The Patriots had fun (!) watching 300-pound Isaiah Wynn catch a punt. Let’s break it down

Bill Belichick laughing? What bizarro world is this?

The notoriously miserable New England Patriots ended practice Monday with something fun, believe it or not. Even Bill Belichick cracked a smile.

In front of a crowd of Patriots fans who showed up to training camp, the Patriots’ first-round rookie Isaiah Wynn tried to field a punt ... and completely goofed. It cracked up everyone, including Belichick. Wynn asked for a second chance and — to the delight of the crowd — made the catch.

Wynn’s successful grab earned the Patriots two curfew-free nights, so Belichick was being pretty merciful when he allowed for a second chance.

Let’s break the whole thing down:

1. Wynn had perfect form the first time until he jumped for no reason

With the punt descending, Wynn judged the ball well, got underneath it, set a solid base and looked ready to make the play.

His elbows are a little far apart, but it looked like Wynn was prepared.

And then...

Nooooooo.

Just bend your knees and come down with the ball. There’s no reason to go up for it.

2. Did Gronk just get a back massage out of nowhere?

Rob Gronkowski was among the many players asking Belichick to give Wynn another shot. And then, for no real reason, a coach or trainer or equipment manager or some other kind of guy who would be wearing a hat in practice comes over and starts giving Gronk what looks like a one-handed back massage:

My first thought was that he was tucking in the tag on Gronk’s shirt. But it doesn’t look like his tag is sticking up and it didn’t look like our coach/trainer/manager guy had a vantage point to notice anyway.

So what gives here? Gronk puts his arm up and the Patriots have someone on hand to immediately give him an upper-back knuckles rub?

3. Belichick is smiling, but the Patriots still don’t fully trust it

You don’t see Belichick smile often. So it makes sense that even when he’s in a good mood, there’s still a solid two-yard halo around him with players staying out of his way.

That’s probably for the best. You don’t mess with a good thing.

4. Wynn gets some notes from Julian Edelman

It looks like Edelman’s advice to Wynn is to keep the elbows together.

Presumably, he also told Wynn to keep his damn feet on the ground.

5. Not ideal, but much better

The ball sneaks up on him a little bit, but Wynn learns from his mistakes. He keeps his feet on the ground, his elbows close to his chest, and makes the grab even though it hits his chest first.

Good enough.

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Earlier in the offseason, the Patriots got some flak from NFL players outside of New England who said nothing about being a member of the team is fun. Former Patriots linebacker Cassius Marsh, who’s now with the 49ers, said it was such a drag that he considered quitting football.

Some former Patriots players were smug about the complaints:

But here we are, two months later, and the Patriots are yucking it up in practice. Is Belichick losing his edge? Is being a Patriots player a little less miserable than we’ve been led to believe? Does any of this matter? Probably not.