Beisel on injury report

The Patriots released their Thursday injury report and inside linebacker Monty Beisel was an unexpected addition. He is questionable (50-50 chance to play) with a finger injury.

The rest of the report is the same as Wednesday, which is as follows:

Offensive tackle Matt Light — out
Running back Kevin Faulk — out
Outside linebacker Tully Banta-Cain (knee) — probable
Quarterback Tom Brady (right shoulder) — probable
Receiver Troy Brown (foot) — probable
Outside linebacker Matt Chatham (knee) — probable
Running back Corey Dillon (ankle) — probable
Cornerback Randall Gay (ankle) — probable
Defensive lineman Jarvis Green (shoulder) — probable
Defensive lineman Marquise Hill (ankle) — probable
Linebacker/special teams ace Larry Izzo (thigh) — probable
Outside linebacker Willie McGinest (finger) — probable
Cornerback Tyrone Poole (ankle) — probable
Safety James Sanders (ankle) — probable
Safety Guss Scott (knee) — probable
Defensive lineman Richard Seymour (knee) — probable
Cornerback Duane Starks (thigh) — probable

All players were listed as having missed a portion of practice.

Belichick was asked a few questions about injury reports at his Thursday press conference. One question was if the injury report is more for the fans than teams.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “You would have to ask the league. We just comply with it. You tell me why they do it the way they do it. I don’t know. You’d have to ask them. We just do what they tell us to do based on information that we have and the guidelines that are set.”

Belichick was asked if the Patriots alter their preparations based on their opposition’s injury report.

“If they’re on the active roster, I think you better prepare for them,” he said. “Whatever your source and knowledge is, if you have some knowledge that a player is not going to play, if that’s right, then you can not prepare for him and prepare for the other 52 or 51 or whatever it is. But unless you’re totally confident in that information, whatever your sources are, in my opinion, I believe in preparing for all the possibilities, whatever they are.

“You don’t have any control over that. The guy all of a sudden gets better, he gets better. If he doesn’t and he gets worse, but you can’t control any of that. Guys play and they can go out on the first play of the game. Just because you prepare for him that doesn’t mean they’re going to play either. We’ve all been through that before, both on your team and the opponent’s team. You have to make changes on the first play of the game. Sometimes they do too. That’s part of the game. You have to adjust to it.”

Looking ahead, we’ll have a short update later tonight on what the Patriots might do if Beisel can’t play.

–Mike