-Jacoby Brissett hasn't been especially accurate during camp thus far but one throw he seems to excel at is the quick slant. Brissett has the ability to make the short drop, plant off his back foot and fire the ball accurately into tight coverage. He was perfect on one such throw to Brandin Cooks on Tuesday, hitting the dynamic wideout in stride as Eric Rowe trailed slightly in coverage.

-Jimmy Garoppolo continues to struggle protecting the ball, throwing another interception and hitting the road for a lap following a botched exchange with center Ted Karras. The pick came during the third-down work when he tried to hit Chris Hogan, who was tightly covered by Justin Coleman. Garoppolo rolled to his left and appeared ready to pull the ball down and likely would have run in a game situation, but instead he reloaded and hit the corner in the chest. His second and last rep of the drill sailed well over Hogan's head down the left sideline.

-Rookie defensive tackle Adam Butler is making some plays in limited opportunities. During a one-on-one pass rush drill he got the better of guard Jamil Douglas, and earlier in camp he was active around the line with some batted passes while helping to collapse the pocket. Butler is a 6-5, 300-pound defensive tackle out of Vanderbilt worth keeping an eye on.

-LaAdrian Waddle and Cam Fleming have worked as the tackles with the second offensive line throughout training camp but on Tuesday they switched side. Waddle was on the left side while Fleming went to the right after the opposite was true prior to day in camp.

-Runners were forced to carry two footballs during a ball security drill on Tuesday. All of the offensive players managed to hold on despite the attempts from two "tacklers" looking to strip the balls away.

The Patriots were back at it after their first day off of training camp, going through the paces in humid Foxborough in full pads for the third straight practice. Bill Belichick spoke before practice of the importance of the upcoming week, which will include five workouts before the arrival of Jacksonville for joint sessions next week.

"This is a big week for us here. We've got five practices before Jacksonville and we've got a lot of work to do," Belichick said. "We've got a lot work to do with third down, down-and-distance, moving the field, situations, kicking game and so forth. So, we need to have a real productive week.

"I think we got some fundamentals started last week and feel like we're ready to dig into this week here and get after it, but that's what we need to do. Hopefully we'll get out there and get off to a good start today and start stringing them together."

The morning press conference included a different face, one from the Patriots past, as Lonie Paxton was in town. The rock star long snapper was in Foxborough to sign a one-day contract so he could officially retire a Patriot, and Belichick had some praise for his former player.

"Always a good feeling knowing the ball's secure going from the snapper to the holder to the punter to the goal post or wherever it needs to go," the coach said.

The two-hour practice once again was not overly intense but did include some memorable moments, not the least of which was an altercation between Julian Edelman and Stephon Gilmore (more on that later).

Here are one man's blogservations from the Patriots fifth practice of camp.

-The list of absentees remained the same as Sunday with LB Dont'a Hightower and DT Alan Branch still on PUP while rookie OL Andrew Jelks stayed on NFI. Rookie WR Cody Hollister and safety Duron Harmon both missed practice as well and were not present. Hightower, Branch and Jelks joined WRs Malcolm Mitchell and Danny Amendola as well as rookie S David Jones on the lower practice field rehabbing. Amendola returned to the upper fields and took part in portions of practice, particularly as a punt returner. Mitchell and Jones did not take any reps.

-There was some CFL personnel on hand scouting practice. Members of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts were on hand watching the action.

-In addition to signing his one-day contract, Paxton and his son, Rylan, watched practice from the area in front of the media tent. At one point Stephen Gostkowski was kicking field goals in that direction, and Paxton grabbed one of the loose balls and decided to snap it back toward the kicker. In a flashback to his famous "safety snap" in Denver in 2003, Paxton rifled one off the upright – clearly intentionally – and had a big smile on his face as he turned around.

-There were a lot of penalty laps being run during the practice. Early on defensive end Geneo Grissom hit the road and shortly thereafter defensive tackles Vincent Valentine and Josh Augusta followed. Augusta really struggles to complete his laps, and that was the case in the hot and humid conditions on Tuesday. Linebacker Harvey Langi also took a lap after jumping offside during a one-on-one drill against the tackles. Later guard Joe Thuney committed a false start and ran as well. The worst of the day came late in practice when linebacker Trevor Bates was late coming onto the field and the entire defense – coaches included – took a lap on what was to be the final play of an 11-on-11 team period.

-Linebacker Elandon Roberts may have dodged the injury bullet after going down with an apparent left foot/ankle injury early in practice. Roberts was shadowing a receiver when he pulled up lame, limped for a few strides and then went down. He tried to get up but immediately collapsed back to the turf before being attended to by trainer Jim Whalenand the medical staff. Initially it looked to be potentially serious but after the trainers removed his cleat and re-taped his ankle, Roberts eventually returned to action and took part in the remainder of the workout. By the end of practice he was moving without much hint of a limp.

-James O'Shaughnessy may not have been as fortunate. The tight end, who has been active as a receiver during the early part of camp, left the field with Whalen and did not return. O'Shaughnessy was walking under his own power and did not show any signs of injury, but he nonetheless missed the remainder of practice. For young players and newcomers, any lost time can be particularly damaging to their development as the missed reps can't be replaced.

-James Develin, always a favorite at PFW and in particular for Andy Hart, spent some working on one of the big bags down near the Dante's Inferno area of the practice fields while the rest of the team was working on kick returns. Develin also made a nice toe-tapping catch near the left sideline on a deep fade from Brady, showing great hands and decent mobility on the play.

