FOXBORO, Mass. — There were interesting moments before, during and after Monday’s Patriots practice, and all of them paint an even uglier picture of a struggling offense.
Before New England took the field after a two-day break, head coach Bill Belichick basically admitted he could be open to hitting the reset button on offense if things get bad enough. Then, things were bad enough for two-plus hours, with the Patriots offense putting its most distressing performance yet — and that’s saying something.
When the session ended, Belichick brought the team together for a standard post-practice huddle. Afterward, the offense and defense broke off into their own huddles, but one lasted far longer than the other.
An impassioned and animated David Andrews spoke to the offense for an extended period. His frustration with what transpired during practice was evident. By the time he was done, linebackers Matthew Judon and Josh Uche already had moseyed from the defense-only huddle to their respective press podiums and spent roughly two minutes talking to reporters.
Andrews then walked over for his own news conference and, predictably, took a slew of questions about both the practice and his speech.
“You know, I said what I said, but now we’re just trying to move forward,” the Patriots center said. “Try to correct it and come out here and have a better day.”
Andrews added: “Sometimes you have downs of training camp, and, you know, gotta go in and learn from it, see what we can do better. And like I said, Come out here tomorrow, can’t let today or any day derail anything in the future. That’s just how it goes, wins and losses. We just got to stay steady. Can’t go up and down.”
After answering eight questions, Andrews abruptly thanked everyone and left the podium — something he rarely, if ever, does. Normally, a Patriots public relations staffer will call for one or two additional questions, and the player will exit after answering them. Andrews didn’t wait for that.
In a vacuum, it wasn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t an example of something that’s never happened before. In fact, we probably wouldn’t even have mentioned it on most days.
But given all the aforementioned context, it was noteworthy.
Frustrations are mounting for players on the Patriots’ offense, and some of them aren’t trying to hide it anymore. Mac Jones was visibly dejected on multiple occasions Monday. Kendrick Bourne vented on the sideline after an ugly play ended in an interception for Jalen Mills. The coaches are letting the players — especially the offensive linemen — hear it after they mess up.
Maybe the boiling point hasn’t arrived, but the simmer most certainly is here.
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