But, as always, plenty has gone on behind the scenes, and we've got 20 thoughts covered in this week's two-minute drill.
1. Left tackle Matt Light isn’t shy about showing his personality with the media around, but he was disappointed Tuesday when he missed an opportunity for a golden pun. Light was discussing his Thanksgiving plans, which will be put on hold until the weekend, and said Bill Belichick would throw the team a bone with some time off after Thursday's game in Detroit. A few moments later, while answering a separate question, Light interjected his own answer and said, "I should have said [Belichick] is going to throw us a wishbone. That kind of hit me after that. Usually I'm on top of that. It's a long day. It's a hard day."
2. Safety Patrick Chung and outside linebacker Jermaine Cunningham brought the wrong helmets to practice Tuesday, and the equipment staff had to retrieve the correct ones. Chung and Cunningham wore their silver helmets, but the Patriots were practicing in their throwback gear in preparation for Thursday's game.
3. Speaking of which, it was a quick turnaround for everyone this week. Most of the players hadn’t even left the locker room Sunday night when the equipment staff wheeled out the red and white throwback practice jerseys. That chore can typically be held off until much later in the night or Monday morning.
4. About a week or two ago, someone in the locker room taped up a photo of offensive lineman Dan Connolly wearing chef's gear. Eventually, it got replaced with a funny up-close shot of Light's thick facial hair, and it was most recently replaced by a photo of Tom Brady and Deion Branch, whose faces were edited onto Pulp Fiction characters.
5. That photo is on a blank spot on the wall between offensive linemen Ryan Wendell and Logan Mankins, so I asked Wendell about it. He basically said it had taken on a life of its own, but he wouldn’t crack when repeatedly asked who was behind the shenanigans. "It's been said a lot of people have done it," Wendell said in a dramatic voice. "It's just a mystery. Nobody knows."
6. As the Patriots were trying to close out the Colts on Sunday, linebacker and defensive captain Jerod Mayo was marching up and down the sidelines screaming, "Finish! Finish! Finish!" That’s the type of leadership this team has come to expect from him.
7. Rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez, who is from Connecticut and grew up as a Patriots fan, said he used to get a bucket of wings in time to watch every Pats-Colts game in the past. Obviously, that wasn’t going to be the case this week. "No wings," Hernandez said. "The wings can come after the game."
8. Linebacker Gary Guyton glowed about how much food he was preparing to eat during his Thanksgiving feast, and he was asked if Belichick might scoff at one of his players going overboard. Guyton, a diligent worker who is routinely at Gillette Stadium for extended hours, laughed and said he'd work out a little harder the next day.
9. Speaking of good meals, check out what 23 Patriots love eating on Thanksgiving. Their responses are awesome.
10. Safety Jarrad Page isn’t afraid to boast his hatred for the Yankees and Lakers on his Twitter page, and he touched upon Lakers bandwagoners last week. "I lived in L.A., and everybody hops on the Laker bandwagon," said Page, who is a Warriors and Athletics fan. "A few years ago when [the Lakers] were terrible, nobody liked them out there. Now, they've won a couple of championships, and [the fans] are back on."
11. Safety Brandon Meriweather had a good quote Sunday about the Patriots' bend-don't-break defense: "We’re just happy with a win. You can have all those drives you want. At the end of the day, it comes down to who won the game, and we made the play at the end to win it. We’re just happy about that."
12. Meriweather intercepted Peyton Manning during the Colts' initial possession Sunday, and during his return, defensive lineman Mike Wright absolutely lit up offensive lineman Jeffrey Linkenbach — just put him flat on his back. Defensive players love those opportunities because it's usually the other way around.
13. Rookie cornerback Devin McCourty was beaming about his interception against Manning. "Playing against a guy like that, a future Hall of Famer," McCourty said, "just a rookie to get an interception, I was all smiles."
14. Wide receivers Deion Branch and Wes Welker teamed up for a key block on Colts cornerback Kelvin Hayden during running back Danny Woodhead's 36-yard touchdown run, and Branch discussed how he knows when to keep blocking down the field on an extended play. "You see defenders' eyes may get a little bit big, certain things, guys changing speed," Branch said. "You sense those type of things."
15. Something was missing from that Woodhead touchdown run on television highlights. He had such a booming pop and burst of speed on the field, and you just couldn’t get that same feel from the TV. When Woodhead made that first jump to the outside and then cut through a pair of would-be tacklers, the whole stadium erupted because they realized how electrifying Woodhead can be in the open field.
16. How surprised was Colts right tackle Ryan Diem when he saw Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington get down in a three-point stance throughout the second half of Sunday's game? Well, to put it in perspective, Patriots right tackle Quinn Ojinnaka was absolutely stunned when it happened in practice a week earlier, so if Arrington's teammates didn’t know it was coming, you can only imagine the Colts' reaction. I'll have more on this story in the coming days.
17. How about this for a good week of practice: Outside linebacker Pierre Woods and quarterback Brian Hoyer were two of the Patriots' practice players of the week for their performance leading up to the Colts game. It was Woods' first week back in two months, and Hoyer earned the praise, in part, for his job simulating Peyton Manning.
18. Belichick and Boston Cannons midfielder Paul Rabil played lacrosse on the Gillette Stadium field Sunday night, and there were two remnants left over from the story. First, Rabil said how grateful he was to receive advice from someone of Belichick's stature in the sports landscape. "Anytime you can get some advice from the best in sports, you better take it with you to the bank," Rabil said. "He's an amazing mentor to many, and his ability and eagerness to continue to touch different lives at any sporting level is something that I really admire."
19. Belichick said Monday he wished he could take Rabil and convert him to a strong safety, and Rabil said that would be a dream of his. But right now, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards for the 2009 MLL MVP.
20. It's natural for players to feel a bit disappointed when they can't spend time with their families on Thanksgiving, but on the same token, Branch noted why it's so special to play on that stage. "We know it's a nationally televised game," Branch said. "I think the biggest thing for us is not to be with our families, but they also have an opportunity to see us play on this day. It's a special day, and it all rolls back to family."
