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Updates from Sunday, Sept. 7

The Patriots confirmed Tom Brady is active for Week 1:

Updates from Friday, Sept. 5

Paul Perillo of Patriots Football Weekly has the latest on Brady:

Phil Perry of CSNNE.com has good news on Brady's status:

Mike Petraglia of WEEI has more:

Only the stretching portion of practice was open to the media, and during that portion Brady was spotted jogging with the rest of his teammates with no noticeable or significant limp, while going through full stretching. Brady told Westwood One Radio Thursday night during a national interview that the calf injury was not significant and he would be ready to go Sunday. Friday’s appearance on the practice field would seem to verify that opinion.

Original Text

The whole of New England waits with bated breath to find out the fate of its beloved quarterback. Tom Brady did not practice Thursday due to a calf injury, according to Armando Salguero of The Miami Herald:

CSNNE.com's Tom Curran has an update on Brady's status for Sunday's game:

Speaking to Jim Gray of Westwood One on their national pregame show Thursday night, Brady said, “Yeah, physically I had the day off but I got a lot of extra film, mental reps walkthroughs and such. I’ll be ready to go Sunday.



“You’ll be out there?” Gray followed.



“I sure hope so,” said Brady. “I mean, anything can happen to anyone between now and then but I’m looking forward to playing Sunday.”

Devin McCourty commented on his absence (via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald):

Over the past decade, few players have been as reliable as Brady. He's started in all 16 of the Patriots' regular-season games in 11 of the last 12 seasons. The outlier was 2008, when he was injured and lost for the season in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

New England failed to make the playoffs that year, only the third time during the Bill Belichick era that that's happened.

Otherwise, the two-time MVP has been the personification of toughness. This past season, he had minor ligament damage in his right hand but kept playing anyway.

The Patriots at least have some cover for Brady, 37, in the form of Jimmy Garoppolo. With Ryan Mallett being traded to the Texans, the pressure would be on Garoppolo should Brady miss any time.

Kevin Seifert of ESPN commented on Mallett's trade to Houston in light of today's news:

It would be ironic if Garoppolo went from carrying Brady's pads to stepping in to his role in the same season:

If the injury turned out to be serious, many Patriots fans would start packing it in for the 2014 season, but it's way too early to get all doom and gloom. Nobody would've thought Matt Cassel could step in for an injured Brady in 2008 and post a 10-5 record as the starter.

At the moment, it appears this may be a precautionary move by the Patriots to give the heart of their franchise a chance to be 100 percent by the time Sunday hits.

If any team could possibly recover from losing its starting quarterback, though, it's New England.

Many would consider the Patriots bigger than any one player—Brady included. This may be a chance to see whether that's true.