Patriots notebook: Brown to start practicing

The New England Patriots are about to find out what Brown can do for them.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Monday that veteran Troy Brown "will start practicing this week."

The 36-year-old wide receiver, the Patriots' all-time leader in receptions (with 557) and punt return yardage (with 2,570 yards), has spent the season on the physically unable to perform list with a knee injury.

Once Brown sets foot on the practice field, the Patriots will have a 21-day period in which to activate him or place him on the injured reserve list.

Wide receiver Chad Jackson and cornerback Eddie Jackson, who have also been on the PUP list with knee injuries, are entering their third week of practice, meaning the Patriots are facing decision time on them - the time when they must either activate or place them on injured reserve.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

Reports that the Indianapolis Colts were piping crowd noise into the RCA Dome while the Patriots were on offense during their 24-20 win on Sunday have proven to be unfounded.

That possibility was initially proposed by the Web site profootballtalk.com, which detected a strange sound sequence during the game's telecast on CBS. On Monday, the network took responsibility for the unusual audio moment.

"CBS has informed us that the unusual audio moment heard by fans during the Patriots-Colts telecast was the result of tape feedback in the CBS production truck and was isolated to the CBS broadcast," said Greg Aiello, NFL senior vice president of public relations. "It was in no way related to any sound within the stadium and could not be heard in the stadium."

The Colts posted the NFL's statement on their team Web site, adding: "We trust this will put an end to the ridiculous and unfounded accusations that the Colts artificially enhanced crowd noise at the RCA Dome in any way."

Before the league statement was issued Monday, Belichick said he was unaware of any abnormalities involving crowd noise inside the Dome.

"It's always loud," Belichick said. "It's definitely (loud) when you're behind by 10 points in the fourth quarter, I can tell you that."

Belichick did say the team's coach-to-quarterback communication was down for most of the game.

"We basically didn't have a coach-to-quarterback operation, so we had to signal in all the plays, which is unusual, but that's the way it was," Belichick said.

Shuffling in Buffalo

Focusing on the Patriots' pursuit of perfection, the NFL announced its first flexible scheduling game of the season on Monday, shifting New England's Nov. 18 game with the Buffalo Bills at Ralph Wilson Stadium from a 1 p.m. kickoff to an 8:15 p.m. start on NBC.

"The Patriots quest for a perfect season is clearly the biggest story in the NFL," NBC Universal Sports & Olympics chairman Dick Ebersol said in a news release issued by that network. "It's also been 13 years since the NFL's premier prime-time game visited Buffalo and it will be quite a scene there."

Chicago-Seattle, the game originally penciled in for the NBC telecast, will move to a 4:15 p.m. start on Fox.

-- The Enterprise