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Sign of the times? Eagles vet points out difference at Patriots camp originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Brandon Graham claims he noticed the change right away.
The Philadelphia Eagles hit the practice fields outside Gillette Stadium on Tuesday for a joint practice with the New England Patriots. While this was the teams’ fourth joint practice since 2013, Tuesday marked the Eagles’ first trip to Foxboro since 2014.
And according to Graham, a lot has changed since then.
“We didn’t hear too much ‘rah-rah’ (from Patriots fans),” the veteran Eagles defensive end told reporters after Tuesday’s session.
Graham recalled Patriots fans giving quarterback Tom Brady a hero’s welcome when he came onto the field for those 2014 joint practices, and suggested the crowd was a bit smaller outside Gillette Stadium this time around.
“When (Tom) Brady came out, it was a standing O just for practice,” Graham said. “I know for sure when I was here last time, that’s what we got. It was an even bigger crowd than this.”
Patriots training camp practices were must-see events during much of Brady’s Patriots tenure, with fans often arriving hours before the gates opened and lining up to see the Super Bowl champion in action.
Brady left the team in 2020, however, and New England has cycled through multiple starting quarterbacks while going 29-38 in that span with zero playoff wins. The result is a product with considerably less entertainment value, which is reflected in a relative lack of buzz at 2024 camp, even with a first-round rookie quarterback taking the field for the first time in Drake Maye.
“The level of excitement surrounding Day 1 of Patriots training camp, as the team ushers in a new era led by head coach Jerod Mayo, seemed to be muted at times,” our Patriots Insider Phil Perry wrote after the first day of training camp on July 24.
That “muted” level of excitement is to be expected for a team coming off a 4-13 season with a noticeable lack of marquee offensive players. All hope isn’t…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sign-times-eagles-vet-points-185324823.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-08-13 18:53:24
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