FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Tom Brady walked off the field under his own power. Several teammates didnt think he was hurt badly when he grabbed his left knee after being knocked down. Yet the possibility that the New England Patriots might lose their star quarterback caused a scare at the teams joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wednesday. A person with knowledge of the injury said an MRI was negative and Brady was day-to-day with a left knee sprain. Asked if Brady might play Friday night in an exhibition game against the Buccaneers, the person said he didnt know. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Patriots didnt make an announcement. The two-time league MVP had a season-ending injury to the same knee in the 2008 opener. Brady was injured midway through practice Wednesday when left tackle Nate Solder was pushed into him by Tampa Bay defensive end Adrian Clayborn. Brady, entering his 14th NFL season, fell, rocked backward on the ground and held his left knee. He went to the sideline then returned for a few more plays before talking with coach Bill Belichick and leaving the field toward the teams indoor practice facility next to it. "Youve always got to stay away from the quarterback (in practice)," Clayborn said. "You got a guy on his heels and my instinct is to keep going, so thats what I did." The contact came just as Brady threw a long incompletion down the right sideline toward rookie Aaron Dobson. "Were always working to protect," Solder said. "Ill have to see what happened on the film. I screwed some things up here and there." In 2008, Brady tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Patriots missed the playoffs that season. He has played every game since then and the team reached the playoffs in all four seasons. New England is favoured to win the weak AFC East for the 10th time in 11 years. Losing Brady would have made that much tougher. After Brady left the field, third-year pro Ryan Mallett played with the first offensive unit and Tim Tebow, on his 26th birthday, played with the second team. Mallett threw an interception soon after taking over. "Im just trying to do my job," Mallett said. "Im sure Tom will be fine and well just go on." In his first series after Brady left, Tebow completed three of seven passes and looked fairly sharp. One of his passes was dropped. Tebow left practice without speaking with reporters. "Anytime anybody, especially a teammate, goes down its a dark cloud. Its unfortunate," Patriots running back Shane Vereen said. "He went back out there, but well see." Running back LaGarrette Blount was optimistic. "He walked off," Blount said. "Im sure hes cool. Im sure hes fine." But shortly before Blount spoke, a black helicopter landed on a field adjacent to the one where Brady was injured. Cameramen, apparently concerned that Brady might be airlifted to a hospital, rushed to record the landing. "The helicopter has nothing to do with Tom," Patriots owner Jonathan Kraft said on WBZ-FM. Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano said he and Belichick stress to their players to rush the passer but let him throw the football and go past him. "I didnt get to see" the hit on Brady, Schiano said. "I saw him laying there afterward. ... I hope hes OK." Losing Brady would leave the Patriots without a proven starting quarterback. Mallett has thrown just four passes in his first two seasons and has been inconsistent during training camp. Tebow signed as a free agent on June 10 and has struggled with his throwing mechanics, a problem hes had since being drafted by the Denver Broncos in the first round in 2010. "The big thing is just his familiarity with the offence, the way we do things -- the play calling, the reads, formationing, just general things we do," Belichick said of Tebow. "The quarterback has to have a good understanding of all that. The more you do it, the more you get comfortable with it and the better you can execute it. I think thats no different, really, than any other young quarterback or quarterback coming into a new system." In the Patriots 31-22 exhibition win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Friday night, Mallett completed 9 of 18 passes for 97 yards. Tebow went 4 for 12 for 55 yards with three sacks and ran four times for 31 yards. Brady completed 7 of 8 passes for 65 yards and one touchdown and left after the first two series. Cheap Nike Shoes Australia . So heres what I do when I want to get into the baseball mood—I delve into "The Baseball Project". Wholesale Shoes Australia . Founding members of the Genie Army, a group of Eugenie Bouchard supporters who cheered for the rising tennis star during the Australian Open in January, will be in the city for the Rogers Cup, beginning this weekend. https://www.shoesaustraliaonline.com/ . Louis second-period goal increased the New York Rangers lead but Dustin Brown has countered for the Los Angeles Kings who now trail the New York Rangers 2-1 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final at Madison Square Garden. Fake Shoes Australia . - While he appreciates suggestions from Packers fans of remedies for his sore left calf, Aaron Rodgers is not necessarily going to listen to the advice. Buy Shoes Australia . Bouchard went down to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Svitolina in her opening match at the Sony Open on Friday. Bouchard got the rivalry going two years ago when she won the junior Wimbledon title over Svitolina.MINSK, Belarus -- Three-thousand kilometres from where he grew up in Toronto, Geoff Platt couldnt have felt more at home. Moments after scoring and setting off another wild celebration at Minsk arena, Platt leapt into the arms of Belarusian captain Alexei Kalyuzhny. Not long after, fans were chanting his name. "Its an emotion that Im not sure Ive achieved ever in my career, just because of the atmosphere and the electricity in the building," Platt said. "It just runs through your veins and grabs a hold of you." Along with goaltender Kevin Lalande, Platt is one of two Canadian-born players representing host Belarus at the world hockey championship and playing major roles in what might be the best international showing in the countrys history. Led by Canadian-born coach Glen Hanlon, Belarus is in the quarter-finals for just the third time and the first since 2009. This is the biggest event Belarus has ever hosted, so Minsk has been partying for two weeks. And this team is giving locals another reason to celebrate. "You have to understand the magnitude (of) what this means to them," Hanlon said. "Its bigger than just a game. This is their chance to show everybody." By show everybody, Hanlon means the city, which is decked out in IIHF signs welcoming the world and reminding them in the form of giant