8/6 AM notes: Reiss, Hart, SMY, Rapoport

[pats1]

Day 8, first Patriots practice - Reiss' Pieces - Boston.com

Day 8, first Patriots practice
Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff
August 6, 2009 11:30 AM

FOXBOROUGH -- The Patriots concluded their morning practice on the eighth day of training camp (9:30-11:15). Players were in shorts and light shoulder pads, and officials were present, working parts of the session.

The crowd was overflowing and added some energy to the session, with campers from Camp Bauercrest in Amesbury, Mass., urging Tom Brady to "take that next step."

One observation stood out from this practice: Bill Belichick throwing a large medicine ball at quarterbacks during a red-zone passing drill.

It is always interesting to see how coaches introduce new drills, and Belichick was firing the large ball at his quarterbacks after they dropped back to pass, the idea for them to focus on their footwork while keeping their eyes up the field.

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Official Patriots Football Weekly Blog Blog Archive From the Hart: Thursday morning observations

From the Hart: Thursday morning observations
Written by Andy Hart on August 6, 2009 – 12:11 pm

New England just left the fields following the 15th practice of training camp. Thursday morning’s session took place in shorts, helmets and shells. It was the fourth time in camp, and second straight session, that the Patriots were not in full shoulder pads. Today’s lighter morning session is likely due to the fact that the team will work out in Gillette Stadium Thursday night in a special, invitation-only season ticket holder event.

–Those not seen on the field this morning (23 total players): Joey Galloway, Jonathan Wilhite, Tank Williams, Tedy Bruschi, Al Johnson, Stephen Neal, George “Bus” Bussey, Ryan O’Callaghan, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Benjamin Watson, Le Kevin Smith, Myron Pryor, Richard Seymour, Tully Banta-Cain and Jarvis Green; NFI WR Brandon Tate; unsigned, injured rookie Tyrone McKenzie; and PUPers Rich Ohrnberger, Mark LeVoir, Ty Warren and Shawn Crable.

–For the lighter action Tom Brady did not wear a knee brace. Brady actually seemed to have a pretty light session, leaving the other quarterbacks the bulk of the reps, especially in team work. Brady did do his normal throwing in pre-practice work and positional drills

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Patriots camp report: Lots of bold names missing the morning - Projo Pats Blog

Patriots camp report: Lots of bold names missing the morning
11:36 AM Thu, Aug 06, 2009
By Shalise Manza Young

The Patriots' 15th training camp session has wrapped up, one held in shells and shorts on a bright, sunny morning.

There were 23 total players not spotted on the field, including the wideout triumvirate of Randy Moss, Wes Welker and Joey Galloway. Moss has missed five of the eight morning sessions thus far and Galloway has missed a couple as well, but this was the first session Welker has not been present for.

Others missing practice: DE Richard Seymour, CB Shawn Springs, CB Jonathan Wilhite, S Tank Williams, LB Tedy Bruschi, TE Benjamin Watson, DE Le Kevin Smith, LB Tully Banta-Cain, DL Jarvis Green, G Stephen Neal, DL Myron Pryor, T Ryan O'Callaghan, OL Al Johnson and OL George Bussey.

And there are always the PUP guys: DE Ty Warren, LB Shawn Crable, OL Rich Ohrnberger, OL Mark LeVoir, and NFI WR Brandon Tate.

BostonHerald.com - Blogs: Rap Sheet Blog Archive It’s a skeleton crew out here for the beginning of Patriots practice Day 8…

August 6th, 2009
It’s a skeleton crew out here for the beginning of Patriots practice Day 8…
Posted by Ian Rapoport at 11:42 am

Who wouldn’t want to be out here for a beautiful, sunny day? A bunch of Patriots, actually.

Let’s see what’s going on during Day 8, practice 15:

– By my count, there are 23 players not out on the practice field. By far, that’s an all-time high… This year anyway. It could be just precautionary, but it could also be that 8 two-a-days in a row is a lot.

– There was a focus on special teams stuff, including drills aimed at forcing gunners get down field while dodging tackling dummies and working with rushers at recovering blocked punts.

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