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Wednesday practice change

Tomorrow morning's practice session has been pushed back and will now begin at 9:15 am and run for 90 minutes.

Originally, it was supposed to start at 8:45 am.

Also, tomorrow is the last day Patriots Experience, the football-themed play area, will be open. It will be available from 10am to 1pm.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Practice notes

Hey all --

The tail end of practice became very spirited today, with the defensive backs flying all over the place, and totaling five or six interceptions plus a number of breakups.

In a goal-line situation, Tom Brady threw for Wes Welker in the end zone, who was being covered by safety James Sanders. Sanders and Welker converged at the ball at the same time, and the ball went off what looked like Welker's shoulder pad and popped into the air. Brandon Meriweather stretched out to try and pull the ball in, but only got his fingertips on it.

Sanders also broke up a pass into the end zone for Reche Caldwell from Brady.

On another play, Sanders had an interception off a Brady pass for Caldwell. Caldwell had the ball in his hands, but Randall Gay jarred it loose, and Sanders came down with the ball. Caldwell did make a nice grab on a sideline route in what looked to be a two-minute drill. With Ellis Hobbs all over him, Caldwell made the catch, Brady spiked to ball to stop the clock, and the field goal unit came onto the field.

Gay also batted down a sideline pass near the end zone for Caldwell, knocking it out of bounds, and a hail Mary ended with Rodney Harrison slapping the ball down and out of the back of the end zone.

Matt Gutierrez had a tough practice, getting intercepted twice, the first by Tedy Bruschi and the second by Gemara Williams.

In the right tackle battle, it looked like the snaps were evenly played by both Ryan O'Callaghan and Nick Kaczur. We did notice Wesley Britt at left tackle a couple of times, though not with the first-team offense.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

UPDATE: New player on board

The Patriots have aquired a new player via trade, but that's pretty much all we know about him so far.

About 40 minutes ago we noticed Scott Pioli walk onto the field with a player in a number 38 blue jersey, so he's a defensive back. Looks tall too.

We're working on getting more info.

UPDATE: According to the Chicago Tribune, it is former Bears corner Dante Wesley, acquired for an undisclosed draft pick. Wesley is a sixth-round pro out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff who was originally drafted by the Panthers in the fourth round. He spent last year with the Bears, primarily on special teams.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

The missing

Practice has begun for today - number 16 if you're scoring at home - and the list of missing players has changed once again.

Non-PUP guys not spotted are:

OL Billy Yates
WR Randy Moss
TE Benjamin Watson
TE Kyle Brady
DL Jarvis Green

Donte Stallworth and Artrell Hawkins, who were not on the field last night, are on field and in uniform.

Others missing are the PUP players and Asante Samuel.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Brady named best dressed

Apparently, supermodels and Hollywood starlets aren't the only ones that find Tom Brady to be hot. Esquire magazine has named the star quarterback its Best Dressed Man -- in the world! -- for 2007.

Brady beat out men like rapper/mogul Jay-Z, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, actor Daniel Craig (the most recent James Bond and last year's winner) and French president Nicolas Sarkozy for the honor.

There's a story posted on usatoday.com right now; the issue hits newsstands next Tuesday.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments 0

Chatting with Bill

Bill Belichick just wrapped up his chat with the media for today, and noted that today's practice will be something like a Thursday practice during the regular season: there will be a focus on the passing game, third down and the two-minute drill among other things.

With their first preseason game three days away, Belichick said the coaching staff has been trying to strike a balance between working on New England's own fundamentals and goals and doing some game planning for the Buccaneers. He, like many of his players, seems happy to face another team and get the chance to see how the young players especially handle live situations.

Asked about center Dan Koppen, who has become one of the best at his job in the league, Belichick said the former Boston College standout is one of the best he's coached at the position.

"Dan's an integral guy in the overall offensive scheme because of the position he plays in the middle of the line," Belichick said. "Dan's extremely smart, and football smart as well. He's instinctive, he does a good job communicating on the line of scrimmage, with the offensive line, the running game, passing game...we change protections or when the front stems and moves before the snap, he can identify that. A lot of times he anticipates it before it happens."

Belichick went on to say that Koppen can audible and make checks about as well as the team's quarterbacks.

Other topics this morning included the versatility of Bam Childress, who has made appearances on offense, defense and special teams, and the growth of Laurence Maroney as he begins his second season in the NFL.

"He's way ahead of where he was last year," Belichick said. "He's a smart, mature kid, he works hard. He spent a lot of time with the veteran players last year -- Corey (Dillon), Kevin (Faulk), Heath (Evans), and Ivan (Fears, running backs coach), and he gained a lot from them."

Today's practice is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. We'll be back with attendance and some observations.

shalise

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments 0