… Fall days in New England don't get much better than today, except when the leaves turn color and begin falling, of course. Otherwise, gorgeous, sunny, cool conditions down on the single practice field behind Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots wore full pads for today's workout.

… Very good news as far as injuries are concerned. The Patriots had seven absentees on Wednesday, but three of those players returned to the field Thursday: tight end Aaron Hernandez (left knee), defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth (back), and d-lineman Mike Wright (concussion) all were in uniform. In Wright's case, this is the first time we've seen him since the opener at Miami.

… The remaining four players who weren't on the field yesterday were not there today, either: wide receiver Julian Edelman (right ankle), running back Danny Woodhead (left ankle), linebacker Jerod Mayo (left knee), and Sebastian Vollmer.

… Following stretching, the team broke into positional groups for drills. The QBs and receivers did their normal pre-game, pre-practice warm-up, where the pass catchers line up and run fly routes at half-to-three-quarter speed and the quarterbacks lob the ball to them. The drill got off to a sloppy start, and offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien was none too pleased. He cursed the players out and they resumed with what appeared to be more spring in their steps. That's the kind of thing you see during a rivalry week.

… Hernandez had quite a humorous exchange with reporters in the locker room today. Check out today's update on patriots.com.

UPDATE … 4:00 p.m.

Hernandez, Haynesworth, and Wright were all LIMITED in their participation today. No other changes to the report from yesterday.

On the Jets' side, wide receiver Plaxico Burress returned to full participation after being out with an elbow injury yesterday. Also returning in a limited capacity was linebacker Calvin Pace, who has an abdomen problem that kept him out of Wednesday's action.