Two new but familiar faces joined New England on the practice field Wednesday morning in time to do a lot of watching, as the bulk of the work was on high-speed special teams drills.
Linebacker Bryan Cox and guard Sale Isaia participated in position drills and the goal line situation practice that ended practice. Cox, a longtime Patriots nemesis from his days with the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets. He jumped right into the mix and will work as an inside linebacker.
Isaia, whose signing was announced in the morning, worked with the first unit at right guard immediately. As was the case last year, New England's line has been decimated by injuries, and Isaia knows the system after starting 13 of the 15 games he played in 2000.
On the hottest day of camp thus far, the kicking game saw the most work in one practice yet. Special teams coach Brad Seely got to run his groups for nearly an hour. Wide receiver David Patten had a couple long returns for the first-team. On the first kickoff he looked as though he might return it all the way, but he stumbled near midfield and was touched down by kicker Dan Hadenfeldt.
The defense did very well in the field goal kicking drills. Two attempts by rookie Owen Pochman were blocked, the first by defensive tackle Riddick Parker and the second by defensive end Reggie Grimes.
The last drill of practice worked on goal line situations, where the offense struggled to find success. Things took a sour turn on the final play of practice when offensive linemen Adrian Klemm suffered a dislocated elbow and had to be driven off the practice field.
Klemm was working at guard because of the calf injury to Mike Compton. The extent of Klemm's injury has not yet been determined. Besides Compton and Klemm, guard Joe Andruzzi was out with a back problem, center Damien Woody was out with a knee injury, Matt Light was out with an ankle injury and guard Adam Davis was limited with an arm injury, though he did practice.
With all the injuries, the first line consisted of Greg Robinson-Randall at right tackle, Isaia at right guard, Grey Ruegamer at center, Klemm at left guard until his injury and Kenyatta Jones at left tackle.