-Nate Solder worked again as an extra tight end and got the better of Langi on one such rep. The rookie linebacker got pancaked on the play, but there was no animosity as Langi actually helped Solder back to his feet after mike Gillislee was able to pick up a significant chunk of yardage running in the hole Solder helped create. Both Langi and Solder are religious men so it wasn't overly surprising to see the two respond the way they did.

-That was not the case later in practice when Edelman and Gilmore hooked up on a red zone rep. Gilmore did a great job sticking with the shifty wideout and was actually in better position to catch Tom Brady's pass in the right back corner of the end zone before Edelman got physical with the corner to prevent the possible pick. Gilmore clearly didn't like the extra shove, and he scrambled to his feet and let Edelman know about it. Seconds later the two went at it with Edelman managing to flip Gilmore onto his back before jumping on an throwing several punches as helmets went flying. When the dust settled Belichick sent both to the locker room with Edelman leaving the fields first, followed soon by Gilmore. Belichick has had some harsh words in the past for players who fight during practice and he was clearly annoyed again on Tuesday.

-Getting back to Langi, the rookie saw his most significant action of camp when he was part of a defense that included Roberts and Shea McClellin at linebacker in a 4-3 set. Langi was on the left side with McClellin on the right and Roberts inside. Kyle Van Noy worked with another group that included David Harris inside and Derek Rivers on the right side.

-There was a lot of third-down situational work on Tuesday. Van Noy, who has been quite active throughout camp, showed strong coverage against Rob Gronkowski during one rep but was still unable to prevent the catch. Gronk got his strong mitts on Brady's pass and was able to secure it despite tight coverage from Van Noy, and that was the first time that has been the case this season. Van Noy's mobility has been on display on a few occasions in coverage this summer, but more often than not the connections have been made anyway.

-Rookie Deatrich Wise got some action as a sub rusher during the early third-down segment. He tried his luck rushing against Solder, but the left tackle completely stoned him at the line. Wise did come up with a would-be sack of Brady on another rep and he seems to be making a push.

-Speaking of Wise, he seems to be getting the majority of his reps as a true defensive end while fellow rookie Derek Rivers sees some action as an outside linebacker. Wise is about 20 pounds heavier than Rivers as that development is not overly surprising but it's noteworthy nonetheless, especially in the aftermath of Rob Ninkovich's retirement, which has left the defensive end spot a bit thin.

-Jacoby Brissett hasn't been especially accurate during camp thus far but one throw he seems to excel at is the quick slant. Brissett has the ability to make the short drop, plant off his back foot and fire the ball accurately into tight coverage. He was perfect on one such throw to Brandin Cooks on Tuesday, hitting the dynamic wideout in stride as Eric Rowe trailed slightly in coverage.

-Jimmy Garoppolo continues to struggle protecting the ball, throwing another interception and hitting the road for a lap following a botched exchange with center Ted Karras. The pick came during the third-down work when he tried to hit Chris Hogan, who was tightly covered by Justin Coleman. Garoppolo rolled to his left and appeared ready to pull the ball down and likely would have run in a game situation, but instead he reloaded and hit the corner in the chest. His second and last rep of the drill sailed well over Hogan's head down the left sideline.

-Rookie defensive tackle Adam Butler is making some plays in limited opportunities. During a one-on-one pass rush drill he got the better of guard Jamil Douglas, and earlier in camp he was active around the line with some batted passes while helping to collapse the pocket. Butler is a 6-5, 300-pound defensive tackle out of Vanderbilt worth keeping an eye on.

-LaAdrian Waddle and Cam Fleming have worked as the tackles with the second offensive line throughout training camp but on Tuesday they switched side. Waddle was on the left side while Fleming went to the right after the opposite was true prior to day in camp.

-Runners were forced to carry two footballs during a ball security drill on Tuesday. All of the offensive players managed to hold on despite the attempts from two "tacklers" looking to strip the balls away.

-The special teams work feature kick returns and Cyrus Jones, Dion Lewis, Will Likely and D.J. Foster all took reps. Van Noy was able to recover an onside kick attempt by Gostkowski.

-The players normally wear plenty of red jerseys under their uniforms but Tuesday featured a splash of blue as well. Rex Burkhead was completely covered with blue under his white practice jersey.

-Matthew Slater enjoyed one of his best days as a receiver during his career. He caught several passes from Brady and hauled in a deep ball from Garoppolo after Coleman appeared to break up the play. Coleman came over and tipped the pass but Slater stuck with it and eventually came away with the football for a long gain. With Amendola and Mitchell limited and Hollister out, Slater has been asked to run more reps as a wideout and he gave the quarterbacks a productive option on Tuesday.

-Rowe showed tight coverage late in practice when he hung close to Hogan in the end zone and prevented a touchdown with a nice pass breakup. Hogan appeared to be shaken up on the play as he landed awkwardly, and he slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration shortly thereafter. The wideout took some time to get back to his feet before slowly working his way back toward the offensive sideline.

-Cooks, Foster, Amendola, Hogan, Likely and Jones all fielded several punts at the end of practice. Jones and Amendola remained at the end, handling their final several chances while starting the reps with their backs to the Jugs machine before being instructed when to turn and find the ball. Both handled every chance flawlessly.

-Cooks went to the podium to meet with the media after practice. Other Patriots who spent time chatting included Vincent Valentine, Gostkowski, Harris, Trey Flowers and Caleb Kidder.

-The Patriots will be back at it tomorrow with practice open to the public and set to begin at 9:15 a.m. As always, check Patriots.com for all the latest updates with the schedule.