The Patriots are focusing on tight end Dallas Clark heading into their battle with the Colts on Sunday night. During New England's last meeting with Indianapolis, safety Rodney Harrison was in charge of covering Clark, but he's currently on the injured reserve. With Harrison out, Adalius Thomas might be assigned coverage duty on Clark in Week Nine. "Rodney is a great player and he definitely gives a big lift for their defense. They always say 'next guy in,' but I think just on this side of the fence, I think Rodney's a tough guy for them to replace," Clark said during a conference call. "He brought so much to their defense, so much versatility and just that toughness the defense always shows, so I think he allowed them to do a lot of different things." Pats' coach Bill Belichick wouldn't reveal any specific plans for Clark, but appeared worried about a number of targets. "There are plenty of concerns with Dallas Clark. There are concerns about everybody - Clark, (Marvin) Harrison, (Reggie) Wayne, (Anthony) Gonzalez and (Joseph) Addai. It is about team defense; you can?t double everybody," Belichick said. "You can?t set your defense to stop everybody; they have too many good players. In the course of playing good team defense there will be a lot of different people that will have a lot of different responsibilities all the way through the course of the game."

Patriots' coach Bill Belichick doesn't believe that Colts' quarterback Peyton Manning is playing hurt this season. "If I?m not mistaken, he hasn?t shown up on the injury report all year except maybe one day at the beginning of the season," Belichick said. "I am not really sure what injuries you?re talking about, but he hasn?t been listed on the injury report all year." Manning underwent two procedures on his knee during the summer to remove an infected bursa sac and did not take a single snap until the team's season opener in early September. "He looks pretty good to me," Belichick said. "I don?t think he?s injured. He hasn?t been on the injury report, so I?m assuming he?s not hurt."

Patriots' defensive tackle Vince Wilfork will reportedly be fined,but not suspended by the NFL after meeting with Roger Goodell about a hit on Denver quarterback Jay Cutler. Wilfork was summoned to meet with Goodell after the Broncos claimed tape of New England's 41-7 win on Oct. 20 showed Wilfork elbowing Cutler in the helmet. "I think both sides were happy," Wilfork said Wednesday. "He got a chance to hear my side of my story of how I approach the game. I got a chance to hear what he had to say about the whole situation of my past history and playing football and all that good stuff. So I think we both left pretty happy."

Patriots' running back Sammy Morris claims that his knee injury will not sideline him for the remainder of the season. Morris also revealed that the injury occurred on his final carry against the Broncos on Oct. 20, a 29-yard carry. "Initially, I was pretty upset," Morris said Tuesday. "Thankfully, I have my family, friends, and teammates that are helping me shift focus from the negative and look at the positive of coming back." He did not list a timetable for his return to the field. "Bill [Belichick] describes it [as] day to day, and that's how I describe it. I'll be back ASAP," Morris said. "It's dealing with the unfortunate part of the game, and I'm working my way back."

The Rams have sent a tape of non-calls against the Patriots to the NFL after New England was called for zero penalty yards on Sunday. "Never ever, ever, ever played a perfect team before," Rams' guard Richie Incognito said about the disparity, according to the report. "That's all I am going to say on that one." During the game, the Rams were flagged 12 times for 63 yards; the Patriots were flagged once, with the Rams declining that penalty. "It doesn't help. It just lets them know you know," Rams' Coach Jim Haslett said of the decision to send the tape.

Patriots' offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is optimistic that Tom Brady will be back on the field next season. McDaniels expressed that optimism without setting a timetable, saying only that it'll happen "whenever that may be next year." The Boston Herald reported Thursday that Brady had additional surgery on his left knee after infection set in following his first operation. "I'm not really aware of all that stuff that's going on," McDaniels said. "I've heard all the other stuff, but I've talked to Tommy and he obviously has got a good approach and a good attitude on this whole thing. And however it ends up turning out, I'm sure he'll work as hard as he can to get back out here, whenever that may be next year. "And so, we're all behind him and can't wait to see him whenever he gets back into town."

The Patriots offered their support for injured quarterback Tom Brady on Thursday, denying a report that they are upset that he opted against the team's preferred doctors and decided to have surgery on the West Coast. "This unsubstantiated report does not represent the team's views whatsoever," the team said in a statement. "We have supported Tom Brady one hundred percent from day one of this process and will continue to do so. ... Today, we reiterate our total support for Tom as he recovers from his injury." After two published reports surfaced Thursday saying Brady needed two more operations to clean out an infection in his surgically repaired knee, ESPN.com reported that 'the Patriots, as an organization, are upset with the situation because they were clear that they wanted Brady's surgery done under the direction of doctors of their choosing in Boston.'

Doctors have been so concerned about managing the infection in Tom Brady's surgically-repaired left knee that they have gone back in three times in an attempt to eradicate it. Brady has acknowledged that he had one arthroscopic procedure done to "clean and to test the wound" last Wednesday, but the Boston Herald has learned there have been two additional procedures performed since then. According to a team source, the fear is the patellar tendon graft used to replace Brady?s ACL is in danger of becoming compromised. Should that occur, the entire ACL reconstruction would have to be removed and redone from scratch.

New England safety Rodney Harrison reportedly suffered a season-ending quadriceps injury on Monday night against Denver. He was injured on the last play of the third quarter in the team's win. Harrison, in the final year of his contract, waved to the crowd as he was driven off the field on a cart. The NFL Network first reported Tuesday that Harrison had a torn quad. The Boston Globe later reported he had a torn right quad.

The Patriots put running back Laurence Maroney on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, ending his season, according to an Associated Press report on Monday.