The Boston Globe - 02.08.2019

C6 Sports The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019

By Jim McBride
GLOBE STAFF
FOXBOROUGH —ChaseWin-
ovichfound himself in the right
place at the right time to do a little
alumni network-
ing.
And now he’s
got a new job.
The rookie defensive end out of
Michigan caught the attention of
TomBradyafter practice recently
and the most famous Wolverine of
them all put him right to work.
Brady needed someone to pro-
vide a little pressure — and deliver
a few glancing blows — as he got in
a little extra throwing after the fi-
nal practice horn sounded.
Winovich, who has been staying
after class regularly anyway, eager-
ly jumped in to help out. Now, as
Brady backpedals to deliver passes
to a staffer, Winovich charges at
him before hitting him with a
blocking pad.
“I’ve been getting work in after
practice every single day [and] I
just happened to be there,’’ Win-
ovich said Thursday. “We already
had kind of a [Michigan] relation-
ship. There’s a lot of veterans out

here getting extra work in [and] I

figured it was a good opportunity

to get to know him a little better

and help the team out any way I

can.’’

Brady, who said Wednesday he

wanted to “put on a few more

pounds and try to absorb the hits a

little bit more [this season],’’ won’t

take a lot of abuse in camp, but

working these drills with Winovich

could help him get used to moving

and playing with the extra weight.

While Winovich said he goes at

Brady as hard as he can, he has

stopped short of delivering any-

thing menacing with the blocking

pad.

“He wouldn’t want me to hold

anything back,’’ said Winovich.

“You can’t be in his position if

you’re not tough. He’s awesome.”

The extra sessions don’t last

very long, but Winovich acknowl-

edged “you lose track of time when

you’re having fun.’’

Welcomedchange

In an effort to change/loosen

things up,BillBelichickwill throw

out different wrinkles in practice

and one of the most popular —

units switching sides of the ball —

happened at the end of practice.

StephonGilmoreplayed quar-

terback — he was a great one back

in his high school days — for three

goal-line plays late in practice and

managed to produce one touch-

down.

Gilmore delivered a drop hand-

off toJonathanJones,whowas

just too quick for any of the offen-

sive turned defensive players to

stop. On second down, Gilmore’s

pass to flankerJamieCollinsfell

incomplete, though cornerback

MauriceHarriswas flagged for

pass interference.

On the last play, Gilmore threw

a bubble screen toDuronHarmon,

but he was stopped short of the

goal line on a nice play fromN’Keal

Harry.

“Weactuallyhadsomegood

plays drawn up,’’ said a smiling

DevinMcCourty. “We had a couple

guys who didn’t believe in what we

were doing and that’s all I’ll say.

That really hurt us as a group, but

our first play was a touchdown. Bill

makes it hard. We’ve got to go 2 for

3 [to win]. When we’ve got to score

two touchdowns out of three, I

mean, if we throw one bad pass it’s

[over]. So, maybe next year.’’

Andrewsreturns

CenterDavidAndrews, who

missed the first few days of camp,

said he “had something I was deal-

ing with” and he’s “got a lot of

work to do to catch up.’’ He was a

full participant Thursday...

Belichick reiterated that suspend-

ed receiverJoshGordon’sstatus is

a league matter... Rookie punter

JakeBaileydid some work as the

kickoff guy... One ofStephen

Gostkowski’sfield goal attempts

sailed through the upright and

landed in the media area, knocking

a laptop right out of one reporter’s

hands... Brady was revealed as

No. 6 on the NFL Network’s Top

100 players of 2019. Not sure how

official these rankings are, but

quarterbacksPatrickMahomes

(No. 4) andDrewBrees(No. 2) fin-

ished ahead of Brady, who ended

last season with Super Bowl crown

No. 6.

Jim McBride can be reached at

[email protected]. Follow

him on Twitter @globejimmcbride.

