Brady all in tomorrow
Off injury report, QB focuses on Dolphins
FOXBORO — Tom Brady confirmed the obvious.
His legs are intact, so he’ll play tomorrow against the Dolphins. The Patriots even removed him from the injury report.
“I feel great,” Brady said. “Ready to go, so I’ll be excited for (tomorrow). It was good just to get a little extra treatment, and I’m feeling great this time of year. So, it’ll be a fun week. Nothing to worry about.”
Brady had a sore Achilles after the Patriots’ victory against the Raiders, but the quarterback and team weren’t worried about it in the game’s aftermath, according to a source. Even after the team rested him Wednesday during practice, the Herald reported Brady would play this week, which was anything but a surprise.
Brady has played through everything short of a torn ACL during his career, and that’s a long list of injuries. So there was no cause for concern despite the day off.
Brady said the final stages of treatment are always important, but interestingly he also appeared to send a message to his teammates at the same time.
“I think the next 48 hours are really important,” Brady said. “I think everyone’s got to kind of embrace everything that we’ve done in practice and getting ready for and then really hone in with what we’re doing against a team that we’re facing. There’s still more film to study and so forth, still more rest to get, but it’s all aiming for Sunday at 1, and I think that’s when we’ve got to be ready.
“So we’re in a decent place, and hopefully we can take advantage of the time we have to get either rest or more prepared, but I don’t think it’s time for the Celtics game (last night) or anything like that. I think guys have got to focus on what we need to do and try to go out and beat a good team.”
Bennett down
The Patriots believe it’s unlikely tight end Martellus Bennett will play against Miami.
After missing the last two practices of the week, Bennett (hamstring, shoulder) was listed as doubtful on the injury report. This is likely due to Bennett’s hamstring, as he played through a torn rotator cuff and labrum issues with the Patriots in 2016 and again this season with the Packers and Pats. The hamstring flared up on him a couple weeks ago, but he played through it Sunday against the Raiders.
Perhaps as a dose of foreshadowing to this doubtful designation, Bennett told the Herald on Wednesday that he wouldn’t be speaking to the media this week. This could potentially be the first time in Bennett’s season-plus with the Pats that he’ll miss a game.
Line ’em up
Center David Andrews (illness) and right tackle Marcus Cannon (ankle) missed a full week of practice and won’t be available tomorrow against the Dolphins.
Because of that, Ted Karras and LaAdrian Waddle are expected to start for the pair yet again. Karras only allowed one pressure in pass protection last week in his second career start, which was his first wire-to-wire performance at center.
And Waddle has allowed four quarterback hits and a pressure this season in extended action. He started against the Texans, Broncos and Raiders and played most of the game against the Chargers, and Waddle’s improved performances this season have afforded the Patriots the luxury of resting Cannon’s ankle, which has been an issue since the first series of the regular season.
Andrews came down with flu- like symptoms last week in Colorado, according to a source. The diagnosis of his injury hasn’t been revealed, but it’s worth wondering if it’s related to altitude sickness, which can sometimes take several weeks to subside in the most severe cases.
With Andrews and Cannon out, undrafted rookie lineman Cole Croston will be active for the second time in his career. He played tackle at Iowa but made his debut against the Raiders when he played the final three snaps at left guard.
Keep your day jobs
Nick Caserio quickly emerged as one of the NFL’s best personnel executives over the past few years. According to Brady, that’s a good thing.
“Nick was a quarterback in college, but I think he’s better in his role now than he was a quarterback because I saw some film,” Brady said of his longtime friend.
The burns didn’t end there, though.
“His throwing form? It’s terrible,” Brady said. “Terrible. You probably have a lot of elbow pain with that technique.”
Caserio was a quarterback at John Carroll University, where he beat out Josh McDaniels for the job, and he still likes to throw the ball around at practice. All kidding aside, Caserio’s active involvement at practice does give him a better feel for the strengths and weaknesses of the roster, and it’s a quality Bill Belichick demands of his personnel chief.
Caserio is also involved on game days, as he communicates with McDaniels from the coaching booth. Caserio helps McDaniels with substitutions and the like. How unique is Caserio’s role? “Rare. I mean, name me another one,” Belichick said. “Nick does a great job, and he has a great interaction and understanding of what’s going on on the coaching side of it. He is involved in the day-to-day coaching part of it. He is certainly involved in all of the personnel aspects of his job, college, pro, free agent workouts, waiver, everything. But you throw all of the coaching stuff on top of that, the week-to-week role in the press box and on the practice field. I mean, he does a tremendous amount. I can’t think of any other personnel person that would even come close to that. I don’t know who it would be. I don’t know what everybody else does, but I don’t know anybody.”
Stepping in
Defensive end Eric Lee took Cassius Marsh’s job, jersey number and locker.
Lee, who briefly introduced himself to the media yesterday, was shocked to get a call from the Patriots earlier in the week. While Lee was Christmas shopping in Buffalo, the Patriots called to try to sign him off the Bills practice squad.
When Lee obliged, which will earn him at least three weeks on the Patriots’ active roster, they released Marsh.
“This was out of the blue,” Lee said of his “hectic” week. “During the pre-draft stuff (in 2016), there was some interest. Other than that, no.”