A recap of Wednesday’s practice:

ATTENDANCE, PLEASE

■ RB Donald Brown was the lone unexpected absence from Practice No. 6.

■ Also not seen were RB Dion Lewis, WR Keshawn Martin, G Jonathan Cooper, and C Bryan Stork.

■ WRs Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, TE Clay Harbor, G Tre’ Jackson, and T Sebastian Vollmer, all of whom are on the PUP list, were at practice but not wearing pads.

■ WRs Chris Hogan (shoulder) and Nate Washington (illness) were on the field but not practicing.

■ DT Alan Branch, who had been on the non-football injury list, was in full pads and practiced for the first time this summer.

NEW INJURY: TE Bryce Williams (knee).

DRESS CODE: Full pads.

THREE UP

■ Darryl Roberts: The second-year cornerback busted through the offense and chopped down Tyler Gaffney for a loss.

■ Ted Karras: The rookie offensive lineman held up well in one-on-one battles with Terrance Knighton and Anthony Johnson.

■ Markus Kuhn: The big defensive tackle is as strong as an ox and deceptively quick. He showed well in all of his trench battles, both the one-on-ones and team drills.

THREE DOWN

■ Tom Brady: Bit of a rough day for the birthday boy — he turned 39 Wednesday — as he completed just 6 of his 11 passes in full-team drills. He also was picked off by Logan Ryan on a pass intended for Chris Harper during individual drills.

■ Devin Lucien: The rookie receiver dropped a perfectly placed sideline deep ball from Brady during individual drills. It came one play after fellow rookie D.J. Foster hauled in an identical pass.

■ James White: The third-year RB dropped a deep ball from Jimmy Garoppolo and drew a huge groan from the crowd — during a break when it wasn’t serenading Brady with birthday wishes.

TOP PLAYS

■ The aforementioned feat by Darryl Roberts was the highlight of the day and drew a huge reaction from teammates, particularly because it came on a simulated fourth-and-goal situation.

■ Dont’a Hightower turned in the thud of the practice when he met LeGarrette Blount at the goal line in a high-stakes collision. No shocker here: The offense claimed Blount got in, the defense thought otherwise.

■ RB Tyler Gaffney lifted DE Trey Flowers off his feet with a pass-protection block after Flowers had beaten LaAdrian Waddle off the edge.

■ WR Malcolm Mitchell had a trio of solid plays. Showing no favorites, the rookie made a leaping grab of a Tom Brady pass before making back-to-back back-shoulder snags from Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett.

■ Rookie CB Cyrus Jones broke up a Garoppolo pass that Mitchell was bobbling in the end zone. Jones fought till the end, a la Malcolm Butler.

■ DeAndre Carter made a nice diving catch of a Garoppolo pass in the end zone, prompting a teammate to bark, “TD, hell yeah!’’

■ Garoppolo followed that up with a TD pass to Aaron Dobson that left safety Duron Harmon a little upset with himself.

ODDS AND ENDS

■ After coach Bill Belichick called out third and 6 from the 12, Brady rolled to his right and bought time before sending a pass to Harper in the back of the end zone. It was reminiscent of Montana to Clark — except Harper came down out of bounds.

■ Martellus Bennett continued to be a terror, catching four passes from Brady during a late two-minute exercise. He has been giving the safeties all they can handle.

■ Stephen Gostkowski had a field goal attempt blocked — possibly by safety Patrick Chung, but without replay it’s tough to be sure.

■ Defensive tackle Alan Branch broke through on a couple of field goal attempts but wasn’t able to get his hands on the ball.

■ Veteran cornerback E.J. Biggers was taking some snaps from long snapper Joe Cardona, perhaps auditioning for emergency holder duty. Punter Ryan Allen has a hold on that job.

■ Special teams coach Joe Judge had a couple of the little Judges shagging balls after Gostkowski’s booming field goals bounced into the family viewing area.

■ DEs Jabaal Sheard and Rob Ninkovich took penalty laps after going offside during one-on-one trench battles.

■ Team owner Robert Kraft arrived midway through practice and chatted up Jamie Collins and Devin McCourty.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

■ Thursday: Practice, 9:15 a.m.

■ Friday: Practice, 9:15 a.m.

Jim McBride