The Patriots had a pregame walkthrough for the game on Thursday at Tampa Bay against the Buccaneers. It saw the first team offense get a bunch of reps meaning the Tom Brady, Chad Ochocinco, Wes Welker and the other starters will probably see some playing time this week.
The defense used a lot of 4-man fronts in practice with Vince Wilfork and Kyle Love playing the defensive tackle spots.
Meanwhile the jobs at safety appear anything but safe. They recently brought free agents Dashon Goldson and Darren Sharper to Foxboro for workouts. They reportedly offered Goldson a contract but he decided to resign with San Francisco.
The Patriots worked out the other safeties because according to league sources they are not happy with Brandon Meriweather, despite the fact he made his second Pro Bowl last season, they felt his play was suspect.
The general depth at safety is also kind of thin right now with James Sanders only having participated in four practices, so with the injuries and how they feel about Meriweather, former Notre Dame defensive back Sergio Brown is seeing a lot of reps with starter Patrick Chung.
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The team announced this afternoon that they have released veteran OT Mark LeVoir today. LeVoir, who signed with Chicago in 2006 as an undrafted free agent and was later claimed by New England off waivers from St. Louis has been with the team since 2008. Last season he played in 6 of the 16 regular season games, he was inactive (did not dress) 10 times.
The New York Jets have reportedly signed DE/OLB Aaron Maybin the former Buffalo Bills first round draft pick. It appears to be a low risk, high reward deal for the Jets.
The Patriots announced that the team Hall of Fame ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. at the Hall at Patriots Place on September 17th. Former Pats players Jon Morris and Drew Bledsoe will be the 17th and 18th members of the Patriots Hall of Fame. The only non-player is former owner, Billy Sullivan.
Rubin Carter, the father of Patriots DL Andre Carter, played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Denver Broncos. He is now a coach with the University of New Mexico and talked a little bit about his son.
Andre “has always been committed to whatever he decided to do, that’s where it starts. Then just having a great work ethic, he always worked hard to develop his skills.” The elder Carter should know, he took was an undersized defensive line player who made good with a long pro career and now his son is following successfully in his footsteps.
The NFL fined Jacksonville Jaguars DB Mike Lockley $20,000 for his hit on Patriots WR Taylor Price in the game last Thursday. Since then Lockley has been cut and because he is no longer in the NFL the league can not collect the fine.
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