Learning curve tougher for late-starting Patriots

The players who are in camp are easing along in a process that is new for everyone as teams took the field last week for the first time in months without the benefit of team-organized workouts. How it will shake out is anyone’s guess. For the Patriots, the first couple of days covered fundamentals, said Nick Caserio, the team’s director of player personnel.

“I think we have a long way to go,’’ Caserio said. “Those first two days you want to look at as sort of an acclimation period and then the first day with pads. I think the biggest thing is where we are right now. Once you put on the pads, the focus is on the improvement and the individual techniques and the fundamentals.

“Those are the areas and those are things that if you don’t work on them on a consistent basis, on a day-to-day basis from the end of the season up until training camp, those are the things that go quickly.’’

The Patriots have had two padded/contact practices since training camp officially began last Thursday. In drills, there were botched snaps, dropped passes, and some confusion on plays. Some of the miscues were to be expected but with less time for players to learn various systems, each play matters.

“I would say probably just the overall conditioning is probably not where it needs to be, but it’s part of the process and we’re going to work as hard as we can to get our players to that [level],’’ Caserio said. “Our expectations aren’t going to change; we are going to demand the same things that we normally demand of them and they understand that. And it’s their job to work on things on their own when they can.

“I think the fundamentals and the individual techniques and the communication, those are the things that I think we’re a little bit of a ways off on right now and hopefully that will improve the more we’re out there and the more the players are working with one another.’’