bison mascots that hockey is happening here. Inside the 15,000-seat Minsk Arena, home of the KHLs Dynamo Minsk, good hockey has been happening for Belarus. Lalande, a native of Ottawa who plays for Dynamo and gained citizenship, has been stellar and Platt has added timely offence. But the Canadian imports want the credit to go to leading scorers Mikhail Grabovski and Sergei Kostitsyn. "Players are playing for this symbol, and it means a lot more to them to represent their country than probably a National Hockey League team or any club team around the world," Platt said, pointing to the Belarusian coat of arms on his chest. "Youre seeing that with Sergei Kostitsyn, Mikhail Grabovski just really taking their game to a level Im sure theyve almost never played at." Grabovski beamed with pride when talking about what this tournament means to him. Hes showing that to Hanlon, who first coached him as a 21-year-old at the world championships in Vienna in 2005. The Grabovski at this tournament is an other-worldly player. "I dont even look at Mikhail anymore because I know hes going to play great," Hanlon said. "I never get tired of saying, Good game, Mikhail." Hanlon is limited in what he can say to some of his players because of the language barrier. He understands Russian and Belarusian and is trying to learn to speak both languages, even though he doesnt have to. The former Washington Capitals coach and longtime NHL goaltender, whos in his second stint as coach of the Belarusian national team, has someone with him at almost all times who speaks English. At his news conferences with local media, the Brandon, Man., native answers in English, occasionally splicing in Belarusian words and pausing to let the interpreter next to him do his work. "Ive taken lessons, Ive done all of it," Hanlon said. "I have a better handle on it. Ive gone home here after every friendly tournament, so I take all my books, put them in my backpack like the college student on spring break and I end up dealing with my 12-year-old son and my wife and I sort of break away from it for a couple weeks." Hanlons wife and son still live in Vancouver, and because shes a teacher and hes a skier and hockey player they dont accompany him to Europe. "Hed rather play his own hockey than watch me coach," Hanlon said. Everyone in Belarus is watching Hanlon coach with keen interest. In Minsk, televisions all over the city have tournament games on, whether Belarus is playing or not. Inside Minsk Arena, one section is full of fans jumping up and down and doing chants normally reserved for soccer matches. Others whistle and fill the building with the kind of noise Lalande and Platt have no comparison for and Hanlon can only relate to the old Chicago Stadium. "When you go into somewhere like Beell Centre or Madison Square Garden, its pretty loud but it dies off after a while," Hanlon said.dddddddddddd "Here its sustained for the whole 2 1/2 hours of the game. Im not kidding: You cant hear a word down there. Im screaming and Im yelling at my players whos up and everything. "From before the game starts till after its over, its like a festival." Its a festival thats special to the Belarusian players, whether theyre from Novopolotsk in the north like Dmitry Korobov, or Ontario like Lalande and Platt. How they got here wasnt a matter of having Belarusian ancestry. Anyone who plays for Dynamo Minsk for two seasons is eligible for citizenship. "I got to keep my Canadian citizenship, so there wasnt really any downside," said Lalande, who began the tournament as a backup but has played too well for Hanlon not to start him. "At first it just made the travelling a lot easier in Russia, I didnt need a visa and saved a couple pages in my Canadian passport. But when Glen was named the head coach, we had a couple conversations together. He made it clear from the start that he wanted me to be a part of this." "Whether Id play or not he didnt know, but hes been very supportive. I owe everything to him for this chance." Lalande and Platt each praised the local players for accepting them while also noting theres a comfort level in having each other and an English-speaking coach around for this run. But Hanlon, who previously coached the Slovak national team, learned from his season with Jokerit in Finland that having Canadians on his team isnt easy. "Being an import coach you want to go out of your way so that the Canadians are respected," he said. "The last thing you want to do is look like youre favouring them." "So you want them to work for everything that they get, and I try to keep my space from them. I dont want to give anybody any reason to think that these players are going to get special treatment from me." No special treatment, but this experience has been special for Platt and Lalande, even though theyre not playing for their home country. Platt, who played 46 NHL games for the Columbus Blue Jackets and Anaheim Ducks, won a gold medal for Canada at the under-18 world championships in 2003. Platt hasnt represented Canada since and has moved on. "Not putting on the Canadian jersey now is just a chapter that sits in the past in my career," the 28-year-old said. "I was very fortunate to wear the Canadian jersey and win a gold medal at the under-18 level, and now this is a realistic goal to be playing with Belarus and to be competing at this level. Its really fun when were successful." Belarus was plenty successful in the preliminary round, going 4-3 to finish third in its group, ahead of Finland, Switzerland and Latvia and set up a quarter-final game against Sweden on Thursday night. Even if Sweden ends Belaruss run, the host teams performance wont be forgotten any time soon. When a victory over Latvia clinched a spot in the quarter-finals, Platt called it a "very rare opportunity for Belarusian ice hockey" that his teammates capitalized on. Lalande couldnt come up with words to describe his emotions. "We did it for ourselves because we believed," Lalande said, crediting fans who made a real impact on the team. "I think all of the Minsk and the whole countrys behind us right now. ... Were playing for us and were playing for them and its a tremendous feeling to be able to win in this fashion for them." Thats Hanlons priority, too. More than six years after being fired by the Capitals on U.S. Thanksgiving Day, he has no plans to return to coaching in the NHL and has invested a lot of time and energy on European hockey. Hanlon still keeps track of whats going on in North America and watches games because hes interested, but now the 57-year-old also checks on scores from leagues around Europe. Hes still a Canadian citizen, but the prospect of playing his native country doesnt mean anything to him anymore. "Whats special for me is winning for Belarus," Hanlon said. "Thats whats special." ' ' '