Morning Sports Update
The joint practice showcased an early example of Williams’s dominance in the 2024 season.
Milton Williams enjoyed his only other trip to New England: As part of his introduction to the Patriots after officially signing his four-year $104 million deal, defensive tackle Milton Williams stopped by the team’s “Patriots Unfiltered” podcast.
Among a plethora of topics covered during the interview, Williams — who played with the Super Bowl-winning Eagles in 2024 — was eventually asked if he was familiar with the area, or if he had ever visited New England prior to his recent free agent experience.
“We practiced against you guys before the season last year,” Williams said, recalling his successful time with Philadelphia.
The topic quickly diverged onto the subject of the Patriots-Eagles joint practice, a moment that in retrospect was an early indication of the two teams’ diverging destinies. As the panel of analysts agreed, the disparity in talent between the 4-13 Patriots and 14-3 Eagles was clear.
“That was a college team against a pro team that day,” admitted co-host Paul Perillo.
“I don’t like to gloat, but I was going crazy,” Williams acknowledged. The hosts agreed that New England’s offense had been completely unable to execute given the relenless pass rush, spearheaded by Williams and others on the Philadelphia defensive line.
Williams, who struck a humble tone in his official press conference — telling reporters, “Hard work will never betray you” — couldn’t resist a joke as he thought back to his performance against his new team.
“We were getting after it, for sure,” he said of the joint practice. “Once my agent told me that [the Patriots] were interested, I was like, ‘They probably got that tape.’”
New Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel — whether in reference to the joint practice, or perhaps Williams’ performance in Super Bowl LIX (in which he sacked Patrick Mahomes twice), seemed to echo that analysis.
“There’s a high ceiling and a great vision about the person, the effort, the skillset, the speed in which he plays,” Vrabel said of Williams. “There’s power. Certainly, there’s an aggressiveness. To be able to add him to our defensive line is something that was really exciting.”
Trivia: Milton Williams was a third-round pick by the Eagles in the 2021 NFL Draft. Who was the first defensive tackle selected that year?
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: He was drafted out of Alabama.
Scores and schedule:
The Bruins lost to the Senators 6-3 on Thursday. Boston will host the Lightning tomorrow at TD Garden at 7 p.m.
Tonight, the Celtics face the Heat in Miami at 7 p.m.
More from Boston.com:
The future is bright in Boston: The “Big Three” of Red Sox prospects — Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, and Roman Anthony — all hit home runs in the Spring Breakout game on Thursday.
On this day: In 1998, Harvard women’s basketball became the first No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, miraculously overcoming Stanford 71-67.
Daily highlight: While Bruins fans inevitably wish this would’ve happened against another team, former Boston goaltender Linus Ullmark made one of the saves of the season on Thursday.
Trivia answer: Christian Barmore
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
