5 takeaways from Patriots initial training camp practices

Wednesday’s opening session was the best of the bunch for the offense with multiple touchdowns from DeVante Parker and others that got the crowd going, but the following three practices were far more uneven for the unit. With extensive work in the red zone and tight throwing windows, the passing offense has leaned heavily into fade passing plays aimed for the back corner of the end zone. Sometimes they’ve hit, sometimes they’ve been broken up, but each and every one feels like a 50-50 ball with both sides having a chance to come down with it. Otherwise targets are not getting open, forcing Mac to scramble.

With the advent of pads and the kind of practices that more closely resemble real football, we’ll get a much better sense of the offense’s capabilities next week, but thus far they look like a work in progress that is still looking for a practice where it starts to really click. Mac was noticeably frustrated as he left the field on Saturday afternoon, setting the stage for an important upcoming week of practices.

There’s of course a flip side to the offense’s struggles, which is the consistently scrappy defensive performances. Even with a liberal rotation of players, the defense has gotten the better of the offense through the start of camp, even if the defense did end up losing the final plays of Thursday’s and Friday’s practices with pushups on the line. Saturday’s session didn’t see a repeat, as Kyle Dugger’s probable pick-six and Marcus Jones’ pass defense on a speed out capped off the defense’s best day and sent the offense to the ground for pushups.

Is the defense, with multiple new potential starters, legit? Nothing will be more telling than when the pads come on and the real live battles begin on the field. But even with a mix of newcomers and youngsters, the defense has thus far looked ready for what the offense has thrown at them.

With quite a few starting spots open, it’s…