Another Trip to Camp

I attended the afternoon practice session this past Monday. The temperature hovered close to 9o. I noticed that many of the players wore long sleeve Under Armour t-shirts under their practice jersey in spite of the heat.

The team practiced a lot on the kicking game. Various players are still being tried at the return position ,with Julian Edelman getting considerable time. He also took many snaps with the first string offense as a receiver.

The offense worked on third down situations. In one drill, Tom Brady completed a pass at the goal line which resulted in the entire defense running a lap around the practice field.

In two consecutive plays, Russ Hochstein was called for offside and was forced to run a lap. The same was for Adelius Thomas and Derrick Burgess on separate plays.

Punter Chris Hanson was free-kicking the ball 60-70 yards in the air. It's a lot easier without a rush coming in to block.

Coach Belichick continued his practice of resting players. Randy Moss and Wes Welker were not present, as well as Tedy Bruschi and Richard Seymour.

Safety Ray Ventrone and WR Matthew Slater continue to work on the opposite side of the ball. Ventrone with his number 41 looks like a running back lining up as receiver.

Earlier this season in rookie camp, 3rd round draft pick Tyrone McKenzie was lost for the season with an ACL tear due to getting tangled up in a drill. It's easy to see how this happens. Although the players don't always make direct contact, there were numerous times when they fell and banged into each other.

Practice lasted an extra 10 minutes as the team worked on goal line situations.