The New England Patriots made things interesting on their eighth day of training camp by holding a full-team scrimmage.
Quarterback Tom Brady led Team White, which was made up of the first-team offense and second-team defense, while Jimmy Garoppolo played quarterback for Team Blue with the second-team offense and first-team defense. Jacoby Brissett played quarterback in the second half for Team White.
Team White won 20-12. Brady went 10-of-12 with a touchdown, Garoppolo was 14-of-36 and Brissett finished 3-of-7 with a touchdown.
Here’s a drive-by-drive recap of the scrimmage.
— Brady went 4-of-4 on his first drive but was sacked by Lawrence Guy as Team White settled for a field goal.
— Garoppolo then went 1-of-3 with two handoffs as Team Blue also settled for a field goal, netting the score at 3-3.
— Wide receiver Brandin Cooks and cornerback Stephon Gilmore traded highlight plays on Brady’s next drive. Gilmore broke up a pass intended for Cooks. On the next play, Cooks went up and over Gilmore, wrestling the ball away from him for an unbelievable catch. Brady was robbed on a pass to tight end Dwayne Allen in the back of the end zone. It looked like Allen got both feet down, but it was called incomplete, and White settled for another field goal.
— Garoppolo went 2-of-5 on his next drive, and Blue was forced to punt after an incompletion to running back Dion Lewis.
— Brady went 3-of-3 on his third drive and chucked a 50-yard touchdown to wide receiver Devin Lucien over cornerback Jonathan Jones, making the score 13-3.
— Garoppolo finished out the half 1-of-2 and was forced out of bounds on a scramble while defensive end Kony Ealy brought pressure. Rookie cornerback D.J. Killings broke up a pass intended for wide receiver Austin Carr. It appeared to be an interception on first look but wasn’t counted that way.
— Garoppolo got the ball to start the second half and went 3-of-6 with completions to tight end Matt Lengel, wide receiver Tony Washington and running back Dion Lewis. Cornerback Kenny Moore broke up a pass intended for tight end Jacob Hollister on the drive. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski missed a 45-plus yard field goal.
— Jacoby Brissett took over for Brady and went 1-of-2 before White was forced to punt. Rookie defensive end Deatrich Wise brought pressure on third down.
— Garoppolo went 1-of-3 on his second drive of the second half. He had a pass to Carr broken up by free safety Jason Thompson. Blue was forced to punt.
— The first play of Brissett’s second drive was a fumbled snap recovered by Team White linebacker Trevor Bates.
— Garoppolo went 1-of-4 on the next drive and had two passes broken up by Killings on two targets to running back/wide receiver D.J. Foster. Tight end Matt Lengel also had a drop.
— Brissett should have completed a pass to Lucien, but cornerback Eric Rowe ripped out the ball. Brissett finished the drive with a scramble, with pressure by Wise, and then a strip sack by Wise.
— Garoppolo’s Team Blue had to settle for a field goal after Carr dropped a pass on third down, making the score 13-9, Team White. Garoppolo went 2-of-7 on the drive. Thompson and cornerback Justin Coleman had pass breakups.
— Team White then led 20-9 after Brissett completed a deep pass to Lucien over cornerback Will Likely. Brissett went 2-of-3 on the drive and had a pass batted down at the line by Wise.
— Garoppolo’s Team Blue cut White’s lead to 20-12 with a field goal. Garoppolo went 1-of-2. Safety Damarius Travis got his hand on an incompletion.
— Team White then went three-and-out. Wise “sacked” Brissett on third down. Defensive tackle Adam Butler also was in the backfield.
— With a chance to tie the game, Garoppolo went 2-of-4 on the last drive of the scrimmage with incompletions to Foster and Lewis.
Here are other observations from practice.
— Killings, Moore, Thompson, Wise and cornerback Cyrus Jones were stars of the scrimmage.
— Carr had trouble separating and catching contested passes from Garoppolo. Garoppolo was just 3-of-9 targeting Carr.
— Gilmore, Killings (three), Thompson (two), Moore, Coleman (two), Wise and Travis had pass breakups.
— Lucien caught two touchdowns. Team White QBs were 3-of-5 targeting him.
— Lengel and Carr both suffered drops.
— With a lack of depth at wide receiver, Foster moved from running back. He didn’t catch a single pass on four targets.
— Wise had two sacks, including a strip sack. Guy finished with one sack.
— Left tackle Nate Solder and wide receivers Matthew Slater and Cody Hollister weren’t present for the scrimmage.
— Defensive tackle Alan Branch (physically unable to perform list), linebacker Dont’a Hightower (PUP list) and offensive tackle Andrew Jelks (non-football injury list) were present in sweats but didn’t participate and went to a lower side field to work away from teammates.
— Safeties Duron Harmon and David Jones, running backs Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead, tight end James O’Shaughnessy and wide receiver Danny Amendola joined Branch, Hightower and Jelks on the lower field during drills and the scrimmage.
— Wide receivers Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman and Chris Hogan also didn’t participate in the scrimmage.
— Guard Joe Thuney didn’t finish practice. He walked off the field with a trainer.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
