Brady hurts knee at Patriots practice
FOXBOROUGH, MASS.— Tom Brady walked off the field under his own power. Several teammates didn’t think he was hurt badly when he grabbed his left knee after being knocked down. Yet the possibility that the New England Patriots might lose their star quarterback caused a scare at the team’s joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday. An MRI was negative, a source told The Associated Press, and Brady is out day-to-day with a left knee sprain. The Patriots play the Buccaneers in pre-season action Friday night. Brady, the two-time league MVP who suffered a season-ending injury to the same knee in the 2008 opener, was injured midway through practice Wednesday when left tackle Nate Solder was pushed into him by Tampa Bay defensive end Adrian Clayborn. Brady, entering his 14th NFL season, fell, rocked backward on the ground and held his left knee. He went to the sideline, then returned for a few more plays before
“He walked off. I’m sure he’s cool. I’m sure he’s fine.” LAGARRETTE BLOUNT PATRIOTS RUNNING BACK
talking with coach Bill Belichick and leaving the field toward the team’s indoor practice facility next to it. “You’ve always got to stay away from the quarterback (in practice),” Clayborn said. “You got a guy on his heels and my instinct is to keep going, so that’s what I did.” The contact came just as Brady threw a long incompletion down the right sideline toward rookie Aaron Dobson. “We’re always working to protect,” Solder said. “I’ll have to see what happened on the film. I screwed some things up here and there.” In 2008, Brady tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Patriots missed the playoffs that season. He has played every game since then and the team reached the playoffs in all four seasons. New England is favoured to win the weak AFC East for the 10th time in 11 years. Losing Brady would make that much tougher.
After Brady left the field, third-year pro Ryan Mallett played with the first offensive unit and Tim Tebow, on his 26th birthday, saw time with the second team. Mallett threw an interception soon after taking over.
“I’m just trying to do my job,” Mallett said.
“I’m sure Tom will be fine and we’ll just go on.”
In his first series after Brady left, Tebow completed three of seven passes and looked fairly sharp. One pass was dropped. Tebow left practice without speaking to reporters.
“Anytime anybody, especially a teammate, goes down it’s a dark cloud. It’s unfortunate,” Patriots running back Shane Vereen said. “He went back out there, but we’ll see.”
Running back LaGarrette Blount was optimistic.
“He walked off,” Blount said. “I’m sure he’s cool. I’m sure he’s fine.”
Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano said he and Belichick tell players to rush the passer but let him throw the football and go past him.
“I didn’t get to see” the hit on Brady, Schiano said. “I saw him laying there afterward. . . . I hope he’s OK.”