FOXBORO, Mass. — Tom Brady looked like Tom Brady on Thursday afternoon.
Usually it’s not news that Brady was walking normally, throwing accurately and with full velocity, but it was after Wednesday’s scare. Brady had a knee brace back on his left knee, but other than that, he looked like the same Patriots quarterback who has been out at training camp all summer.
Brady even spent time with wife, Gisele Bundchen, and kids out on the field after practice, playing with them in the endzone near the goal posts. Brady declined to speak with the media after practice, but he did say, “I’m good. You can all go home.”
Outside of Brady’s health, there wasn’t much to report on from Thursday afternoon’s walk through with the Buccaneers. The players were in shells and shorts and playing at half speed. There wasn’t too much competition out there.
Mark Harrison, Daniel Fells and Jermaine Cunningham were not spotted at practice. Rob Gronkowski and Armond Armstead were out on the field in sweats. Marcus Cannon, Dan Connolly, Ras-I Dowling and Alfonzo Dennard were in uniform, but not participating in drills. Tyronne Green was not spotted because he went on injured reserve. Michael Jenkins and Kevin Haslam were released.
OFFENSE
-The best plays of the day came when Danny Amendola and Aaron Dobson caught sideline fades from Brady on consecutive snaps. That’s when we knew Brady was back to being Brady. Both passes couldn’t have looked better.
–Zach Sudfeld is still getting a lot of reps with the first team. He dropped a pass, but looked good otherwise.
–Tim Tebow was in on the hands team in onside kick return drills. That was new.
–Markus Zusevics was back out on the field participating in drills. He had been hampered with an injury for a couple weeks.
DEFENSE
–Devin McCourty was back out at practice, still in the red non-contact jersey. He likely won’t play because he’s still recovering from the shoulder surgery. Duron Harmon continued to take a lot of reps with the first team. We could see him start at free safety on Friday. Even if he doesn’t start, he’ll likely get reps with the starters.
-McCourty took a snap in the slot during practice. He’s moving all over the place, but that’s a new look from the captain.
–Nate Ebner was also back on the field participating. He had been out for a couple weeks with an injury.
–Marquice Cole continues to take a lot of reps with the first team in the slot. That’s either because he’s been playing well or because Logan Ryan has struggled a bit. We’ll likely see both playing with the first unit on Friday.
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