The Patriots just finished up the second day of veteran mini-camp practice on the fields behind Gillette Stadium. The mid-day workout took place under cloudy, damp, chilly conditions with players wearing shorts/pants, jerseys and helmets.

Here are one man’s humble observations of the practice action:

–For the second straight day 75 Patriots took part in the workout. For the record, Vince Wilfork was once again in attendance. Sammy Morris made his offseason debut on the practice fields, while fellow running back Patrick Pass was not on the field after working out on Wednesday. The rest of the missing players were the same as the camp’s opening workout: WR Tyree Barnes, WR Shun White, WR Brandon Tate, S Brandon Meriweather, CB Mike Richardson, S Ray Ventrone, S Brandon McGowan, LB Jerod Mayo, LB Tyrone McKenzie, T Mark LeVoir, DE Ty Warren and DE Jarvis Green.

–Randy Moss seemed to be in a very good, vocal mood. He spent stretching throwing the ball around with Wilfork. Then during positional work he was yelling jokes and comments in the direction of the other offensive groups, including praising Dante Scarnecchia work with the offensive linemen.

–Tom Brady didn’t have his best day throwing the ball. He missed a number of mid-range throws. It almost reminded me of his first day back for OTAs in late May, when he actually deemed himself “rusty.” In a real rarity, he and Moss seemed to fail to get on the same page on a couple occasions during the practice.

–During much of the early practice group work on offense the unit displayed a variety of different formations using multiple backs in the backfield with variations including different pairings of Laurence Maroney, Fred Taylor and Kevin Faulk. The work also included many different positional packages with multiple tight ends, including lined up in as fullbacks in the backfield.

–During kickoff return action Matthew Slater paired with Laurence Maroney, Terrence Wheatley with Darius Butler and Julian Edelman with Terrence Nunn. Wes Welker and Faulk were in the area, but just watched.

–In red zone work Brady had one of his better completions, finding Benjamin Watson in the far right side of the end zone to beat the tight coverage of Adalius Thomas for the score. He also hooked up with Moss at one point for a deep ball down the left sideline, beating Jonathan Wilhite.

–Rookie cornerback Darius Butler had what I thought was his strongest workout to date. The second-round pick made a number of very impressive breaks on the ball. He made a nice break to knock away a short Brady pass intended for Moss. On the next play Brady tried to go deep to Moss down the right side with the rookie Butler (who may have been a bit “hands-on” had their been officials) running stride for stride with the All-Pro. Moss got his outstretched hand on the ball, but it fell incomplete and Butler’s coverage made it a nearly impossible completion even though he didn’t actually touch the ball.

–Moss caught a touchdown pass crossing the back of the end zone in red zone work. Teammates seemed to egg him on to try to dunk the ball through the goalposts after the catch, something he failed an attempt of earlier in the week.

–Described by teammate Richard Seymour as being built like a basketball palyer earlier in the week, Vince Redd showed his athleticism in one rep during team work. The long, second-year player batted down a Kevin O’Connell pass and then nearly lunged to make the interception. He still looks raw, but Redd certainly has some potential.

–Greg Lewis hasn’t shown the precise route running and plus-hands that he was described as having when acquired in trade from the Eagles. It’s still very early but it seems like there is a clear divide between the top three receivers – Moss, Welker and Joey Galloway – and Lewis.

–Keeping with the theme of analyzing the skills of the newcomers, Fred Taylor doesn’t have what I’d call natural hands. He’s dropped a lot of balls in OTA/mini-camp action. Looks like his big-play potential will have to be harvested through the ground game.

–Scott O’Brien continues to display unique drills with his special teamers. Today O’Brien had his kickers line up on the end line, between the goalposts and the sideline. They then attempted to hit the uprights with their kicks from about 15 yards away. Kind of reminds me of the game where the QBs stand on the hashes and try to hit the goalposts. Doug Flutie used to do the drill often before games and youngsters O’Connell and Matt Gutierrez did it after practice on Thursday.

–The defensive front continued to work some four-man front, building the foundation for the versatility that’s the face of any Bill Belichick defense.

–Wilhite got beat for another deep ball down the right sideline later in practice when O’Connell found Lewis for the big play.

–Shawn Springs had an interception of O’Connell at one point.

–Edelman served as the quarterback for the scout team, running plays off cards for the defense. He ran Dolphins-like Wildcat plays on a number of reps, including one in which he threw the ball. With the potential spread of the Wildcat moving forward, it’s probably never too early for the defense to begins its preparation for the look.

–Paris Lenon, Tedy Bruschi and Gary Guyton all led the defensive huddle and called plays at various points in the workout.

–Patrick Chung has gotten plenty of reps next to James Sanders in mini-camp. He looks to be still learning the defense and thinking a bit on the field, causing him to be just step slow at times.

–Much of the end of practice was spent on field goal work. Many came after the offense ran a play and the field goal team had to run on the field in an end of half situation. Stephen Gostkowski appeared to hit all but one of his attempts, including from 56 and 52 yards. He did miss one of the run-on attempts from inside of 40.

–Adalius Thomas, Shawn Springs, Terrence Wheatley, Dan Koppen and others drew large crowds after the workout. Bill Belichick did not talk to the reporters, he will meet with the media coming off the field again on Friday.

–Thomas discussed Rex Ryan’s recent comments. He basically said that it’s just the way Rex is and that it’s funny but that New England reporters “aren’t used to that.”

–The Patriots will return to the field again on Friday for the final workout of the three-day camp at 11 a.m. The players will do interviews coming off the field at 12:30 p.m. Belichick will also close the camp by talking to reporters on his way off the field on Friday.