Patriots-Saints joint practice notes

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FOXBORO -- The joint practice held by the Patriots and Saints on Wednesday was a quick one. Things got started right around 10:00 a.m. and finished up about an hour and forty minutes later. That was the plan all along, said Saints interim coach Joe Vitt. With the teams' preseason game scheduled for Thursday night, neither team wanted to overextend itself.

Tom Brady was much sharper today than he was on Tuesday. In one stretch of 11-on-11 play, he connected with Aaron Hernandez four straight times. Their last hookup went for a touchdown.

The Saints highlight of the day was also the scariest play of the day for New Orleans. Drew Brees hit tight end Jimmy Graham deep down the middle of the field for an acrobatic catch, but he got tangled with Dont'a Hightower and Graham hobbled off the field. When Graham got to the sideline, he rolled around on the ground with his face in the turf, holding his lower back area. Vitt said Graham just needed to be stretched out. He never left the field, but he was holding his back later on in practice.

Some interesting special teams work for both sides today. They worked on on-sides kicks, squibs, free kicks (after a team allows a safety), and desperation lateral plays when time is running out and a team needs a kick returned for a score.

More to come . . .

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