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FOXBORO - After eight days of non-stop football, Bill Belichick has decided to give the Patriots a break.

There will be no practice today at Gillette Stadium as Belichick and his staff will take the time to assess how training camp has progressed, and in which direction it must go with less than a week left before the preseason opener Thursday at home against the Baltimore Ravens.

The Patriots will also get a break from their adoring fans on Saturday, most of whom will instead be inside the stadium to listen to Bruce Springsteen. Saturday afternoon's practice will be closed to the public.

"I think we are reaching a point here where our preparations for Baltimore, which really start for us Sunday night, between now and then there will be a period where we need to step back and take a breath and say 'OK, lets go back and see where we are here. Let's think about it,'" Belichick said Thursday during his daily press conference,

"We do that on a regular basis anyway," he continued. "Now we sit back and overview to find out where we are at the end of one week. We may be on schedule in some areas, a little bit behind in other areas and maybe we are doing a little better than we thought we would in some areas. "Then we talk about the players and how they are doing, how the repetitions are going, what we need to emphasize in practice and maybe change the combinations of players to move guys so that they get more versatility," he added.

Most of the Patriots' practices thus far in camp have been in full pads, 10 as opposed to three walkthroughs (including Thursday afternoon's practice). Injuries have been at a minimum, although some luminaries such as offensive left tackle Matt Light have missed a few practices for undisclosed reasons.

And, there are still eight players on the physically-unable-to-perform list. They are wide receiver Wes Welker, linebacker Mike Vrabel, defensive end Jarvis Green, cornerback Ellis Hobbs, guard Stephen Neal, tackle Oliver Ross, linebacker Bo Ruud and defensive tackle Mike Wright.

At some point, the practices are going to be hindered by so many absences if some of these players don't make it back to the roster shortly.

"I'm sure we will have to alter it some," Belichick said of his practice schedule for the next week. "That is kind of how it works. We kind of know where we are going in the second week, but there are usually some things that have to be modified in order to make it as productive as we can."

Reel it in

Linebacker Jerod Mayo has proven to be a quick study and a fierce competitor in practice - perhaps a little bit too fierce, as he leveled punter Chris Hanson during a recent special-teams drill.

Punters aren't treated as much like fine china as quarterbacks, but given that the Patriots have only one punter and one placekicker in camp, it's not a good idea for the top draft pick to be putting Hanson in his crosshairs.

"We want to work together," Belichick said. "Everybody is out there competing, but at the same time we want to take care of each other because this is all we've got. That's something we all have to do at every position. We want to compete, play hard and take care of each other.

"Sometimes there is a fine line because guys get a little out of control or they lose their balance," he added. "We want to try and avoid any of those types of situations, but that is also part of the game."