By Danny Picard
CSNNE.comFollow @dannypicard
FOXBORO -- @font-facefont-family: "Times New Roman";p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormalmargin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; a:link, span.MsoHyperlinkcolor: blue; text-decoration: underline; a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowedcolor: purple; text-decoration: underline; table.MsoNormalTablefont-size: 10pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; div.Section1page: Section1; The Patriots were in full pads for their two-hour afternoonpractice session on Sunday, but it wasnt the smoothest the team has looked intheir first four days of training camp.
Sticking out at the afternoon practice was many droppedballs and several fumbles. Most notably from newly acquired wide receiver ChadOchcocinco, who dropped multiple passes in both 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills.
Ochocinco didnt have to run laps though, like quarterbackRyan Mallett and running back Danny Woodhead. Mallett fumbled a snap early inthe practice, and Woodhead followed it up with a lost fumble of his own momentslater, forcing them to do a lap around the practice field.
Other than those instances, all eyes were on newly acquired defensivelineman Albert Haynesworth, who participated in his first practice with theteam on Sunday.
Haynesworth didnt participate fully, though. He ranthrough several drills in the opening hour of practice, but after that, hewatched the entire 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills from the sideline.
Even while the rest of the top unit (offense and defense)ran sprints to conclude the practice, Haynesworth remained on the sideline anddid some abdominal work and stretching.
There was a lighter moment midway through the secondsession, as Ochcocinco made his way over to the defensive linemen during abreak in action. Ochocinco had everyone in the group laughing, includinglinebacker coach Pepper Johnson, Vince Wilfork, and Haynesworth. Ochocinco endedthe friendly encounter with a handshake with Johnson.
New England Patriots
To give you an idea as to where some are in the earlystages of training camp, quarterback Tom Brady had to go out of his way tocritique rookie running back Stevan Ridleys position in the backfield whilein shotgun formation. Just before the snap, Brady tapped him on the shoulderand pointed to another spot on the field, about a yard ahead of where heinitially was. A sign of perfection from Brady. A sign of youth from Ridley.
The hit of the day goes to linebacker Brandon Spikes, ashe stood up tight end Aaron Hernandez with a hard shoulder at the line ofscrimmage. Hernandez stayed on his feet, but Spikes clearly held up.
On an afternoon that didnt see much excitement from theoffense, the defensive play of the day came from safety Patrick Chung andcornerback Leigh Bodden, in a combined effort to hold onto an interception on aBrian Hoyer underthrown ball that was intended for tight end Rob Gronkowskidown the right sideline.
Gronkowski made a nice effort to reach over Bodden and gethis hands on the ball that was targeted for Boddens chest. But as Bodden andGronkowski tried to rip the ball from each other on the ground, Chung came overand helped the defense win the battle.
Danny Picard is on twitter at http:twitter.comDannyPicard.