FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots just wrapped up their morning practice session on the fields behind Gillette Stadium. It was a slightly overcast but humid session, but the rains did hold off. (We heard a continuous roar of thunder off in the distance, but nothing ever materialized other than a few drops — although I’m looking out the press box window now, and there appears to be a steady rain falling. Just in time.)

Laurence Maroney (front) was a popular post-practice interview subject Friday morning. (AP)

•Randy Moss was initially scheduled to speak to the media after practice, but No. 81 was not in attendance for the morning session. Tom Brady did hold his annual training camp press conference, holding court with the media after the practice session for close to 20 minutes. We’ll have the complete transcript from that for you later this afternoon. Other players who drew big media crowds after the practice were Laurence Maroney and Tully Banta-Cain.

•Nothing new to report on the state of Brady’s knee — the quarterback went through a series of drills, and did not appear to be hindered. There were handoffs, three- and five-step drops and rollouts. No hitches, no limps, nothing. Our man Mike Petraglia was part of the post-practice interview session with No. 12, and he’ll have more here on the blog later today.

•By our account, the following players were not on the field for the morning session: wide receiver Brandon Tate (non-football injury list), linebacker Tyrone McKenzie (unsigned), offensive lineman Al Johnson, offensive lineman Stephen Neal, offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger (PUP), offensive lineman Mark LeVoir (PUP), offensive lineman Ryan O’Callaghan, defensive lineman Darryl Richard (PUP), offensive lineman Matt Light, wide receiver Randy Moss, defensive lineman Myron Pryor, defensive lineman Richard Seymour, defensive lineman Ty Warren (PUP) and linebacker Shawn Crable (PUP).

•Shawn Springs was out on the field — we’ll have more on this later today.

•Adalius Thomas had an active session. In a drill where linebackers and defensive backs were being blocked by tight ends, he could be seen working with safety Patrick Chung on a series of plays, and directing the rookie as to the right way and wrong way to do things. Later on, he nearly chased down wide receiver Greg Lewis on a pass play in 11-on-11 drills. Lewis barely beat him to the end zone, but Thomas definitely made it a race.

•The team put in some time on punt returns, with Kevin Faulk, Julian Edelman, Wes Welker and Joey Galloway working as returners. All the veteran returners were asked to field a punt with a football already in their hands, and the only drop among the vets came from Faulk. Edelman, who did not have to hold a football, appeared to struggle at times with a pair of drops on his first two attempts. (The first catch he made, a small mock cheer went up from the bleachers.)

•They also went through one-on-one tackling drills at the far end of the field — usually some of the most dramatic drills in camp. (A ballcarrier has to get past a would-be tackler, and has a small lane in which to do it in.) Some of the highlights from that drill included Terrence Wheatley unloading on Tyson DeVree, Greg Lewis blowing past Brandon Meriweather, Kevin Faulk slipping past Brandon McGowan and Herana-Daze Jones delivering a big hit on Julian Edelman.

•One of the top plays of the morning came when rookie wide receiver Terrence Nunn went up between two defenders and made a TERRIFIC catch in an 11-on-11 drill. (Didn’t do him much good with the vets — he was still forced to carry the veterans’ gear off the field after practice.)