“It’s got to be a lot better, person-
ally, collectively, I think all around,”
Watson said after the offense was
dominated in practice Wednesday.
“You guys were here, you watched
it, we watched it and participated in
it. You get one opportunity a day.
You hate to come out and waste it,
so to speak.”
Like that session, Thursday’s
practice was lopsided in favor of the
defense.
Early on, a series of 11-on-11
drills was so full of mistakes that the
offense was asked to run multiple
penalty laps. The first came after
two false starts, one by Shaq Mason
and one by James Ferentz. The nail
in the casket was a botched handoff
between Brady and Sony Michel, af-
ter which the group, including
coaches, was told to run another.
When the receivers and defen-
sive backs went at it in a series of
one-on-ones, the DBs won 10 of 19.
Normally, that drill should be easier

uPATRIOTS
Continued from Page C1

on the offense. The last time some-

one completed a pass on Stephon

Gilmore feels like a distant memo-

ry; during full team drills, he’s rare-

ly even targeted.

“We’ve got a very good defense

this year,” Brady said. “Those guys

are challenging us every day. It’s

hard to complete passes on our sec-

ondary. That’s just the reality.”

It certainly seems that way. It’s

early and it’s just camp, but it will

be revealing to see how this defense

stacks up during joint practices

with the Lions and Titans over the

next two weeks and, likewise,

whether the offense looks a bit bet-

ter.

For now, buy stock in this de-

fense, which is heavy on smart, vet-

eran players who have worked to-

gether for a long time. Because of

that, they’ve bypassed some of the

normal hiccups that come early on

in camp.

“It’s different than years past

where we’ve had a new guy or two

that we’re trying to incorporate,”

said Devin McCourty. “This year we

have a lot of familiar faces.”

It never truly comes out that

way, McCourty said, but this group

can strive to “be perfect.”

One difference from years past is

that this group has mostly avoided

unforced errors in practice. They al-

so know each other’s games and the

system well enough that when the

offense shows them something new,

they can make adjustments right

then and there instead of waiting

until they get into the meeting room

after practice to go over it.

That’s just not the situation the

offense is in right now. Dorsett said

that he’s taken on more of a leader-

ship role since the receivers room is

so young and inexperienced.

“I feel like I know the offense,

know all the positions,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of new guys. We

know we’ve got a long way to go.

We’ve got to keep fighting.”

They have fought back — it’s not

as if the defense is out there against

Foxborough High — and there are

good plays worth mentioning. Un-

drafted rookie receiver Jakobi Mey-

ers had two great catches Thursday

and looks like a find, while N’Keal

Harry got over his case of the drop-

sies from Wednesday and had a very

good bounce-back day.

This includes a few checkdowns,

but Brady finished the day strong

with a touchdown pass to Dorsett

and was a respectable 14 of 19 in

11-on-11 drills.

It’s easy to take results from early

in training camp too seriously.

What they can offer, more than any

clear picture of what will be good

and what will be bad come Septem-

ber, is an idea of what different

units’ needs are and goals should

be.

Right now, the defense is striving

for perfection. As for the offense?

They still need to get to know each

other.

Nora Princiotti can be reached at

[email protected]. Follow

her on Twitter at @NoraPrinciotti.

It looked like it was going to be another day domi-

nated by the defense when Tom Brady took mat-

ters into his own hands. Shocker, right? Brady

completed his final seven passes of the day, cap-

ping it with a deep touchdown to Phillip Dorsett.

Here are some observations from Day 7 of train-

ing camp:

ROLLCALL

RTight end Lance Kendricks, who left Wednes-

day’s practice early for an undisclosed reason,

was the only active player not spotted.

RReceiver Julian Edelman (NFI), safety Nate

Ebner (PUP), and cornerback Ken Webster (PUP)

all were present but didn’t participate outside of

stretching and did the majority of their work on

the conditioning field.

RFor the second straight day, running back Rex

Burkhead, in full pads, retreated to the condition-

ing field after jogging and stretching.

INJURIES:None.

DRESSCODE:Fullpads.

