NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It’s a summer of reunions for the New England Patriots.
After last week’s bro down with Lions head coach Matt Patricia, wide receiver Danny Amendola, defensive end Trey Flowers, safety Tavon Wilson, et. al in Detroit, the Patriots joined the Titans for joint practices in Tennessee this week. Before, during and after practice, Patriots veterans were spotted catching up with — or chirping — Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, running back Dion Lewis, wide receiver Cody Hollister and cornerbacks Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan.
Ryan was excited for the challenge of facing off against quarterback Tom Brady again, despite some new faces at wide receiver.
“Whenever he’s out there, you’ve got to be on high alert, obviously,” Ryan said. “It was good competition today. It was hot. I thought we brought great energy. It was physical, but he definitely made some good throws. There’s no surprise he’s still pretty good.”
It seems Brady still knows Ryan’s tendencies from their four seasons as teammates in New England.
“He told me he’s going to know every play I was blitzing today,” Ryan said. “He was pretty much right on most of them. I got him on one. I do want to say that on record.
“But he’s as sharp as ever, and he makes us better. I think it was competitive today. I think we made it tough on him today, but I think he made it tough on us too.”
Brady went 14-of-17 in 11-on-11s and 5-of-7 in 7-on-7s on Wednesday. And that was despite the fact that Brady was missing wideouts Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett, Maurice Harris, Cameron Meredith and Demaryius Thomas and tight ends Stephen Anderson and Matt LaCosse. That led receivers like Damoun Patterson, Gunner Olszewski and Ryan Davis to take first-team reps.
Edelman is on the non-football injury list with a broken thumb. Ryan found the receiver’s injury, “timely.”
“I wanted the squirrel out there, but he took a couple weeks off, I guess,” Ryan said.
Edelman and Ryan were known to exchange some trash talk during their days together with the Patriots. It’s good to see that’s continued now that they’re no longer on the same side.
