Patriots OTA Update: “Working Extremely Hard”
While the Cavaliers and the Warriors trade off nights of each looking like they could use a water bottle of Michael Jordan’s secret stuff, the Patriots are back to the grind at OTAs. And according to Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, even with Tom Brady’s suspension appeal on tap, it’s business as usual and these aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
In an interview with the Boston Herald’s Jeff Howe, McDaniels talked about the suspension’s impact on OTAs so far, saying “It hasn’t changed anything for us. We’re doing the same thing we would have always done. This is a time of year when you want to try to let everybody have an opportunity to rep, make mistakes, learn from them, get better, and hopefully come into training camp here in another month and a half and have an opportunity to compete on an even playing field.”
There’s two ways to read into this. One, Howe goes on to say that Tom Brady went 11 for 12 in seven-on-seven non-contact drills on Thursday, and so far is 59 of 82 overall, which is to say, he’s been the same giving-the-middle-finger-to-Father-Time quarterback archetype he’s always been.
The flip side to that is, it’s worth noting that McDaniels specifically mentions people making mistakes and learning from them, which, to read into it a bit, means “Don’t spit your beer out when you read that Jimmy Garoppolo threw a pick at OTAs this week”.
McDaniels went on to say “He’s the same Tom Brady I’ve always had a chance to coach at this time of year. He’s working extremely hard. He’s got a great attitude. He’s had a very good spring, a very positive influence on our offense and our team. He is doing everything he can every day to get better. Nothing different than every year I’ve had a chance to work with him in the past.”
Moving on to Garoppolo’s progress, Josh explains that “In Jimmy’s situation, there are no bad days. We’re either going to get better from some mistakes we made or we’re going to make progress and be happy about that…He is making decisions quicker. He is more sure of what to do. And at the same time, there’s not a day that goes by that he doesn’t make mistakes that we can correct and try to improve his play off of, so I’m pleased with what his attitude has been, and his work ethic has always been great. I think we’re having a positive spring.”
There’s a lot of coach-speak in there, sure, but compared to what Bill Belichick normally offers up to the press, that’s a dang goldmine of information by comparison, and a pretty encouraging one at that.
No word yet on whether they’re working on some more it’s-a-wide-receiver-screen-oh-wait-Edelman-is-slinging-the-rock-downfield plays, but we can dream.