New England quarterback Tom Brady is expected to return to practice Thursday and play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Friday night after hurting his knee during a joint practice with the Buccaneers on Wednesday.
"He basically got kicked," a source said to ESPN. "It isn't like his knee collapsed or somebody rolled up on him. Is there a chance he could be sore and they decide to hold him out of practice? Yeah. Could they decide he shouldn't play in the game? Probably. But they could also decide it's just soreness and he needs to work it out. It's really nothing."
Brady, who is considered day-to-day with a mild sprain, was able to walk off under his own power, with the Patriots coaching staff taking every precaution possible considering his 2008 injury on the same knee that required surgery. Brady tore both his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments that year, during the season-opener, missing the rest of the 2008 season.
Should the Patriots decide to rest Brady, Ryan Mallet and Tim Tebow would receive the bulk of the snaps, with Mallet likely to get the opportunity to play with the first-team.
The Patriots ran a different offensive look with Tebow under center during the first preseason game against the Philadelphia Eagles, running more designed runs and read option plays.
"We've had those types of things in our offense before," said New England head coach Bill Belichick on Boston's WEEI's "Salk and Holley" radio show. "This is a little bit different, but we're not trying to reinvent the game or anything. We're just trying to take advantage of a particular player's skill, and that's no different than something we would do with a tight end, or a receiver, or running back who has a skill set that we want to try to take advantage of."