Chris Hogan says Patriots offense was ‘a little bit sloppy’ against Saints
Jimmy Garoppolo and Tom Brady threw interceptions on Tuesday.
The Saints defense got the better of the Patriots offense during their first joint practice on Tuesday.
In 11-on-11’s, Tom Brady was 7 of 11 with an interception, and Garoppolo was 7 of 15 with an interception. Drew Brees only made them look worse, as he finished 21 of 25 in team drills. The Patriots offense stalled a number of times due to strong coverage from the Saints, who allowed the second-most yards per game in the NFL last season.
“It was a different look.” Hogan said after Tuesday’s practice. “We’ve been going against the same guys for a while. Once you get in front of someone, you try and learn their tendencies and different stuff like that. To be honest with you, maybe it was a little bit sloppy at the beginning. We’ll have to watch the film and correct it, and play better tomorrow.”
Julian Edelman left practice before team drills, which left Hogan as the Patriots’ top receiving option. Rob Gronkowski and Chris Harper each had two drops during team drills, and Hogan had one. Aaron Dobson seemed to struggle getting open, and the Patriots quarterbacks began checking down to running backs Brandon Bolden and James White.
Late in team drills, the coaches began blowing the play dead to enforce sacks, as defensive lineman aren’t allowed to hit the quarterback. Garoppolo took two sacks during one red zone 11-on-11 set.
“It’s just some stuff we’ve got to go back to the drawing board on,” Bolden said of their drops and offensive struggles.
Hogan also didn’t seem worried about their performance.
“It’s gonna happen,” he said. “Nothing’s gonna be perfect every single time we come out here. But that’s why we practice. We have to learn how to — if things are not going the way want them to, we’ve got to learn. Because that could happen in a game. We might not have a great quarter, or a great drive, or a great series. We want to overcome that and make some plays to counteract that sloppiness.”
It wasn’t as if the Saints out-prepared the Patriots. Saints linebacker James Laurinaitis said they didn’t study any tape on New England ahead of the joint practice. He guessed that New England hadn’t studied the Saints either.
When asked if it felt good to get interceptions from the Patriots starting quarterbacks, James Laurinaitis laughed and said: “It does. It absolutely does.”
Nate Washington, who has missed a large number of practices, finished the team drills without a catch.
“It was a good opportunity for us to see some different faces, some different looks, some different techniques,” Washington said. “I think we did a lot of good things, but obviously we just have to get on the same page and clean up some minor things.”
The Patriots will have a non-contact practice against the Saints on Wednesday. Their preseason game on Thursday should be an opportunity for redemption on both sides of the ball.
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