Patriots Flashback: 2008 Letter From Camp

In 2008, I wrote a descriptive account of training camp in Foxboro. In honor of today being the final day of 2017 camp open to fans, we’re posting a link to that piece here.

A few highlights include references to present and past players, e.g.:

2:42 p.m. – A horn sounds. Offense stays on the near field while the defense moves to the other. During full team offensive drills, Brady hands off to Laurence Maroney against a scout team defense to give the linemen a look. Rookie QB Kevin O’Connell plays safety. I hope this is the only situation where that’s true, for everyone’s sake.

Some observations proved ominous:

4:18 p.m. – Whistle. Two minute drills. Brady moves the offense along with help from Moss, Jackson and Benjamin Watson. Everything stops as (Chad) Jackson fails to run a route. Sounds like a miscommunication, with which the coaches are not pleased. Gaffney converts a fourth down with a catch along the sideline. Time runs out. On the way back to the opposite 20-yard line, Brady walks with Jackson and talks to him. I’m going to assume that’s a positive sign.

Oh, well. Kind of reminds me of the positive signs from receiver Robert Ortiz and defensive back Jonathan Wilhite. Training camp does not always provide the best scouting opportunities, I suppose. (For the other side of things, see also: rookies BenJarvus Green-Ellis and Jerod Mayo looking lackluster in one-on-ones.)

Enjoy the flashback. We’ll post our Thursday Observations later this week.