Notebook: Brown, Wise, Gronkowski not spotted at start of Thursday practice

FOXBOROUGH — Malcom Brown (foot), Rob Gronowski (concussion) and Deatrich Wise (concussion) were not spotted at the start of practice on Thursday.

All three apparently suffered injuries in the AFC title game against the Jaguars, and while the Patriots did not practice Wednesday, all three were listed on the theoretical injury report Wednesday afternoon.



McDaniels reportedly set for Friday interview with Indy

According to an NFL Network report, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels will have a second interview with the Colts and owner Jim Irsay on Friday. McDaniels, who is considered the front-runner of the job by many, would be the third member of the New England franchise to take a head coaching job this offseason, as the defensive coordinator Matt Patricia is likely ticketed to Detroit, while former New England linebacker Mike Vrabel was recently named head coach in Tennessee.

Hello, old friends

The Patriots are excited to go up against two former teammates in LeGarrette Blount and Chris Long in the Super Bowl. The two were part of last year’s Super Bowl team, but moved on to sign with the Eagles last offseason.

“Me and Chris had talked weeks ago about how cool it would be for both of these teams to be in this situation. It's a great opportunity,” said veteran safety Devin McCourty. “I look forward to a little trash talking out there with those guys, but obviously they were great teammates and good friends of mine. The same thing I said about Logan (Ryan) though – I’m not here to be friendly and hope it ends in a tie.”

"They're good football players. LeGarrette is a good friend of mine and Chris is one of my best friends,” said wide receiver Danny Amendola. “So it's going to be fun to line up against them and get going.”

"Chris is a great role model for giving back as much as he does. It’s really impressive what he does,” said linebacker Kyle Van Noy. “But we’ll be friends after the game.”