FOXBORO -- Bill Belichick made it clear on Wednesday: He calls the plays, and the doctors fill out the medical reports.
Belichick was talking about Logan Mankins, who made his training camp debut at the Patriots' light practice on Sunday while recovering from an ACL injury. When asked about his status, Belichick gave his reasons for why it's too early to really tell.
"He didn't do anything on Saturday, he didn't play on Sunday, we didn't practice on Monday, we didn't practice on Tuesday, and here we are on Wednesday -- five days later -- and we want to say, 'Well, how's the player now?' Until he really gets out there and tries to put some stress on whatever the injured area is, it's hard to really be sure," said Belichick before Wednesday's practice. "Yeah, if he's just walking around going to meetings, sure he's fine. But playing football, that's a different story. So we'll see how it is when he gets out there.
"I think we all know and think that Logan's one of the tougher players on our team," added Belichick later. "We have a lot of tough guys, but he's got a lot of physical and mental toughness, no question about that."