Standing Pat

Kiln-like conditions reveal champs' feet of clay

This is the 12th in a series of postcards Sports Illustrated's Peter King will e-mail from his annual NFL training camp tour.

Monday, Aug. 12

Team: New England Patriots

New England Patriots' camp on the tree-filled northwestern Rhode Island campus of Bryant College. I didn't know this, but p.r. man Stacey James informs me that the Pats have been here since 1976, which I believe makes them the longest-running team at a single camp in the NFL. Nice place, with a field complex isolated deep in a clearing that's surrounded on three sides by trees and the Bryant baseball and softball field area on the fourth. The Patriots went through morning meetings, then walked down a 250-yard path from their locker room to the nicely groomed field for a two-hour afternoon practice in conditions that approximated a fairly humid kiln. It's a bit toasty up and down the East Coast right now, folks.

1. I think the Patriots led the NFL in one thing today: lethargy. Not a sharp practice.

2. I think one of the things the Pats will have to worry about this year is depth in the secondary. They've had a couple of injuries there -- not serious ones, but it looks to me as if they're playing with pretty marginal NFL backups.

3. I think it was heartening to see offensive coordinator Charlie Weis coaching from a cart this afternoon. Weis nearly died from complications after gastric bypass surgery June 15, and he'd been confined either to his home or a rehab center while recovering. "DAVID!" he yelled when seventh-round rookie wideout David Givens failed to stretch out for a ball early in practice. "Make an effort for that ball!" Weis looks lighter -- he had the surgery, in large part, to cut some weight from his massive frame -- and coached hard today.

4. I think Cam Cleeland looks spry, returning from his Achilles tendon tear. He has practiced well and has a heck of a chance to make this team. Daniel Graham, the rookie first-rounder, isn't practicing now because of a sore knee, but the Patriots' tight-end picture should be significantly improved. Christian Fauria leads the pack, followed by Cleeland and Graham.

5. I think, watching quarterback Tom Brady, everything points to the guy being anything but a one-year wonder. First of all, no Patriots player out-worked him in the offseason program. Secondly, he's throwing the ball with more zip than I ever recall last year. "Sometimes I catch one from him and say, 'Whoa!'" wideout David Patten told me. "He doesn't know his own strength. Maybe it's his baseball background. He's really throwing it hard." Thirdly, no one's a serious challenger to him. I'll be really surprised if Brady's not really good this year.

Deion Branch, who had eight catches for 129 yards in the preseason-opening loss against the Giants in New Jersey Saturday night. Branch, a 5-foot-9, 193-pound second-round pick from Louisville, has terrific quickness in and out of his cuts. He's quicker and looks more athletic than Patten, his fellow Smurf. Fantasy alert! Fantasy alert! "We've got to get him in the game," head coach Bill Belichick said.

Defensive youth. Other than Richard Seymour (22, a second-year tackle), it's possible that the winners of their 10 remaining starting jobs on defense will be over 26 and at least five-year vets. In this day and age, it's startling that a team would rely on one defensive player with less than five years' experience. Dangerous, too. NFL teams cannot survive on veterans alone.

The Patriots have an Antwan (Harris), an Antowain (Smith) and an Antwoine (Womack). In addition, and apropos of nothing, they have a native of Beaverdam, Va. -- Damien Woody.

I did not get to eat in Playersville today because of media commitments. (Code word for: I had an interview to do when it was open.) And so, in the end zone early in practice, I had: FROZEN LEMONADE: Clogged in the straw. Tasted preservative-filled. For $2.50, the best thing I can say about it is it was cold ... D+ CHEESEBURGER: Friendly college kids hungry for tips (I’m a sucker for those), making half-pound burgers, cooking them all the way through, and serving them on oversized Portuguese rolls. In other words, a keeper. An absolute culinary delight. I must, however, take issure with the lousy condiments. No onions or tomatoes. But I can’t quibble with the price: $3 ... B+ Overall grade ... C+

Belichick will not give this team any medals for the workout today. "We're in the dog days," he told me before practice, and it showed. Most everything was in slow motion. I found it interesting last year when assigned to be the pro football writers' pool reporter at Patriots practices at the Super Bowl that their effort and crispness were so impeccable that Belichick, in six hours of practice over three days, never once raised his voice to the team. He was at one with his team, and vice versa. Today, he lit into a few guys, as did Weis and inside linebackers coach Pepper Johnson. Belichick stopped practice at one point and yelled for the offense to huddle up again, angered by tackle Kenyatta Jones' dawdling. Damon Huard got picked on successive plays by Tebucky Jones and Ty Law. Rookie QB Rohan Davey fumbled two snaps from center. On the second, he and center Grey Ruegamer had to run a lap of the field as their penance. Tackle Matt Light false-started. Lap. Defensive end Bobby Hamilton jumped offside. Lap. Belichick spied Lyght jogging, not sprinting, during post-practice running. "Faster than that!" Belichick yelled. "C'mon Lyght! You oughta be well-rested!"

Veteran Pats beat man Kevin Mannix said it was the loudest he'd heard Belichick in a couple of years.

Now here is why I wouldn't fret if I were a citizen of Patriots Nation:

Belichick has a way of smoothing out the rough edges.

Last year, during the Friday pre-Super Bowl practice, the Patriots changed a Red Zone pass route. When Patten lined up wide right deep in the Red Zone, he would most often run straight downfield for several yards and then a quick out to the sidelines. Now, in the Super Bowl, Patten would run and out-and-up. Why? Belichick saw on Rams defensive tape that cornerback Dexter McCleon bit hard on the out; if Patten turned up, McCleon would jump on the out and miss covering him deep. And so, with a 7-3 lead in the first half and the ball on the Rams 8, Brady faded back, and Patten juked to the sideline and sprinted upfield. McCleon did bite, and Brady threw him a rainbow. Patten made the catch, the Pats took a 14-3 lead -- and the rest is history.

That's why today is a little tiny red flag. But I don't worry about a Belichick team when practice is not very good one day in the middle of August.

Pittsburgh Steelers, Latrobe, Pa.

Check back soon for more of Peter King's Postcards from Camp. Or visit the archive to catch up.

 

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