Tom Brady back at Patriots practice

ByLee Schechter ESPN logo
Friday, September 5, 2014

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady returned to practice Friday, a day after he was surprisingly absent with a calf injury.

Brady stretched and jogged in warm-ups during the open media portion of practice. He was wearing sweatpants as the Patriots were in shells and sweats. Brady said Thursday night he was ready for Sunday's regular-season opener against the Miami Dolphins despite the injury, confirming what a source told ESPNBoston.com earlier in the day.

"I sure hope so," Brady said in an interview with Westwood One Sports radio. "Anything can happen for anybody between now and then, but I'm looking forward to playing Sunday."

Coach Bill Belichick did not shed much light on Brady's status, confirming only that the team listed Brady's absence Thursday on the practice report and would continue to release information about the quarterback on that report.

"We have done what we are required to do," Belichick said Friday. "We have listed the injury. We will continue to list it. We'll list his status based on what the requirements of the league are."

The Patriots listed Brady, along with tight endRob Gronkowski(knee), asquestionable on Friday's injury report. Both were listed as limited in Friday's practice.

With Brady's return to practice, the 53-man roster had perfect attendance, including long-snapper Danny Aiken and linebacker Chris White, who both re-signed with the Patriots on Thursday morning.

As for the practice squad, tight end Allen Reisner, who joined the team Wednesday, was not spotted at practice.

There was a new player wearing No. 98, presumably defensive tackle Kelcy Quarles. Quarles was waived by the team Wednesday, but he released a tweet (which was quickly deleted) saying he was still with the Patriots. He could have been brought back as a member of the practice squad.

ESPN.com's Mike Reiss contributed to this report.

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