“Big emphasis on two-minute today. You hope you don’t have to go 11 plays, but guys are just battling through adversity,” Brissett said. “Guys making plays in the end. Those are things we are going to need throughout the season. Lot of guys on that drive stepped up.”
To Brissett’s point, the touchdown drive in the two-minute drill did have a few snafus. There was at least one false start penalty, and the time between plays dragged a bit—in real-time, the starting offense was out there a while. Still, you can’t argue with the play execution itself.
It’s not unusual for offensive coaches in the West Coast system, like offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, to prioritize execution over efficiency in practice. Compared to a Belichick practice, there are fewer plays, while Friday was the first real situational period where the objective was to string a game-like drive together.
There’s also the added context that the defense was missing multiple starters, with safety Jabrill Peppers (limited), CB Marcus Jones, and DT Christian Barmore (blood clots) unavailable. Although we all want to see progress from the offense, some might read this as a reason to panic about the defense. It’s fair to question the pass-rush talent without Barmore and the Pats cornerback depth behind starting duo Christian Gonzalez and Jonathan Jones.
Based on league-wide analysis, which sometimes is off-base, the Patriots aren’t expected to have a dynamic receiving corps, while the offensive line might not be a strong suit either. On Friday, the quarterbacks had time to deliver to open receivers downfield, so what gives on defense?
From this perspective, the secondary should come together when their starting safety tandem of Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers is out there. However, the loss of Barmore, who gave them a legit interior presence to play off Judon, has been felt in the three fully padded practices.
Offensively, these early…
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