FOXBOROUGH – The big takeaways after the first two days of training camp depends on your personality.
If you’re a glass half full-type person, you would say the Patriots defense looks like it will be elite in 2023. If you’re a glass half empty-type person, you would argue the Patriots offense still looks like it could struggle this season.
Fortunately for the Patriots, pads have yet to come on and we still haven’t seen ‘real’ football this offseason. The hope is that by the time the team has a full-contact practice, the offense will have shown improvements in the passing game.
On Thursday’s second day of camp, the offense once again lagged behind the defense. Mac Jones is still firmly in place as the Patriots starting quarterback, taking all the top reps, but the group’s performance in the red zone left a lot to be desired.
Jones’ day started with a 0-for-4 performance in 7-on-7 drills, which took place at the 10-yard line. The quarterback couldn’t connect with JuJu-Smith Schuster with Christian Gonzalez in coverage on the first throw. DeVante Parker made a nice catch on the second pass, but was out of bounds in the corner of the end zone. Jones then threw an incomplete pass to Hunter Henry and his final attempt bounced off the fingers of Ty Montgomery.
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All four of Jones’ attempts in 7-on-7 went to pass catchers running corner routes in the end zone. None of it worked.
Jones and his group were better in full-team drills, especially when the ball was backed up to the 15-yard line. Jones finished 6-of-10, but his final pass was intercepted by Kyle Dugger. The pass went right to the safety, so it appeared that either the quarterback didn’t see Dugger or there was a miscommunication. Jones dropped down for push ups immediately after the play.
That marked Dugger’s second interception against Jones through two days of practice.
Out of Jones’ six completions, his top targets were Smith-Schuster (two catches) and Hunter Henry (two). Jones also threw three other passes to Smith-Schuster, but one was dropped and two were incomplete with Gonzalez in coverage.
Bailey Zappe rebounded after a difficult first day where he went 2-for-8 in full-team drills. Zappe was the best quarterback during 7-on-7s on Thursday going 3-for-4. Most of Zappe’s completions were check downs or passes close to the line of scrimmage, but results were better for the backups.
Zappe finished the day going 6-for-10 in full-team drills. He started the day completing his first four passes attempts. The backup quarterback struggled in his final period where a four-play stretch saw three pass breakups and a sack. Zappe’s top targets were Matt Sokol (two catches) and Pierre Strong (two).
Trace McSorley went 0-for-2 in 7-on-7s and then 2-for-4 in full-team drills.
The Patriots defense was once again all over the offense. On Thursday, they finished with five pass breakups with Jack Jones leading the way with two. Gonzalez, Rodney Randle and Jahlani Tavai all had one.