CALLTOARMS

Brady’s sizzling finish (6 of 6 during a full-time,

no-huddle drill) erased most of the memories of

the earlystruggles.His lastpasswasapicture-

perfect dime in the corner of the end zone that

Dorsett soared over Jason McCourty to snag. Bra-

dy finished 14 of 19 in full-team work... Jarrett

Stidham was just 3 of 4 but had a nice three-

snap sequence midway through. The rookie com-

pleted passes to Jakobi Meyers (who jumped over

Patrick Chung and Keion Crossen to tip the ball to

himself for a TD — the play of the summer so far)

and then N’Keal Harry, who made a diving stab

for a TD. Meyers actually made another nifty

catch on the third throw but got only one foot in-

bounds... Brian Hoyer went 4 of 5, including the

first catch by Dontrelle Inman during team drills

this camp.

RECEIVERSRACE

Meyers was sensational. In addition to his above-

mentioned catches, he also made another leaping

grab over Jason McCourty on a pass from Tom

Brady. The undrafted rookie has been smooth as

silk and beat J.C. Jackson twice during one-on-

one drills... Nice bounce-back day for Harry. He

had that diving scoring strike from Brady but also

had a nice diving catch on a Hoyer rollout and fol-

lowed that up with a deep TD pass from Hoyer...

Harry beat the coverage of fellow rookie Joejuan

Williams and raised his arm in celebration after

the catch.

SECONDARYSCHOOL

Rough day for Crossen, who had outside cover-

age on that three-play sequence in which Stid-

ham targeted Meyers, Harry, and Meyers... Jack-

son had a breakup on a Brady pass to Damoun

Patterson during one-on-ones and also hung with

Meyers all the way down the field... Stephon

Gilmore has not allowed a catch during competi-

tive play this summer.

THEETLINGEXPERIMENT

Danny Etling worked his way around the field as

always, doing some throwing and catching. He

appears to be getting crisper with his cuts during

receiving drills. As always, he was the last player

off the field and made the day of some diehard

fans by signing a few autographs well after his

mates had headed for the showers and ice tubs.

ODDSANDENDS

RThe offense’s strong finish was perhaps

sparked by an ugly sequence in which three pen-

alty laps were run. First, right guard Shaq Mason

had to go for a run after a false start. On the next

play, Marcus Cannon jumped, which meant the

whole offense had to run the lap (and credit to

coach Dante Scarnecchia for finishing second).

After Bill Belichick addressed the troops, Brady

and Sony Michel mangled a handoff leading to a

fumble and, yes, another full-team lap.

REdelman, who is on NFI and had finished his

conditioning work, joined his teammates and

coaches for the lap.

RThe defense played offense and the offense

played defense late in practice. Gilmore played

quarterback and had one of those Wildcat-like

drop handoff/passes to Jonathan Jones for a

score.

RThe defense had a terrific goal line stand in

which Danny Shelton, David Parry, and Lawrence

Guy prevented rushing touchdowns by shooting

gaps.

RThere were some excellent trench battles dur-

ing the one-on-one pass-rush drills. Byron Cowart

blew past fellow rookie Hjalte Froholdt and David

Andrews pancaked Mike Pennell. Deatrich Wise

Jr. put Dan Skipper on his back with a late surge.

When both players got up, there was a split-sec-

ond stare-down before Wise gave Skipper a big

hug.

RBrady pulled the quarterback sneak, arriving to

practice via the lower-field entrance and catching

the crowd off-guard. The fans finally spotted him

and gave him his usual ovation.

RMichel was easy to spot in powder-blue-and-

white cleats.

RIt took seven practices, but a Tim Tebow No. 5

jersey was finally spotted.

RRobert Kraft took in part of practice and spent

some time with some fans.

POSTPRACTICEPORTRAITS

REtling caught a nice middle cross pass from

Stidham.

RJakob Johnson made a nice sliding catch on a

pass from Stidham before popping up and darting

down the field.

