EAGAN, Minn. — Mike Vrabel came out of the New England Patriots’ first joint practice in Minnesota mostly optimistic.
Sure, the offense struggled as the O-line got worked and receivers struggled to get open, but second-year quarterback Drake Maye kept his cool against the league’s most complex defense and put his team in the right spots while leaning on rookie TreVeyon Henderson for big plays.
“It’s easy to go into a blender when you’re seeing a bunch of this stuff and scrambling and turning one less-than-favorable play into a real s— storm,” Vrabel said. “I didn’t see that (from Maye).”
Besides, despite the offensive struggles, Vrabel could walk away from Wednesday’s practice in a decent mood because the other side of the ball was so good.
Based on the first three weeks of practice, the Patriots will have to lean on their defense. That’s where they spent the most money this offseason to revamp the roster. That’s where more talent resides. That’s supposed to be their strength, buying time for the offense to sort things out with two rookies on the left side of the line and a young quarterback learning a new scheme.
But the second joint practice this week threatened to strip the confidence that came from the defense’s recent momentum. In short, the second of two sessions with the Vikings yielded the Patriots’ worst practice of the summer.
Yes, the offense struggled again. Maye was pressured so often, it might’ve been easier to chart the few dropbacks that came with a clean pocket. The unit was mostly forced to dink and dunk its way around since the O-line didn’t block well and the receivers struggled to get open — and, in DeMario Douglas’ case, dropped passes.
But that’s not the real concern coming out of the last two days. The offense was expected to struggle against the complex and talented Vikings group that Brian Flores oversees.
Instead, the real worry is the way the defense played Thursday. J.J. McCarthy, Minnesota’s young quarterback who had struggled against his own defense, suddenly looked like a star against New England. In full team drills, he completed 17 of 20 passes for six touchdowns.
And that wasn’t all. Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell shouted out his team’s success in the running game, too.
As we’ve said multiple times in recent days, it’s unwise to put too much stock into any one practice. But since the league-wide trend began of de-emphasizing preseason games, these joint practices have become the best checkpoint for how a team is faring as the season approaches.
On Wednesday, the Patriots put pressure on McCarthy and disrupted him to the point that it mostly shut down the Vikings offense. On Thursday, however, McCarthy had plenty of time in the pocket.
That might be what we get from the New England pass rush this season: some solid days where things click, but not enough talent across the board to be consistently good.
In the secondary, the Pats were beaten all over the field. Tight end T.J. Hockenson was a matchup nightmare and frequently beat cornerback Marcus Jones. Receiver Jordan Addison gave them fits. The Vikings even hit their running backs for some nice gains. Sure, the Pats were without Christian Gonzalez, but the Vikings were without Justin Jefferson.
Beyond that, it’ll be interesting to see what New England does at safety. Jabrill Peppers was absent from Thursday’s practice, but even then, Kyle Dugger didn’t crack the starting lineup. The 29-year-old safety who could once make a case as being the best player on the team is now buried on the depth chart. Jaylinn Hawkins and fourth-round pick Craig Woodson seem to be ahead of Dugger for playing time. Peppers is too.
Sixteen months after the Patriots signed Dugger to a four-year extension, that contract has already aged poorly. And there’s not a lot that the Pats can do to get out of it this year. If they cut him, they’d incur more than $14 million in dead money with just $1 million in cap savings. And it’s not like they need additional cap space right now.
What does Dugger need to do better? “I think just making sure that he’s where he needs to be and understanding the coverage concepts and everything we do,” Vrabel said.
If the Patriots coaches don’t think he’s one of their best options, fine. But the defense can’t play like it did on Thursday.
After ranking last in the NFL in sacks a year ago, the franchise’s decision-makers understood they couldn’t completely fix the pass rush in one offseason. So their plan was to get better on the interior. Let Milton Williams and Christian Barmore go to work there and hope to get something out of the patchwork of edge rushers.
This offseason, though, the Vikings invested in the interior of their O-line (they got rid of Garrett Bradbury, now the Patriots’ starting center), and that unit showed up on Thursday against New England’s interior rush.
With little pressure, McCarthy had plenty of time to pick apart the defense. And in fairness to him, some of his throws were impressive. But the Patriots also made it way too easy on him.
This isn’t the end of the world for the Patriots defense. O’Connell runs one of the best offensive schemes in the NFL. Their O-line is good. Their running backs are good. Their pass catchers are good, even without Jefferson. So this was always going to be a tough challenge, even if McCarthy hadn’t looked great entering these practices.
But with an offense that is probably going to be up and down, the Patriots need to rely on their defense. And to do that, they need a lot more than what they put on the field Thursday.
