Patriots Start SBLIII Prep

ATLANTA (973espn.com) - The New England Patriots held their first practice in Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon at Georgia Tech's indoor practice facility.

Bill Belichick put his players in helmets and shells during the nearly 90-minute session with defensive tackle Malcolm Brown the only player on the injury report, a limited participant due to a calf injury.

“He did some stuff early in practice today,” Belichick told PFWA pool reporter Jenny Vrentas. “Everybody else was good to go.”

The Patriots began the session with some walk-through plays and a special teams period. From there the starting offense and defense alternated 11-on-11 plays against the scout team which was mimicking the Los Angeles Rams' looks. Tom Brady ended the final period of practice with two touchdown passes against the scout-team defense.

After, players did some individual work on the field, and Brady stayed with center David Andrews and a few offensive teammates to practice exchanges and handoffs.

“We are way ahead of where we normally are on Wednesday, but we are trying to keep it as a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday and get into our normal routine, which has worked pretty well for us this year,” Belichick said.

 -John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973espn.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen