Joint practice part of plan for Bill
The Patriots were the obvious beneficiaries from their joint practices with the Detroit Lions in the Motor City.
The reigning Super Bowl champions opened the preseason Thursday night with a 31-3 victory over Matt Patricia’s Lions at Ford Field.
The Patriots have again scheduled joint practices with Mike Vrabel’s Tennessee Titans on Wednesday and Thursday leading up to their preseason game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville next Saturday.
The Pats are off this weekend and resume training camp Monday on the practice fields adjacent to Gillette Stadium.
Pats coach Bill Belichick has close ties to Patricia and Vrabel. Patricia was a Patriots assistant coach and defensive coordinator from 2004-17, while Vrabel played linebacker from 2001-08.
“It is a different type of preparation when both teams practice together,” Belichick said during a conference call yesterday morning. “Both teams have an equal opportunity to practice against each other and get familiar with each other.
“Instead of running plays off cards, you see the other team, what they do and there is familiarity with them as well as competing against them.”
The Patriots finished with a favorable 459-93 edge in total offense and had 26 first downs to eight by the Lions. The Patriots converted 9-of17 third downs while the Lions were 2-of-11.
Brian Hoyer, who backedup Tom Brady last season, started the game and completed 12-of-14 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.
Fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham was 14-of-24 for 179 yards and a touchdown. He did not throw a pick.
Rookie free agent Jakobi Meyers led the receiver group with six catches for 69 yards and two touchdowns.
“This is one of the few opportunities we’ll ever have to do this because it is not the way you do it in the season,” Belichick said. “We got in a lot of good one-onone work, we got a lot of individual work and we got a lot of good team work from the three days.”
Drive a Bentley
Second- year linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley made up for lost time with a strong showing against the Lions. Bentley was a disruptive factor and recorded one of the Patriots’ nine sacks.
A four-year starter at Purdue, Bentley was the Patriots fifth round pick (143rd overall) in 2018. He earned a starting job in training camp alongside veterans Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy and recorded his first NFL interception against Lions quarterback Matt Stafford in Week 3. Bentley was placed on injured reserve with a torn biceps on Sept. 26 but remained an active participant in the linebackers’ room.
“I think it is good for any player to be around the team and anyone would benefit from that even if they weren’t full participants,” said Belichick.
“Ja’Whaun is a very hardworking kid. He has a lot of responsibilities at that position in pass rushing and pass coverage and playing the run and play action passes and so forth.”
Acting Judge
Patriots assistant Joe Judge enjoyed a sound outing against the Lions as both special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach.
The Pats split ends, consisting of incumbent veterans, free agents and rookies, ran roughshod over the Lions secondary. After Meyers, first-round pick N’Keal Harry had two catches for 36 yards while Braxton Berrios ,a sixth-round selection in 2018, had three receptions for 45 yards. Free agent acquisition Maurice Harris had three catches for 27 yards and a touchdown.
“Joe does a good job and he certainly has a lot of responsibilities and he does them very well,” Belichick said of Judge.