FOXBORO — On Wednesday, Tom Brady celebrated his 39th birthday by practicing with his teammates in Foxboro, something he won't get to do for four full weeks once the NFL regular season starts.
And Brady's birthday did not go unnoticed by the several thousand fans who showed up at Patriots training camp on Wednesday. As soon as team stretching was over Brady acknowledged the fans after they serenaded him by singing happy birthday.
Even though he was sharing a birthday with Brady, fans did not sing for Patriots offensive lineman Chris Barker on Wednesday but his 26th birthday was not overlooked by his boss.
"First of all we don't want to miss Chris Barker's birthday," said Bill Belichick when asked about Tom Brady's big day before practice began.
The Patriots first preseason game is just over a week away. They host the New Orleans Saints at Gillette Stadium on Thursday, Aug. 11.
As the preseason games and regular season approach it will be interesting to see how the practice reps continue to be split up between Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo. They were split evenly on Wednesday.
For Brady everything gets put on hold five weeks from now.
The first week of practice leading up to the regular season is when Brady starts serving his four game suspension. Until then, he'll just have to soak in the birthday wishes from Patriots fans.
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