Observations from 16th practice
Posted by Mike Reiss, Globe Staff
August 4, 2008 11:45 AM
FOXBOROUGH – Five observations from the Patriots’ 16th training camp practice, which was held in full pads this morning (8:45 p.m.) on the upper practice fields behind Gillette Stadium:
1) Locking in on game preparations. This practice was geared specifically toward preparations for Thursday’s preseason opener. It was commonplace to hear coaches calling out personnel packages, as well as plays, with the players responding on cue. There was plenty of special teams work too. Some of the team’s top players were not present – Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Richard Seymour among them – so there is likely to be a question as to if those players will suit up Thursday night. Then again, this could have just been a way to ensure that all players get practice reps – it’s always a challenge to prepare as many as 80 players for a game – and perhaps we’ll see Brady, Moss, Welker etc., at tonight’s in-stadium practice. Further evidence of the game-like feel was the black arm band -- which listed some of the team’s plays -- worn by backup quarterback Matt Cassel.
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