Practice with Pats will offer stout challenge
JACKSONVILLE — In nine training-camp practices, Jaguars rookie running back Leonard Fournette displayed quick-cutting ability, power running and passcatching skills.
But all of it has come only against his teammates. Starting today, Fournette and the Jaguars will get a much stiffer test to measure their progress.
They will participate in the first of two joint practices in full pads with the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots before opening the preseason against them on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.
Like most of the Jaguars’ players, Fournette is looking forward to the joint practices.
“I think it’s good for us personally because we get to see how a Super Bowl team practices, how they work and maybe we can get something from that,” Fournette said. “For me personally, it’s great going out there and seeing a lot of guys who I played with at LSU who are there right now. It should be exciting for us to get better.’’
Jaguars coach Doug Marrone expects for his team to be challenged. The Patriots are coming off a 14-2 regular season and Super Bowl LI victory against the Atlanta Falcons.
The Jaguars haven’t made the postseason since 2007.
Still, Marrone wants to see if his offensive line can physically challenge the Patriots’ defensive front during passrush drills and if his receivers will be able to get separation in press coverage against New England’s tough secondary.
And, of course, plenty of eyes will be on quarterback Blake Bortles to see if he can consistently connect with his receivers and avoid turnovers.
However, the biggest challenge facing the Jaguars in the joint practices is expected to be their defense, which will have to contend with quarterback Tom Brady, who turned 40 last week.
Brady, who has guided the Patriots to five Super Bowl victories, which includes last February’s game when he led his team to 31 unanswered points in an epic comeback to stun the Atlanta Falcons 34-28 in overtime. In 2016, Brady threw 28 touchdown passes while completing 67.4 percent of his passes.
“Obviously, Tom Brady, that name just holds weight by itself,” Jaguars middle linebacker Myles Jack said. “So to line up and see him probably look me in the eye and make a check. That’s probably going to be a surreal moment. Yeah, it’ll definitely be cool if they even line him up out there to see him out there.”
Marrone said the franchise agreed to face the Patriots in joint practices for the opportunity to work against the best team in the NFL to see where they are and try to improve. Since the start of camp, Marrone has put his players through an intense camp that included five consecutive days in full pads last week.
“I think there are a lot of pluses,” Marrone said about the joint practices. “It helps to kind of break up the monotony of camp, where you are competing against the same players on your team. Now you got to go out and compete against different players and different schemes. And sometimes those schemes can show different skill sets.’’