Mac Jones surveyed the field from the pocket, found Jonnu Smith running on a short crossing route and fired. Smith snared it and strolled into the end zone, eliciting cheers from the Patriots season ticketholders lining the stands at Gillette Stadium for the team’s in-stadium practice.
You’ll want to hold on to the last part of that paragraph more than anything else. That throw, along with just about every other snap, took place at around a quarter of the speed it normally would during the team’s training camp practices. No one was in pads, either.
Let’s face it: the on-field action at Gillette Stadium Friday night wasn’t the story.