FOXBOROUGH — Here are a few quick notes about the Tuesday afternoon practice, held outside in full pads:

•By our count, the following players were not present: wide receiver Brandon Tate, cornerback Jonathan Wilhite, cornerback Shawn Springs, linebacker Tyrone McKenzie, linebacker Tedy Bruschi, offensive lineman Al Johnson, offensive lineman Stephen Neal, offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger, offensive lineman Mark LeVoir, offensive lineman George Bussey, offensive lineman Ryan O’Callaghan, defensive lineman Darryl Richard, tight end Benjamin Watson, defensive lineman Le Kevin Smith, defensive lineman Myron Pryor, defensive lineman Richard Seymour, defensive lineman Ty Warren, linebacker Tully Banta-Cain and linebacker Shawn Crable.

•Running backs worked on blitz pickup for part of the session — Fred Taylor got a nice hit in on linebacker Jerod Mayo, but Mayo bounced back with a vengeance, flattening Sammy Morris and then BenJarvus Green-Ellis on back-to-back attempts.

•Taylor looked really sharp, catching some sweet passes out of the backfield in another drill and eluding linebacker Vinny Ciurciu on another play in the same drill.

•Wide receiver Terrence Nunn made a nice connection with Tom Brady, hauling in a sweet grab along the sideline. Nunn continues to impress — he has done nothing to draw negative attention to himself throughout the early stages of camp.

•The punt team was forced to take a lap for an unknown infraction. Later in practice, the offense and the field goal team was forced to do the same.

•Leigh Bodden had a nice pass breakup of a pass meant for Joey Galloway.

•As he was in the morning, former Broncos and Raiders coach Mike Shanahan was a practice observer.