After a light day of work on Friday, Mike Vrabel turned up the intensity a bit Saturday morning as the Patriots went through their most vigorous workout of camp thus far. The players are still in shorts and helmets, so there was no contact to judge. But the two-hour long workout featured extended team periods plus a 7-on-7 segment, marking the most reps the offense and defense have taken against one another this summer.
In terms of performance, there were likely several aspects of the reps that had each side both excited and disappointed. Offensively, Drake Maye showed great mobility and threw the ball well for the most part. Many of his attempts were of the downfield variety, so the completion percentage did not approach his near-perfect numbers from the first two days. But the degree of difficulty on some of the connections was also much higher.
A case in point came on what was likely the play of camp thus far. Maye got immediate pressure that forced him to scramble out of the pocket to his right. DeMario Douglas recognized his quarterback had extended the play and raced downfield past Christian Gonzalez and Kyle Dugger. Maye’s bomb hit Douglas in stride for the would-be touchdown.
It was exactly the kind of play Maye discussed earlier in the week when asked about the things he felt he needed to work on the most.
“I think just kind of remaining a passer longer when I scramble, I think that’s big,” Maye said on Wednesday. “I’m kind of getting outside the pocket, remaining a passer longer, hoping for some big plays, scramble plays and just making the defense … I feel like I had times last year where I had some guys deep that I may have missed or took off running instead. So, just trying to remain a passer and just keep trying to work on footwork.”