The second annual Blue-White scrimmage highlighted Day 12 of training camp, which took place in steamy Foxborough on the back practice fields rather than inside the stadium as was the case a year ago.
Mike Vrabel offered up some of the details of what was to come prior to practice, indicating that Terrell Williams was the head coach of the White Team while Tony Dews was at the helm for Team Blue. Todd Downing and Scott Booker served as offensive and defensive coordinators, respectively, for White, while Ashton Grant and Justin Hamilton filled those roles on the Blue side.
"Stretch [John Streicher] and I will be the officials, if there's any issues there," Vrabel added. "But, we held a draft, and we're excited about just getting out there, playing, competing and putting them in the same situations that we've been here working through camp."
If the goal was to create situations, the scrimmage was a wild success. Drake Maye led the White Team, and Tommy DeVito took the controls for the Blue. Rookie Behren Morton got a series for each team during the roughly 90-minute scrimmage.
The action featured down-and-distance work, a pair of red zone periods, two-minute drills (each actually started with 1:05 on the clock) and normal drives that ended after failed third downs. Vrabel had Bryce Baringer punting in between some of the possessions, but the returns were not under game conditions.
"So, T [Terrell Williams] won the coin toss," Vrabel explained of the draft process. "T took Drake and got Jared [Wilson]. So that was one stipulation, that Jared traveled with Drake, and then Chiz [Efton Chism] and Mack [Hollins] had to be on the same team, too. Those are the only two stipulations for the draft.
"I think Tony got the next two position groups. I think it was probably Gonzo [Christian Gonzalez] and A.J. [Brown], I think. And so then once we pick a player, we wipe out that position so that we can kind of fill the team, and then Tony got the next pick. So, I think it was those two."
DeVito and DeMario Douglas were the standouts during the scrimmage. Douglas caught a pair of touchdowns, one coming in the red zone period, and made the biggest play of the day when he got behind Channing Canada and Mike Brown for a huge gain to start the Blue's two-minute drive.
Other notable plays included a flea-flicker from DeVito to Mack Hollins that was almost a carbon copy of the one Maye hit Hollins on during the AFC title game in Denver last January. Another big play came by accident when Morton hit Tejhaun Palmer on an out route, but the ball deflected off the receiver's hands right to rookie running back Myles Montgomery, who scooted down the left sideline to about the 10.
With Brown and Gonzalez on the same team, fans were deprived of another opportunity to watch their highly competitive camp battles. Brown caught a couple of passes early from DeVito but spoke of his work with Gonzalez after practice.
"Every day is a battle with him," Brown said. "I have nothing but respect for him. It's not about me and him. We're just trying to play hard every day and compete. Every rep I take I'm just trying to get better. He's going at me a little more."
As for his rapport with Maye, Brown said it remains in the development stages. "We're still building," he said. "We have a lot more work to do. I'm not going to say we've arrived."
Beyond the DeVito-Douglas connection, here are one man's observations from Day 12 of training camp.
-- Harold Landry is becoming more of a presence at practice, but the veteran edge rusher remains on PUP. Landry has been spotted watching the action recently, and earlier in camp Vrabel indicated that players who are out at practice are likely closer to returning, so perhaps we'll see Landry sometime in the near future. Brenden Schooler also remains on NFI. Vrabel was asked about Schooler's situation and indicated his unique role on special teams lessens the impact of his lost time.
"I think it's one that we just want to be very cautious with," Vrabel began. "And he's got such a specific role, and yes, he wants to be involved in defense and use those reps to improve what his No. 1 role is on our football team, which is to be an elite special teams player, which he did last year. You'd see him out there playing safety because he wanted to practice open field tackling and all these things, which I think is great. And so, until he's back, I don't think there's any real reason to push that or force that issue. We want to make sure that he's healthy."
-- Carlton Davis also remains out of practice for an extended period. Friday marked the eighth straight session the veteran corner has missed, and Vrabel said he won't likely return until the end of next week, keeping him out of the work against Indianapolis.
-- The grind of camp is starting to take its toll as the absentee list is growing. Cornerback Charles Woods and defensive tackle Christian Barmore were not spotted after each left Thursday's practice early. Will Campbell was not in uniform after skipping team work on Thursday. Instead, he did some conditioning work wearing a brace on his left arm. Fullback Reggie Gilliam missed his fourth practice of camp and rookie wideout Cameron Dorner also missed his fourth practice. Caedan Wallace also was not spotted after returning on Thursday.
-- On the positive side, Romeo Doubs was back in uniform after missing the past two days. He caught a touchdown from Maye on an out route toward the left corner of the end zone, finishing off the White team's touchdown drive. Vrabel said his absence was "a personal thing" but added that it was very positive, so it was not injury related.
-- Andy Borregales suffered through some rare struggles during the scrimmage. He missed an early field for the Blue Team wide left and later sent a PAT wide left after a White touchdown. He did connect on four other field goals, including one following a low snap.
-- Brown, Holmes, Eli Raridon, Elijah Ponder and Ben Brown were among those who spent some time chatting with the media after the scrimmage.
-- The Patriots will have the weekend off after five straight days of practice and will return to the fields on Monday. That workout will be closed to the public. The next session open to fans will be a big one, however, as the Patriots will host the Indianapolis Colts for a joint practice on Tuesday from 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. As always, please check with Patriots.com for the latest schedule updates throughout training camp.
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