RDefensive end Trent Harris (remember that

name) was giving offensive lineman Martez Ivey

some extra work during pass-rush one-on-ones.

RBrady again worked on deep throws with Mau-

rice Harris as his receiver and Gilmore acting as a

defender but not really challenging the catch.

UPCOMINGSCHEDULE

Friday: Practice, 9:45 a.m.

Saturday:Nopractice.

Sunday: No practice; team travels to Detroit.

Monday-Wednesday: Joint practices with Lions.

JIM McBRIDE

Patriots practice report

LANE TURNER/GLOBE STAFF

Rookie defensive back A.J. Howard (left) engages with veteran running back James White during a drill at Thursday’s practice.

Rookie Winovich enjoys rush job

PATRIOTS

NOTEBOOK

ASSOCIATED PRESS
RyanKalilwasn’t done playing
football, after all.
The five-time Pro Bowl center
snapped out of re-
tirement Thursday
and agreed to
terms on a one-year
deal with the New York Jets.
The 34-year-old Kalil, who start-
ed just six games last season for
Carolina after dealing with a neck
injury, will need to pass a physical
Friday before signing his contract
with New York. Financial terms
weren’t immediately available. NFL
Network reported the deal is worth
$8.4 million.
The two-time All-Pro said all last
season that it was his final one. He
walked away from the game when
his contract expired after 12 NFL
seasons — all with the Panthers. He
apparently had a change of heart in

recent weeks and is expected to an-

chor an offensive line that had a

question mark at the center posi-

tion.JonotthanHarrisonhad been

slated to start, but he has been

mostly a backup during his six-year

career.

Newtongoingslow

CamNewtonsaid like many Car-

olina Panthers fans, he also

breathed a sigh of relief after un-

corking a 45-yard pass completion

to wide receiverCurtisSamuelon

the first day of training camp. But

the Panthers quarterback cautioned

that his rehab from offseason ar-

throscopic surgery on his throwing

shoulder remains ‘‘a work in prog-

ress.’’

‘‘I don’t want people to assume,

‘Oh, Cam is back,’ ’’ Newton said.

‘‘I’m doing a lot of work behind the

scenes to make sure that I’m able to

practice and to practice with the ca-

pabilities I know I can and the team

expects me to.’’

Newton has been held out of

team drills three times in eight days

as trainers look to ease him back in-

to action and not overload his

shoulder. The 2015 league MVP

struggled last season with shoulder

problems preventing him from

throwing more than 20 yards

downfield.

KickerDawsonretires

KickerPhilDawsonretired from

the NFL at age 44 after 20 seasons.

He spent his first 14 seasons with

the Browns and will sign a one-day

contract to ceremonially retire with

the franchise. Dawson played in

305 games — the seventh most in

league history — and ranks 11th

with 1,847 points. Dawson, who

scored 1,271 points with the

Browns, trailing only Hall of Famer

LouGrozain team history, played

with the Cardinals the last two sea-

sons...Hoursaftervisiting a hos-

pital because of a kidney stone,Vic

Fangiowon a football game. The

new coach of the Denver Broncos

saw a late interception set up rookie

JuwannWinfree’s15-yard touch-

down catch Thursday night, and his

team edged the Atlanta Falcons, 14-

10, in the Hall of Fame Game in

Canton, Ohio, to open the NFL’s

preseason... Jaguars rookie line-

backerQuincyWilliams, a third-

round draft pick who showed

enough over the last three months

to lock down a starting spot, will

miss 4-6 weeks because of a torn

meniscus in his right knee... Sea-

hawks rookie first-round pickL.J.

Collierwill be sidelined for at least a

few weeks after the defensive end

suffered a badly sprained ankle.

LANE TURNER/GLOBE STAFF

Jeremiah Slater, son of Patriots special

teams ace Matthew Slater, gets some

work in with his dad during practice.

Patriotsdefenseiswayaheadofoffense

Kalilreversesfieldonretirement,tojoinJets

NFL

NOTEBOOK