Day 8 of Patriots Training Camp. Another day in full pads before Saturday's day off. With the scalding temperatures, Friday attracted the lightest crowd of fans so far at Gillette Stadium. The team gets back at it Sunday with two days of practice before the New Orleans Saints arrive for three days of work.
WEATHER
Hot and humid with temperatures in the 90s. The wind picked up in the late afternoon to help cool things a little bit but the past two days have been the hottest of camp.
WHAT THEY WORE
Full pads. And James Ihedigbo and Matt Slater still cruising around in red "Leave Me ALONE!!" jerseys.
WHAT THEY DID
The warmup period that included half-speed walkthroughs of some running plays, a few special teams reps and then team stretching and running before the team broke into positions and stretched and did drills.
Everyone but the offensive linemen took part in a strip drill, jogging across the width of the field while a teammate tugged at the ball. The teammates would switch and run back to the original spot. DBs and WRs again worked on setting the edge on running plays and funneling ball-carriers inside to the help.
The field goal team worked on half and game-ending field goals, high-tailing it onto the field, lining up quickly and getting the ball through.
The offensive and defensive line worked extensively on combo blocking, stunts and twists.
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7-on-7, 11-on-11 and hurryup offense were all executed.
WHO'S HOT
Chandler Jones. The rookie has worked at the right end spot almost exclusively and it appears, as we go along, the team has designs on putting a ton on his plate this season.
Jabar Gaffney. His precision and dependability continues to be noteworthy. Especially with neither Deion Branch nor Brandon Lloyd practicing at full capacity on Friday.
Robert Gallery. During a drill in which offensive lineman had to work in concert to deal with twists in the pass rush, Gallery showed better quickness and his trademark power in stiffening some of the pass rushers as they tried to push the pocket.
WHO'S NOT
Marcus Cannon. He wound up on the ground and lost his helmet during the second scrap. He also got tossed around by Vince Wilfork during some of the blocking drills. That happens, but the shoulder-slumping you see from Cannon when things don't go well may be signaling frustration.
Tom Brady. Dialed in to a high degree during the first few days of camp, his accuracy hasn't been Brady-like the past two days. He underthrew Matt Slater in the end zone, allowing the ball to be flipped away by safety Steve Gregory. Brady loosed a loud expletive after that miss.
WHAT THEY SAID
"Coach Belichick talked to us and hopefully that won't happen again. We can't be fighting ourselves, we gotta be working to improve." - Bobby Carpenter on the two fights that broke out Friday.