FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots just wrapped up their Monday morning session down here in sweltering Foxborough, and here are a few notes worth passing along:

•The Patriots were in pads for what might have been the hottest practice of camp and the 24th overall. No players suffered heat-related maladies, but it was clear this practice had a more low-key feel that the rest. There was still some hitting, but there wasn’t the same level of intensity we’ve seen in the past.

•By our account, the following players weren’t present for this morning’s practice: punter Chris Hanson, wide receiver Brandon Tate, cornerback Shawn Springs, running back Sammy Morris, linebacker Paris Lenon, linebacker Tyrone McKenzie, offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger, offensive tackle Mark LeVoir, offensive lineman George Bussey, wide receiver Randy Moss, wide receiver Wes Welker, tight end Benjamin Watson, tight end Tyson DeVree, tight end Chris Baker, defensive lineman Richard Seymour, linebacker Shawn Crable and defensive lineman Mike Wright.

Taylor comes to New England by way of the Houston Texans. (AP)

•New running back Chris Taylor was rotated slowly into many of the running back drills. He didn’t take too many reps, standing off to the side for much of the 11 on 11 portion of practice and picking up many of the nuances of the New England offense. He spoke with reporters after practice, and said he knew many of his new teammates already, including running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis and defensive back Herana-Daze Jones.

•Cornerback Jonathan Wilhite wore a red, non-contact jersey again this morning.

•There was some extensive work done on kick returns — the Patriots went back to special teams over and over again.

•In passing drills, Kevin O’Connell spent a lot of time working with Tom Brady, while veteran Andrew Walter was working with rookie Brian Hoyer. Hoyer had a nice moment when he rolled out and found Terrence Nunn on a nice connection. Later on in the morning, Walter hit Julian Edelman on a nice crossing pattern over the middle. And my new camp binky Sam Aiken made a nice grab of a Brady pass. (Brady and Joey Galloway later just missed on a deep ball down the middle later on when Brady overshot the veteran wide receiver.)

•One of the highlights of the session came on a Hoyer pass for Nunn down the sidelines. A deep ball, the pass was caught, but was likely reviewable if it was a game situation. (For his part, safety James Sanders — who was in coverage — made no secret about the fact that he believed it was out of bounds.) If it was in bounds, it was a heckuva catch, one of the best in camp thus far.

3 Comments for “Notes on Monday AM Practice Session”

1. Jacob Favazzo Says:
   August 17th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

   get rid of Galloway,,, Keep Nunn!!

2. Christopher Price Says:
   August 17th, 2009 at 2:40 pm

   Nunn is certainly making his presence felt–he’s been on the field for most of camp, and is catching almost everything that’s thrown his way. He’ll make it tough to cut him.

3. Mike Daly Says:
   August 19th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

   Great - we’ve got a dilemma of riches right now. Chris Taylor, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, etc. at running back, a slew of quality pass-catchers, the O-line looks super, the D looks good - can we speed it up to the Bills season opener?

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