For many teams, the reports about player participation in practice serve as a pretty good guideline about their chances of playing on Sunday.
The Patriots are not one of those teams. Tight end Aaron Hernandez has been a perfect example of that this season. He’s played in games after missing two practices over the course of the week and then missed last week’s game against Buffalo even though he was a participant in practice every day. So we’ll simply note that Hernandez practiced for the second straight day on Thursday, Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe reports that he looked good during the portion of the practice open to the media, and leave you to draw your own conclusions.
You could probably do the same with wide receiver Wes Welker, who missed practice for the second straight day with an ankle injury. It could be because the injury is serious enough to require rest or it could be an abundance of caution to ensure he’ll be ready to go against the Colts. The Patriots won’t give any suggestions either way, so we’ll just have to keep waiting to see what develops.
Guards Dan Connolly and Logan Mankins, both of whom left the Bills win with injuries, were also absent from practice for a second day. Phil Perry of CSNNE.com reports that linebacker Tracy White started practice with the team, but left with a trainer a short time later.