And on the ninth day Mike Vrabel said, "Let's have some fun."
Each year the Patriots conduct a training camp practice inside Gillette Stadium for season-ticket members. Typically, the event is low key with very little competition to be found. Vrabel decided to make some slight changes, and what he created was a bit more interesting for the fans and fun for the players.
Like Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo in the past, Vrabel stayed away from heavy contact and controlled most of the situations. But unlike his predecessors, the coach made it a competition by implementing his own scoring system based on efficiency on both sides of the ball. That included the defense, which was awarded points for various successes.
The result was a fun 90 minutes that the players seemed to enjoy. The White team came away with the 47-38 win, which was sealed by an Alex Austin interception as Drake Maye tried to lead a last-second comeback drive.
"Try to approach it as close to a game as we can," Vrabel said. "Special teams – we'll be punting the football. Punt return – we'll have returners back there and a couple full-field covers. We'll have plus-50. We'll have some different kicking situations. We have officials, so there's things I need to try to create, and may extend drives with phantom illegal contact or roughing-the-passer. I've already told the team those are things that may happen, so that we can continue to get whatever we need to get done, and get some red zone, and some end-of-game two-minute, and really just have fun.
"We'll see some trick plays. Both sides were drawing it up. I gave them two trick plays each that they' came up with, that we haven't run thus far in camp."
Vrabel announced the Blue Team head coach was Zak Kuhr with Josh McDaniels as the offensive coordinator. The White Team was led by Thomas Brown with Terrell Williams serving as defensive coordinator. Captains for the Blue Team were Drake Maye, Christian Elliss and Jaylinn Hawkins while the White side had Hunter Henry, Jabrill Peppers and Brenden Schooler.
Vrabel said the coaches conducted a draft to select players on each side, and that he and vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher would be the only neutral members of the staff. The mixing and matching of personnel was something the coach felt would pay dividends during the season.
"Not sure how many lineups stay the same throughout the course of a 17-game schedule," Vrabel said. "So, I think this is a great opportunity for these guys to have fun, to compete, to have some energy, to do it in our stadium."
Maye quarterbacked the Blue Team and had a skill group of Stefon Diggs, Kyle Williams, Kendrick Bourne, Efton Rhamondre Stevenson, Austin Hooper and Efton Chism. The White Team was led by Joshua Dobbs with DeMario Douglas, Hunter Henry, Kayshon Boutte, Ja'Lynn Polk, Javon Baker and TreVeyon Henderson.
The first of those trick plays Vrabel spoke of resulted in a touchdown for the Blue. Stephenson took a pitch for an apparent toss sweep but threw back to Maye on the left side. Maye then found Williams all alone in the end zone for the touchdown from about 35 yards out.
Dobbs responded on his first series, hooking up with Boutte down the right sideline for a 40-plus yard touchdown, although that came after what would have been a three-and-out, but Vrabel opted keep the White offense on the field.
The ensuing Blue drive began at the 50 and was off to a promising start after consecutive completions from Maye to Diggs. But the next play resulted in a deflection on a pass intended for Diggs in traffic and the ricochet was caught by a diving Spillane for Maye's first interception of camp. But the White could not capitalize as Douglas' option deep ball was intercepted by Hawkins. Hawkins added a second pick when he grabbed Ben Wooldridge's pass that sailed through the hands of a wide open Lan Larison to halt a drive in the red zone. While it wasn't a scrimmage per se as there was no tackling and the situations were largely predetermined by the coaching staff, it was more of a contest than in recent years. Adrian Hill's officiating crew was on hand to drop flags and spot the ball, but ultimately Vrabel decided where the line of scrimmage would be each play.
The Blue and White teams opened series at their 35, midfield and the plus-25 before closing with two-minute drills from their own 25. The scoring system was based on efficient gains, touchdowns and third-down conversions on offense, and the defense was rewarded for limiting efficient plays, sacks, tackles for loss, offensive penalties, takeaways and defensive scores as well as third down stops. The 40-second play clock was in use, and each side substituted liberally throughout as the coaches donned headsets from the sidelines.
Here are some additional takeaways from Day 9 of training camp.
*The players remained on the field after practice and signed autographs around the perimeter of the stadium for an extended period of time.
*Vrabel announced the following players would not take part in the scrimmage: Mack Hollins, Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, Keion White, Vederian Lowe (PUP), Garrett Bradbury, Antonio Gibson, Jahlani Tavai, Joshua Farmer and Sidy Sow. All but White have missed time thus far in camp.
*Both kickers, as well as Bryce Baringer, got some work mixed in throughout. Andy Borregales made both field goals (42, 53) and his lone PAT while Parker Romo was good from 33 and made both PATs.
*Will Campbell, Brenden Schooler and Robert Spillane spoke with the media after practice.
*There will be no access to practice over the weekend as the next scheduled workout open to the public will be Monday, August 4. That session is set for 10:15 a.m. with gates scheduled to open at 9:15 a.m. The Washington Commanders will be in town on Wednesday for a joint practice ahead of the preseason opener on Friday.
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