The Patriots just concluded the second practice of training camp Thursday afternoon in hot, sunny conditions on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium. The workout again took place in full pads, running from about 3:30-5:30 pm.

Wes Welker remained in shorts and a cutoff t-shirt, continuing to workout with the teams training and rehab staff, although he didn’t do nearly the work on the field that he did in the morning session.

–The players not on the field again were Logan Mankins and Derrick Burgess. Welker, Darnell Jenkins, Ron Brace and Sam Aiken were in sweats/shorts and worked out with the training staff on the side.

–The team got together before and after practice in a large group huddle, the latter of which included signing Happy Birthday to defensive line coach Pepper Johnson. One of his players, Ty Warren, gave Johnson a birthday Gatorade bath during group stretching after the conclusion of practice. Warren even left the Gatorade cooler on top of Johnson’s head.

–During some pre-practice work rookie offensive lineman Thomas Welch took some snapping reps working with regular long snapper Jake Ingram and FG/PAT holder Zoltan Mesko.

–Just one of those funny observations in the big-money, high-tech world of the NFL – the defensive front uses garbage cans turned upside down to serve as mock offensive linemen in their pre-practice work.

–The wide receivers do a variety of drills in their early group work, and it looks like position coach Chad O’Shea might be putting his stamp on things in that area. The receivers made cuts out from behind large tackling dummy, attempting to make the blind grab and toe-tapping catch along the sidelines. The receivers did a few drills using the large bags to cut off of and serve as screens. Along the sideline, all the receivers seemed to find the drill pretty difficult as few, if any, both caught the ball and got their feet down.

–Brandon Tate made a great catch on a deep ball down the left sideline against air early in practice. While falling to the ground he reached up to first bring the ball in with one hand before securing it with the other as he went to the ground just inside the pylon for the touchdown.

–Fred Taylor had a dropped pass in the practice, this after fumbling in the morning. He hasn’t had the best start to camp, that coming on the heels of a tough spring in which he dropped a lot of passes in a couple different workouts.

–The running backs went one-on-one with the linebackers in a pass coverage drill early in practice. A very tough drill for the defenders, I thought they held their own often enough. The best series of reps involved Jerod Mayo and Kevin Faulk. On the first the linebacker got a great, legal bump on the veteran back to disrupt the play, nearly throwing him to the ground before the incompletion. Ever the competitor, Faulk immediately wanted another rep. He got his way and took advantage, shaking past Mayo with a swim move for an easy reception over the middle. Each side claimed a victory, probably what you’d want in a competitive, balanced camp.

Thomas Williams batted down a pass with a nice break to step in front of Thomas Clayton in the drill. Elsewhere, Brandon Spikes not only struggled in his coverage, but seemed to hold the receiver on each of his reps.

–While the backs and backers were going at it, the wide receivers/tight ends and safeties/corners were doing the same on the far end of the field. Though it was hard to keep track of reps in both areas, I did see Randy Moss beat Darius Butler badly, with the second-year player seemingly giving the All-Pro too much respect and cushion. Butler protected the deep ball to the point where Moss had a good 5-plus yards of separation on his in-cut.

–Owner Robert Kraft was in attendance for the second straight session.

–A number of players seemed to get shaken up during the workout, including Matthew Slater, Bret Lockett and Clayton. Lockett went to the locker room early.

–The sides broke up into two groups for some team work. With Brady and Hoyer leading one offense and Zac Robinson leading the other. In one running rep Tyrone McKenzie did a nice job taking on a pulling Nick Kaczur, fighting off the block and then wrapping up the running back. McKenzie certainly looks the part and has the hard-nosed style of a run-first inside linebacker.

–Kickoff return was once again the area of focus on special teams. There was a slight change, though, in the groupings at returner. Tate was joined by Faulk as the off returner for the first rep, possible due to Slater being out of action. Julian Edelman was alongside Sammy Morris, with the pair seemingly having a little miscommunication that led to a heart-stopping, last-minute return by Morris. Taylor Price and Devin McCourty manned the third group to take reps.

–Sebastian Vollmer took a penalty lap during one drill. Robinson and Ryan Wendell took a penalty lap for a botched exchange in team action. The pair took a penalty lap in the morning session as well.

–Tom Brady had great practice in terms of his play-action fakes. At one point he held the ball on his hip for what seemed a like good two-count as the defense tried to catch up. Unfortunately Brady made a poor throw after the great fake.

–Brady seemed to get his foot stepped on after a throw in one drill. He limped around a bit after a couple reps thereafter.

–McCourty got even more significant reps in his second practice than he did in his first. At times he lined up opposite Leigh Bodden in place of Darius Butler. He also took reps on the left side at other times, with Butler getting some reps on the right side in place of Bodden.

–Brady had some real highs and lows during an exciting red zone segment late in practice. First, he hit Randy Moss for a score, beating McCourty. He also found rookie tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez for touchdowns, both coming at the expense of Patrick Chung. But in between he put a quick play action throw right into Gary Guyton’s hands for what would have been a potential 100-yard interception return for a touchdown. Guyton showed good hands and reflexes to make the play.

–Practice closed with the veterans doing a series of sprints while the younger and unproven players took more “opportunity” reps on the other end of the field. It’s interesting that guys like Price and McCourty get a ton of reps early in practice, but also get reps in the “opportunity” segment at the end.

–The Patriots will return to the field on Friday for another day of double sessions, with the morning workout getting underway at 9:30 a.m. The practice is open to the public, but be sure to check Patriots.com for any last-minute schedule changes or updates.