Patriots minicamp: Defense stands up to Tom Brady

FOXBORO – Tom Brady reintroduced himself to the Patriots defense on Tuesday with an array of deep passes. After carving up the secondary, the quarterback saw a different beast on the field come Wednesday.

The Patriots defense made a stand in the second day of minicamp. Although Brady would get his licks in, the team’s secondary made a handful of plays during this competitive practice.

Ultimately, Brady finished 8/14 in 11-on-11s and 4/5 in 7-on-7s, but it [...]

FOXBORO – Tom Brady reintroduced himself to the Patriots defense on Tuesday with an array of deep passes. After carving up the secondary, the quarterback saw a different beast on the field come Wednesday.

The Patriots defense made a stand in the second day of minicamp. Although Brady would get his licks in, the team’s secondary made a handful of plays during this competitive practice.

Ultimately, Brady finished 8/14 in 11-on-11s and 4/5 in 7-on-7s, but it didn’t come easy. The first three passes the quarterback threw in full-team drills fell incomplete. One was also nearly intercepted as Dont’a Hightower tipped a ball at the line of scrimmage. At the end of the day, Hightower, Stephon Gilmore, Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon all deflected a Brady pass.

Brian Hoyer felt the same wrath from the defense. The backup quarterback went 3/3 in 7-on-7s and finished 6/9 in 11-on-11s. He was intercepted by Jordan Richards. Ryan Lewis also deflected a pass intended for Phillip Dorsett.

In case you were wonder, Rob Gronkowski is still having fun. The tight end continued to scream shout and high-step all over the field. The best moment in practice happened during a red-zone drill. After coming down with a touchdown catch over Patrick Chung, Gronkowski threw the ball into a tree on the sideline. The throw was an absolute laser.

Jacob Hollister continues to stand out. The backup tight end looks bigger from his rookie season.  He made a couple of nice grabs on Wednesday – one over Harmon and another on Devin McCourty. Backup tight end Will Tye also made a nice 1-handed grab.

Not all went well for all Patriots on this day. At one point, offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia unloaded on Trent Brown and Isaiah Wynn after the pair messed up a blocking assignment during a run play. They were pulled from the line, screamed at and then returned – only be yelled at some more before making the proper corrections.

The Patriots were without Malcolm Mitchell, David Jones, Brandon Bolden, Kenny Britt and Joe Thuney. Britt missed practice after suffering what appeared to be a hamstring injury on Tuesday. Jacob Hollister and Cody Hollister both returned to the field.

Limited on Wednesday was Jonathan Jones, Cyrus Jones, Nate Ebner, Marcus Cannon, Malcom Brown and Braxton Berrios. Brown and Wynn also weren’t full participants.

The Patriots wrap up minicamp on Thursday.