to the public.
