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Practice participants

Once again, Matt Light was not on the field for the media portion of practice. The tackle was on the injury list yesterday with a knee injury, though he was in the locker room today, which is usually a sign that things aren't that serious.

Once again tight end David Thomas and safety James Sanders were in red no-contact jerseys. And we forgot to report yesterday that rookie slash Willie Andrews is back in a blue (defense) jersey after wearing a white (offense) jersey since the final week or so of training camp.

Practice squad linebacker Corey Mays was in a yellow scout team jersey with the number 51 on it -- the number of Broncos' special-teams standout Keith Burns.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Belichick's briefing

Hey all --

Bill Belichick began his morning presser by saying that his team is "plugging along on Denver, doing situational stuff today. The more you look at `em (on tape), the better they look, which is never a good sign."

With New England playing a lot of 4-3 against the Jets as opposed to the 3-4, Belichick was asked how he determines when to use which scheme.

"You have to take a lot of things into consideration: the other team's personnel, the other team's scheme and maybe how you think they'll try to play you which might be different than the way they try to play someone else. And at the same time maybe look at what you have available, what players you have, what kind of flexibility they have. So all those things are a factor in any game-plan decision."

The offensive line was discussed in detail from its age -- Stephen Neal, who doesn't turn 30 until Oct. 9, is the oldest in the bunch -- to its speed and whether the group has benefitted from going against a defensive line as talented as the Pats' every day in practice.

"It's been a seven-year process," Belichick said. "Is Steve Neal the oldest guy? That's a scary thought, with only five years playing experience. Yeah, they're young, they're realtively healthy in terms of their career, they've been able to play together for a while."

Belichick spoke at length about his coaching opponent this week, Mike Shanahan, in a show of admiration that couldn't have been any more different than the way he spoke about Eric Mangini last week. Part of what Belichick admires about Shanahan, he said, is his aggressiveness on the field and with personnel decisions. Part of his unpredicibility -- like in last week's game with Kansas City, when the Broncos ran a reverse on fourth-and-one for a big gain -- is what makes him so hard to game-plan for.

And speaking about Ty Warren, Belichick gave him a the utmost complement.

"He's a total team player. He's been very receptive and diligent about his role in the kicking game. We'd like to use him more than we have, but we can't because of his role on the defense. He's the type of guy you'd like to have out there for every play."

We're off to practice; be back with an update.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Locker room hijinks

Toward the end of an otherwise uneventful media session, Rodney Harrison grabbed the microphone from WHDH's Dave Briggs and started to interview fellow DB Ellis Hobbs. It was pretty funny, but became laugh-out-loud when Artrell Hawkins came up behind them and said "Talk about me, talk about me." So when Harrison asked, Hobbs went after Hawkins' wardrobe, saying he wears tight pants and shirts to show off his body.

Hawkins' response -- after he lifted the sleeve of his t-shirt and flexed his bicep -- "It's not easy being sexy."

Harrison did a lengthy session with the media, and talked about how Denver pursued him after he was cut by the Chargers. But Harrison was on his visit in New England, and said he doesn't like planes as it is, so he wasn't about to go back across the country.

Ty Warren was also a wanted man, especially after the glowing things Bill Belichick said about him in his press conference. (More on that later.)

Kevin Faulk, a proud Louisiana native, spoke about the importance of Monday night's Saints game, the first game New Orleans will play in the Superdome since before Hurricane Katrina devastated the area.

"Being from Louisiana, this is a big thing. The whole state will be thrilled," Faulk said. "Everyone in the state will be watching that game."

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments 0