FOXBORO — It says something about a receiver when his quarterbacks can’t feed him enough the moment he returns to full strength.
That happened Sunday when Jacoby Brissett threw at DeMario Douglas on half of his first four snaps. Then Maye targeted Douglas with his first throw. Next, during the Pats’ opening 11-on-11 period, Douglas caught Brissett’s first three completions and pocketed four of six overall.
Does that sound like a No. 1 receiver to you?
Overall, Douglas finished with seven catches in competitive team periods, three more than the next closest pass-catcher. He opened the middle of the field and gave both quarterbacks a consistently viable option against man-to-man coverage, something the Patriots have lacked for years. Will it translate to Sundays?
Too early to tell. But despite Douglas’ limited participation thus far in training camp (he’s worn a non-contact jersey due to a hand injury), it’s safe to say the quarterbacks have a new favorite target. And that would be Douglas, who also repped alongside penciled-in starters K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton in team periods. (Osborn and Thornton started Thursday’s preseason opener and have led off most 11-on-11 drills this summer.)
Not to mention, Douglas led the Patriots in receiving yards and their wideouts in catches last season. Nowadays, he looks better than ever.
Elsewhere at Sunday’s practice, two veteran starters sat out, Matt Judon jumped into a new drill, the offensive tackle situation continued to confuse and a defensive lineman (!) intercepted Maye.
Here are the Herald’s complete practice observations:
Absent: DL Christian Barmore, DB Jonathan Jones, DB Marcus Jones, S Marte Mapu, OLB John Morgan
Limited: TE Hunter Henry
Non-contact jersey: LS Tucker Addington
PUP: WR Kendrick Bourne, LB Sione Takitaki, OL Cole Strange
Notes: Henry walked off the field early in a 7-on-7 period with an apparent lower-body injury and didn’t return. Jonathan Jones missed his first full practice of summer, after sitting out Thursday’s preseason opener and team periods in the prior practice. He ran on a lower conditioning field with Marcus Jones, Bourne, Takitaki and Morgan.
Linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley wore a sleeve over his left arm after having his elbow examined in a practice last week.
Armon Watts’ interception
Every once in a while, the big fellas get one.
On Sunday, it was Watts, a defensive tackle, who took the field for Drake Maye’s opening snap in a late, 11-on-11 red-zone period. After Anfernee Jennings batted Maye’s pass at the line, Watts looked skyward and spotted the ball. Like a catcher settling under a short pop-up, Watts collected the pass for a pick and fell to the ground with his first turnover of camp.
WR DeMario Douglas
The best player on the field Sunday.
He got open. He earned his quarterbacks’ trust and rewarded it.
A great day for the kid they call “Pop.”
Note: The passing stats below were tallied during competitive 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 periods only. The stats in parentheses represent the quarterbacks’ camp-long performance.
Jacoby Brissett: 16-of-21, sack (113-of-166 — 68.1%, 4 INTs, 17 sacks)
Drake Maye: 16-of-25, INT (95-of-159 — 59.7%, 5 INTs, 12 sacks)
Notes: One of Brissett’s best practices as a Patriot.
After an opening 7-on-7 period featuring two Douglas targets and a checkdown to Rhamondre Stevenson, Brissett went 3-of-4 on a no-huddle drive and fed Douglas again. They connected on two in-breaking routes and a stop route to carry the offense downfield after Matthew Judon batted Brissett’s initial pass down at the line.
Back with the starting group, Brissett ripped three short completions in another hurry-up, 11-on-11 series: tight end Austin Hooper on a shallow cross, Stevenson on a checkdown and Douglas again on another stop route. That led to a 5-of-6 showing in a 7-on-7 period with two completions to Jalen Reagor (including one versus Gonzalez), another to K.J. Osborn and one apiece for tight ends Austin Hooper and Mitchell Wilcox.
With two 11-on-11 periods left, Brissett scrambled, found Tyquan Thornton for consecutive completions and handed-off before a defensive penalty wiped away his last attempt. Now inside the red zone, he finished 2-of-3 with a couple touchdowns; Reagor beating Marco Wilson for a diving, 20-yard catch and Osborn versus Gonzalez on Brissett’s third read of a new play offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt installed that morning.
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As for Maye, his struggles had familiar sources: poor pass protection, some hesitancy in his reads and spotty downfield accuracy. In 7-on-7s, Maye proved more decisive and went 7-of-10, whereas in full-team periods he was 9-of-15 with an interception, one drop and a couple passes batted at the line.
Before Watts scooped up his second batted pass for a pick, reserve safety Dell Pettus failed to pick the first before it touched the ground in 11-on-11s. As for the good: Maye found Ja'Lynn Polk on a pass thrown across his body while rolling left in 11s and later hit backup tight end La'Michael Pettway on a 20-yard corner-route touchdown right after his pick. A bounce-back play.
He also completed his best two-minute drill of camp, starting his last period with 1:21 on the clock. Maye, fronted by a third-string offensive line, surrounded by second-string wideouts and mixed personnel on defense, recorded the following play-by-play: slant completion to Kayshon Boutte, completion to Boutte on a comeback route (negated by holding penalty), incompletion negated by defensive penalty, checkdown to running back Terrell Jennings, completion to Polk on a crosser and curl-route completion to JaMycal Hasty before spiking the ball.
Overall, still uneven and not much change. But that last series? Progress.
QB Jacoby Brissett
See above.
K Joey Slye
Slye has all but closed the gap in his position competition with Chad Ryland. He drilled a 54-yard field goal to cap Maye's final hurry-up drive and then went 3-of-4 in a closing period alternating kicks against Ryland. Slye swung his miss wide left from 49 yards, then followed with another make from 50-plus.
CB Christian Gonzalez
It bears repeating about Gonzalez: last summer, he didn't wow in training camp. Then, he shut down some of the world's best receivers en route to winning Defensive Rookie of the Month last September.
On Sunday, Gonzalez lost all three reps in 1-on-1s and then surrendered three catches during team periods. By any corner's standards, a down day. But reason to worry in the big picture?
Not yet. .. Probably.
TE Mitchell Wilcox
Wilcox dropped his first target, had a so-so showing in 1-on-1s and finished with a single catch, despite being bumped to the No. 2 tight end in Henry's absence. Hard to lock up a roster spot that way.
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