Full attendance at Patriots practice again

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FOXBORO -- The Patriots had full attendance at their practice on Friday, which was their final practice of the week leading up to Sunday's AFC Championship game. It was the second consecutive day that the team had perfect attendance on the practice field behind Gillette Stadium.

On Thursday, the Patriots practiced in full pads and ran through some contact drills as they typically might during a fully-padded practice during the season. Patriots coach Bill Belichick admitted that the work in pads allowed the Patriots to do some work in defending the running game, which was one area in which they struggled during a loss to the Broncos back in Week 12. 

"Pads are always good for the run game," Belichick said, "for all the line of scrimmage work, blitz pickup, short yardage, goal-line, tempo, pad level . . . [The Broncos running game] was definitely a problem. We just didn't play very well. Give up 179 yards, I mean, that's not where we want to be."

The Patriots had 21 players on their injury report Thursday but seemed to get through the padded session without any significant injuries. Safety Patrick Chung was added to the injury report with a foot issue, but he was a full participant in Thursday's work. Linebackers Jamie Collins (back) and Dont'a Hightower (knee) were both limited in Thursday's practice. 

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