The Patriots have had three weeks of training camp practices leading up to their preseason opener against the Commanders on Friday night. It will be the first chance to see what the new regime led by Mike Vrabel has accomplished with the team so far, and by what has already been witnessed, it's clear they are far ahead of where they were just last summer.
The first joint practice the Patriots had in 2024 was with the Eagles, who were coming off a near-Super Bowl run once again. It was expected to be a competitive practice session, only for New England to be utterly embarrassed in more ways than one.
That wasn't the case with the Commanders on Thursday, but things were a bit chippy between the teams. It could lead to what we see during the game, yet we now know that the Washington starters will not be taking the field.
While it gives the Patriots a bit of a break for the opening preseason game, it also means that Vrabel and Co. won't have the opportunity to get a legitimate look at what the team can accomplish against a real NFL team just yet.
The Patriots will have to wait for a real test of where there team is at this preseason
It's not unusual for the starters of an NFL team to sit out for the first game of the preseason, if not every game. So, hearing Commanders' head coach Dan Quinn state that Jayden Daniels and the rest of the starters won't be suiting up isn't shocking.
However, that is not expected to be the case with the Patriots, as Vrabel stated that all healthy players will have some time on the field during the game. How long that will be and who all that entails is yet to be seen, but it's not a terrible idea to give as many players as possible some game time.
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The most unfortunate aspect is the inability to see Patriots starters perform against other starters in a real game. That will have to wait until maybe next week against the Vikings or their final matchup against the Giants.
Hopefully, we'll get the chance to see that at some point before the season begins, as going into Week 1 almost blind. Practices can only tell you so much, so fans will need to keep their fingers crossed that the team will have the opportunity over the next two weeks.
For now, we can just be excited that Patriots football is back, even if it's not exactly the kind of game we want to see.