The Patriots and Colts held a competitive joint practice on the fields behind Gillette Stadium that was a good day's work for two AFC playoff contenders.
After completing several downfield passes that were vintage Drake Maye, the Colts defense got the last laugh by intercepting Maye in the final two-minute period in the end zone. The end of practice will serve as a coaching moment for Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels with their young quarterback, with Maye taking ownership of the mistake while speaking to reporters following Tuesday's two-plus-hour joint session with Indianapolis.
However, the positive takeaway was that Maye hit on several deep completions to multiple receivers in an explosive day for the passing offense. Maye beat a pressure scheme with a pretty go-ball to WR Romeo Doubs down the left sideline. He hit his two tight ends, Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon, for chunk plays off play-action passes. And star WR A.J. Brown had a big-gainer on a deep pass into the cover-two hole.
Maye also had a red-zone sequence where he threw three touchdowns in four plays to Doubs (out), WR Kayshon Boutte (slant), and beat a blitz by lofting a perfectly weighted ball off his back foot to RB Rhamondre Stevenson, who ran past a Colts linebacker from out of the backfield. At that point, Tuesday's headline for Maye would've read that the third-year quarterback was in complete control vs. the Colts, but it was the interception in the final two-minute drill that was top of mind for Maye at the podium after practice.
"I was proud of the guys for, first of all, the effort. Seeing somebody new for the first time and seeing some different things, I thought we did some good things. We have to finish off better and that's speaking on my part in the two-minute drill. We challenged our guys to be consistent throughout the day and they responded," Maye said. "It's great because you don't really scout [the opponent] in these joint practices. You take a mini look at them and get an idea of what the defensive coordinator does, but really it's just going out there and feeling what I see and trying to make some plays."
From this vantage point, it appeared that Maye had loaded up the protection with two offensive players in the backfield to pick up a potential blitz by the Colts, with three receivers releasing downfield on vertical routes. Colts Pro-Bowl DT DeForest Buckner wrapped around a pick by DL Michael Clemons on a stunt, forcing Maye to relocate in the pocket as WR DeMario Douglas ran open through the middle of the field. Maye couldn't put enough velocity on the ball to get it to Douglas after resetting in the pocket from Buckner's pressure, leading to an under-thrown pass that Colts S Cam Bynum intercepted.
There were a few other instances where we saw Maye "double pump" in the pocket. Sometimes, he might be pump-faking to move defenders out of passing lanes but there's also the possibility of some indecisiveness. Ultimately, an interception in a training camp practice won't make-or-break the Patriots season. That said, with Maye expected to sit out Thursday night's preseason opener vs. the Colts, it'll be interesting to see how the young quarterback performs in two-minute drills in next week's joint practices with the Eagles.
Here are 12 takeaways after observing the Patriots offense against the Colts defense in Tuesday's joint practice.
- Backup QB Tommy DeVito continues to show off his big-play ability by pushing the ball downfield to wideouts Kyle Williams (deep post) and Mack Hollins (corner-post). He also got the Colts defense to bite on a hard play-action fake that got Hollins wide open on a shallow crossing route and connected with WR Efton Chism III on some quick-hitters out of the slot. DeVito has shown well this summer as Maye's top backup.
- WR Romeo Doubs is continuing to make positive strides with back-to-back solid practices. Doubs flashed by tracking a Maye go-ball over the shoulder along the sideline and shook CB Cam Taylor-Britt at the top of the route for a red-zone touchdown. Doubs is starting to find his downfield targets in the offense and Maye is trusting him more to win the ball at the catch point, which seems to be his strength rather than creative route-running like his predecessor (Diggs).
- WR A.J. Brown settled in the cover-two hole along the sideline between the flat corner and half-field safety for a nice gain, caught a slant to move the chains on third down, uncovered along the back of the end zone for a touchdown in 7-on-7s, and had a step on the defender on a low-red zone crossing route (Maye sprayed the throw). Brown also had a decisive win against Colts CB Sauce Gardner in 1-on-1s where he showed off his start-stop ability to separate at the top of a sit route.
- WR DeMario Douglas was a problem for the Colts slot corners on shallow and intermediate crossers. He got the Pats down into scoring territory in Maye's two-minute drill by running away from coverage on a crossing route and was open on the interception. Douglas's strong summer continued in Tuesday's session.
- TEs Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon started practice hot when the two sides were running their early-down offenses. Maye hit Henry on wheel and seam routes for big gains off play-action passes, and Raridon won across the field on a play-action crosser. The Pats tight end duo also found success working with DeVito, with Raridon catching a boot and DeVito zipping a throw into the rookie through a Colts defender for six.
- WRs Kyle Williams and Mack Hollins each caught deep balls from DeVito. Williams split two Colts defenders on a deep post early in practice that went for a long touchdown while Hollins got behind Indy's second-team defense on a deep corner-post route in DeVito's two-minute drill – one play, one long touchdown. It was good to see Williams finish a catchable deep target, building on the separation we've seen in recent practices.
- RB Rhamondre Stevenson beat the Colts linebackers on vertical routes out of the backfield on two separate occasions, once in 11-on-11s and another in 7-on-7 drills. Both times Stevenson got over the top of the linebacker and high-pointed the ball to finish through contact.
- LT Will Campbell went 2-0 in his 1-on-1 reps against Colts pass-rusher Arden Key and didn't appear to be responsible for any pressure in team. However, we didn't get to see many matchups between Campbell and Laiatu Latu, Indy's top edge rusher, because Latu mostly rushed over the right tackle in Tuesday's practice.
- First-rounder Caleb Lomu went 1-1 in his 1-on-1 reps at left tackle against Colts edge rusher J.T. Tuimoloau. Lomu also repped at right tackle with the top offense when veteran Morgan Moses left practice early (likely part of Moses's load management plan). Tuimoloau beat Lomu with an inside spin move, with inside speed counters seeming to give Lomu the most problems.
- LG Alijah Vera-Tucker handled Buckner well in 1-on-1s, going 2-0 against the three-time Pro Bowler. However, the Colts DT might've had a sack to start the drive (Maye hit Douglas on a crosser) and appeared to beat RG Mike Onwenu on a stunt that Onwenu was passing off with C Jared Wilson. Onwenu was 2-0 in 1-on-1s against Colts DT Adetomiwa Adebawore and C Jared Wilson lost both his reps to DT Grover Stewart. At 6-4, 315 pounds, Stewart is the type of interior power rusher who is tough to uproot.
- Although there were some positive runs, we'd give the edge to the Colts run defense in team drills. Stevenson had a few successful inside zone/duo runs and Henderson turned the corner on a crack toss scheme for an explosive run down the left sideline. Hollins landed a great crack block on the play-side DE with FB Reggie Gilliam leading the way – it was one of the Pats better runs in camp.
- Maye noted after practice that he felt like they were getting hat-on-a-hat in the run game and didn't have many "free runners" in pass protection. The Pats pass protection was mostly clean until Buckner's late takeover, and they had a few protection calls up their sleeve to combat Indy's pressure package, which allowed Maye to take shots downfield into single coverage. He also threw a downfield screen to WR Efton Chism III as a quick blitz-beater. The emphasis on having answers against pressure is good to see.
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