FOXBORO — Forget the turnstile tackles for a minute.

The hurting wide receiver corps.

The swarming, unforgiving defense that refuses to yield much more than a checkdown through three days of Patriots training camp.

Friday was about the rookie roller coaster.

After a lackluster start, perhaps melting under the skying 80-degree temperatures at practice, Drake Maye uncorked a 40-yard pass down the right sideline during a competitive 11-on-11 period. Fellow rookie Ja’Lynn Polk sped a full step ahead of his defender. The ball arrived, he cradled it with both arms and rolled to the turf, 25 yards shy of the end zone; the best catch of camp.

Hunter Henry sprinted across the field to greet Polk like he had not only scored, but scored to push the Patriots into the playoffs. Then the entire offense descended on the second-round receiver, even Jacoby Brissett who’d already taken his reps in the period.

Two plays later, Maye appeared to confuse the snap count, causing play to stop. The next rep, after hurrying through his progressions, he whipped a checkdown pass right into the arms of Matt Judon, waiting in the left flat. This time, Judon celebrated, sprinting back to the end zone, holding the ball out and finally leaping onto the base of the nearby field goal post.

As quickly as he’d sparked flickering hope for the Patriots offense, Maye snuffed it out. Such is life in Foxboro, where the Pats are forging ahead with a new offensive system, new offensive coordinator, new quarterbacks and suspect offensive tackles. Oh, and they’re pitting that offense daily against a potential top-5 defense.

Through three days, these are the chief takeaways: the offense, as expected, looks ugly, and the defense could kick off a regular-season game tomorrow.

Elsewhere Friday, the coaching staff shuffled the offensive tackles again, DeMario Douglas remained limited, an unknown receiver made multiple tough grabs, the D-line collected several run stuffs, Ja’Whaun Bentley got his hands on a couple passes and a leader emerged in the kicking competition.

Here are the Herald’s complete practice observations:

Non-participants: DL Christian Barmore, S/LB Marte Mapu

Limited: WR DeMario Douglas

Non-contact jersey: CB Shaun Wade

PUP: WR Kendrick Bourne, LB Sione Takitaki, OL Cole Strange, C/G Jake Andrews

Non-Football Injury: RB Antonio Gibson

Notes: It was a curious scene. Christian Barmore and Marte Mapu, the only players missing for initial stretching, both walked onto the practice field 22 minutes after the opening whistle, helmet in hand and wearing a full uniform. Both stood near their position mates during initial drills and on the sideline for team periods, but never participated. It’s unclear what kept them out.

For a third straight day, Douglas sat out all 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s. He is “day-to-day,” per head coach Jerod Mayo. Wade donned the first non-contact jersey of camp. No progress for Gibson.

Maye’s 40-yard bomb to Ja”Lynn Polk

The Patriots are surely hoping Polk’s first highlight catch of training camp won’t be his last.

The second-round rookie has been targeted several times downfield in camp, and this was his first splash of the summer.

OLB Matthew Judon

In addition to his surprise interception, Judon tallied the defense’s only sack in team drills. He whipped Friday’s starting right tackle, Chukwuma Okorafor, to get to Jacoby Brissett within seconds of a snap in 11-on-11s. Judon is back to full health after last year’s biceps tear and is practicing like his old self.

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: 14-of-19, sack (32-of-43, INT, 4 sacks)

Drake Maye: 17-of-23, INT (32-of-44, 2 sacks, INT)

Notes: Another day, another slow start in full-team drills.

Both quarterbacks followed a solid showing in opening 7-on-7s with a regrettable six-play stretch. Brissett had his first two passes broken up, then took a sack and hit Rhamondre Stevenson on a curl route. Maye misfired badly on his first attempt and finished 2-of-4, thanks only to a bubble screen and Stevenson running all alone on a shallow in-cut.

Brissett made progress in the next 11-on-11 period, sandwiching a comeback connection with JuJu Smith-Schuster and checkdown to running back Kevin Harris with completions to the flat that both found K.J. Osborn. Then, Maye unloaded his sideline bomb for Polk, hit tight end Austin Hooper on a short pass and took a step back with the errant snap count and interception before rebounding by ripping a dig-route rope to Jalen Reagor.

The rookie capped his day with a 3-of-3 showing in the final 11-on-11 period, leading the Pats’ third-string offense against their third-team defense.

LB Ja’Whaun Bentley

Bentley recorded a team-high two pass breakups, swatting Maye’s opening 7-on-7 pass at the line of scrimmage with both hands and breaking up a sideline throw from Brissett during 11-on-11s. More plays like that, and Bentley should stay at the heart of the Patriots’ third-down defense, even in dime packages.

K Chad Ryland

At the end of practice, Ryland nailed all four field goal attempts while his journeyman competition, Joey Slye, went 3-of-4. Ryland hit from 30, 33, 37 and 40 yards away. Slye missed a 37-yard attempt.

QB Drake Maye

Beyond the bad pick, Maye looked the part of a harried rookie more than any training camp practice to date.

He missed a snap count, pump-faked on a couple reps with his whole body, then held the ball and fired before resetting his feet, which led to off-target throws. He had other two incompletions where the intended target was unclear and rifled an uncompetitive pass intended for Hunter Henry. This wasn’t quite an erratic performance, but it was close.

How Patriots’ Drake Maye responded to big completion, first training camp interception

WR JuJu Smith-Schuster

Smith-Schuster caught 1-of-3 targets during team drills, including one caused by a pass breakup. His separation has been poor, and he's averaging one catch per day, despite the absences of DeMario Douglas and Kendrick Bourne.

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