A quick rundown of some of the happenings at this morning's on-field session for the Patriots:

* Missing were Logan Mankins, Ty Warren, Leigh Bodden, Brandon McGowan, Nick Kaczur, Taylor Price, Aaron Hernandez and Kade Weston.

* It cannot be a good early sign for Shawn Crable that he was with the scout-team defense when the first-team offense was going through run-game work -- especially since rookie Jermaine Cunningham was with the first- and second-string defensive players on the other field working with the scout offense.

* It also can't be a good sign for Australian import David King that he was shagging field goal tries as fellow punter Zoltan Mesko was the only holder Stephen Gostkowski was working with.

* Thomas Williams once again took a couple of snaps at fullback before returning to his duties as a linebacker with the defense.

* Darius Butler made the play of the day, jumping in front of a Tom Brady pass intended for Julian Edelman on the sideline for an interception. There was a lot of work with the first-team offense going against the first-team defense, which helps create a sense of competition within the team.

* Torry Holt seems to always be moving - when he was waiting for his turn in the rotation at one point, he was doing toe taps and quick hops back and forth over one of the yardage lines; at another point, he did a handstand. Similarly, Edelman tried some handstand pushups.

* Stephen Gostkowski looks pretty good this spring - today he was hitting from around 48 yards consistently, and several times with plenty of distance to spare.

Bert will have some of his observations later...