FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Saturday practice: The Patriots will be making history this week as they begin what they hope will be a return trip to the Super Bowl.
Since the team moved its training camp to Gillette Stadium 24 years ago, never before has the first practice been on a Saturday. That is traditionally the day that draws the largest crowds, which have swelled to as many as 10,000-plus surrounding the two fields behind Gillette Stadium as the standing room only crowd sometimes spills onto the ramps overlooking the action.
So buckle up for Saturday as quarterback Drake Maye & Co. take the field for the first time (10:30 a.m. ET).
"We're back. We're back to getting into football phase," Maye said Thursday at his FlexWork Sports camp in Auburn, Massachusetts. "I think just the hunger -- of wanting to get back [to the Super Bowl]. Felt like you were close but not there yet. It's time to go back to work."
One big football game with Patriots QB Drake Maye at his @FlexWorkSports camp this morning. More than 500 campers here at the first of Maye's three events across New England. pic.twitter.com/YWUDUlRy2n
The first practice was Wednesday each of the past five summers. Prior to that, it was six straight years of Thursdays.
Midweek starts still led to significant crowds, but there is nothing like the weekend if the weather cooperates.
The range of training camp attendance last year was around 3,000 to just more than 12,000 -- with the average between 4,000 to 5,000.
"My rookie season [2014], walking out to practice for the first time, you see all those people in the stands and I was like, 'I didn't even know they did this for training camp!'" recalled running back James White, the three-time Super Bowl champion. "Then on a Saturday or Sunday, there's even more there because people are potentially off work. It makes it a really cool atmosphere."
Saturday marks the first of 13 open Patriots training camp practices this year. Admission and parking are free. Players sign autographs after practice (usually a specific position group each day), although not everyone is assured of receiving one. Highlights of this year's camp schedule include a "Pawtriots" dog adoption on opening day, and joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts (Thursday, Aug. 11, 10:15 a.m. ET) and Philadelphia Eagles (Wednesday/Thursday Aug. 19-20, 10:15 a.m. ET).