Patriots Training Camp Blog: Brady On Slow Start, Ochocinco
FOXBORO (CBS) - Patriots quarterback Tom Brady spoke to the media on Friday after practice and he expressed a bit of frustration about how camp is going so far.
The Pats as a whole feel way behind. Tom expressed that sentiment.
"It's been quite a bit different," Brady said. "There's a lot of work to be done, in all honesty. We've missed a lot of practices this spring, we missed a lot of practices this summer. The time we have on the field is so valuable. We can't afford to make mistakes and get behind because we're already behind. There's a lot of ground to make up."
Brady also said, this is a very tough year for the rookies. With no off-season practices, the first year players have had to try and get up to speed on the fly and that is a horrible learning tool.
"The learning curve has to be so fast," Brady said. "You can't come out here and have a bad practice, because look, you don't have many of them. We're on the field for two-and-a-half, three hours, but it goes fast out here. Today, we did a little more. Finally we're getting into goal-line. In the spring time, in a normal next year, our whole goal-line package will be installed. Just now guys are doing it for the first time. It takes a lot. Guys are going to have to do a lot of extra work."
On Ochocinco
Brady has had a little over a week to work with Chad Ochocinco and his first impressions have been positive.
"It's been fun," Brady said. "The thing I love about him is that he's very competitive and he wants to do the right thing. He's been in one offense for a long time, so to try to come to a new offense and learn everything we do -- formations, motions, details of our route tree -- it's challenging for anybody. To do it on such short notice is another thing. He's working hard at it and we're working hard to be on the same page. We're making improvements and we still have quite a ways to go."
Now, one noticeable in camp has been the dropped passes and Chad Ochocinco has been leading the way.
At last count, he was up to 15 and some of them have been wide open plays. This was something that plagued Chad last year in Cincinnati and many people think this is becoming a trend. Brady says though he still has confidence in his new receiver.
"No, I think that's just part of training camp," Brady responded. "You just have good days and you have bad days. Like I said, the first game isn't in a couple days. There is time to build toward that. No one wants to drop passes, miss blocks, throw interceptions, but we do it, we learn from it, and then hopefully you move forward with less of those the days, and better days. The consistency is always what you're looking for."
Gostkowski A Go
Yesterday we got a chance to talk to special teams coach Scott O'Brien and he told us Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski is a go.
"He has no limitations," special teams coach Scott O'Brien said Friday. "He's going through his schedule. Every day there is a certain number of kicks that he would normally do. Every specialist tries to get a number of quality kicks after they warm up, which requires a lot of other kicks just to get ready to perform. He's had his numbers and he's increasing that like he would any time."
It's good to see Stephen out there and back to his kicking duties. He is a very valuable member of the special teams unit and coming back from a right quad tear could be tough. He seems to be fine.
Patriots Contracts
We finally got the lastest amounts for some of the contracts signed by the players. BenJarvus Green-Ellis signed a one year deal worth 1.83 million. Green-Ellis was a restricted free agent and those numbers were the ones filed with the NFL players association.
Also on the contract front, defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth is currently listed with a base salary of $5.4 million in 2011, while receiver Chad Ochocinco is listed with a base salary of $6 million. At this time, Ochocinco's contract expires after the 2011 season, but it's possible the extension the sides agreed to has yet to be filed and/or processed by the league.
Faulk, Light On Pup List
Left tackle Matt Light and running back Kevin Faulk have been placed on the active Physically Unable to Perform list, aka PUP. This is now starting to make sense. Both players were eligible to practice on Thursday and both were held out. By putting them on the PUP list means they can practice at any time, it also leaves the possibility that they can open the season on the PUP list, which would sideline them for a minimum of 6 weeks.
Light is coming off shoulder surgery and Kevin Faulk is coming back from and ACL tear.
Tom Brady said he could not wait for Light to get back in the mix and when he came to Kevin Faulk, he had only glowing things to say.
"Kevin is an incredible player, person, teammate, friend. He's one of the greatest running backs I've ever played with. He's everything you look for in a player, so to get him back is huge for this team," Brady said. "His leadership ability, his work ethic – he wants to be out here. He worked so hard to come back from his knee injury, which certainly is not an easy thing to. It's a tough injury. He works harder than anybody. It will be fun when he gets out here playing with us. I know he's bored as can be, sitting in there, not being able to do what he really wants to be able do."
