Injury brings Brown down

FOXBOROUGH -- Troy Brown didn't play any defense against Carolina in Saturday night's exhibition game. Thing is, he didn't play much offense or special teams, either.

Brown appeared to injure his knee during a punt return in the first quarter, walking gingerly off the field, twice pausing to bend and grab his knee. He didn't play another down.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said yesterday he still didn't know the severity of the injury but he didn't think Brown would miss a lot of time.

Brown's departure left the Patriots so thin at receiver that Chas Gessner played with the first team in the 20-17 loss. Part of that was because of David Givens's absence.

Givens was deactivated for the game, but he said yesterday he could have played if necessary, and that he was fine. Givens's leg tightened up against Cincinnati in the second exhibition game, prompting Belichick to sit him Saturday as a precaution.

Givens is practicing with the team, but not to the full extent. Belichick said he could play Thursday night against Jacksonville.

"He is getting better day by day," Belichick said. "I think he is close. He is doing some things. He is doing what he can do. He is not in a full work schedule, but he is close to that."

Scrambling
With just nine days remaining before the Patriots open the season against Indianapolis, Belichick knows his team has a lot to do and not much time to do it.

The Patriots are faced with a short week to prepare for Jacksonville. In that time, they have to pare their roster to 65 players (by this afternoon at 4), scan the waiver wire, correct mistakes from the Carolina game, and come up with a game plan for the Jaguars, all the while keeping the Colts somewhere in the back of their minds.

"Right now we are scrambling a little bit, like you usually are at this time of year," Belichick said. "[There are] a lot of conversations between all of the teams in the league on different personnel matters and so forth. There is a lot of stuff going around. [We are] just trying to make some sense out of it and juggle several balls in the air at one time."

The short week doesn't affect the players that much. The first-teamers, who were in for three quarters against Carolina, will likely receive less than a quarter of playing time Thursday night. So fatigue won't be a factor when the regular season begins.

But, logistically, it's hard to squeeze in everything.

"It definitely puts a strain on everybody," said Belichick. To this point, the preseason has gone smoothly. The only major injury has been to rookie Guss Scott, who is out for the season with a left knee injury. And other than the debacle in Cincinnati (a 31-3 loss), New England has made steady progress.

"We're much further along now than we were three weeks ago, but we're not really where we need to be," quarterback Tom Brady said. "We all realize that it takes time."

Two are released
The Patriots released punter/ kicker Cody Scates and long snapper Brian Sawyer, both undrafted rookie free agents. Sawyer, out of Florida State, was insurance for Lonie Paxton, who battled injuries earlier in camp but is healthy now. The team still needs to make a couple of moves by today's deadline to get down to 65 . . . The Patriots officially placed Scott on injured reserve.