Breathe easy, Pats fans.
You may have held your collective breaths when you saw or heard that Ty Warren was heading to the locker room during NeW England's preseason opener in Tampa Friday night. Then Sunday, he wasn't occupying his normal spot at left defensive end during practice.
But according to published reports today, the reasons for Warren's absence are mostly precautionary.
Meanwhile, Warren's fellow defensive starter, safety Rodney Harrison, is glad to be back on the field after two injury-shortened seasons.
"I am working on my run reads, pass reads, drops, tackling. Everything. I'm just trying to get better," Harrison told The Boston Globe in a weekend feature.
"It's good to have him back," cornerback Ellis Hobbs said in the story. "He's had a tough time these past two years, being in and out. I think he's done a great job being resilient and continuing to move on.
On the other side of the football, there's Bam Childress.
For the past couple of years, the former Ohio State wideout has found a way to stick with the Patriots, be it on the active roster or the practice squad. But with the increased competition at his position this year, making the team again may prove to be tougher than ever.
"It's a challenge," Childress conceded in a Worcester Telegram & Gazette piece. "You're talking about Randy Moss and all them guys. But I look at it as if I'm worried about them, I'm not doing my best. So I go out there and play hard and have fun and let everything take care of itself."
It won't be an impossibile task, however, as head coach Bill Belichick acknowledged.
"Bam is a pretty strong kid for his size, kind of like Troy (Brown) is. He's not tall, but he's thick and he's strong and he's quick and he's versatile. I think there are similarities between those two players."
