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Jonathan Casillas is ‘cramming’ on Patriots playbook

FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots were active on NFL trade-deadline day for the third straight year, this year acquiring linebacker Jonathan Casillas from the Buccaneers.

With former New England personnel man Jason Licht now in Tampa Bay as general manager, there have been phone calls back and forth between the teams, as that’s where the Patriots sent Logan Mankins in August.

Listed at 6 feet, 225 pounds — on the small side relative to other linebackers the Patriots have had — Casillas expressed excitement Thursday about coming to New England.

“I’m just happy to be here,” he said. “Trade day was a little stressful, but I got here that night, and I was at work yesterday.

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“It was fast, but it had to happen. It’s a business.”

Undrafted out of Wisconsin in 2009, Casillas has fashioned a six-year NFL career as a reserve on defense and core special teamer; as a rookie, he recovered the Saints’ surprise onside kick in Super Bowl XLIV.

Casillas said the New England coaching staff has talked to him about playing in the sub defensive packages, specifically in passing situations to add depth.

He also said he covered six kickoffs during the day’s full-pads practice, and that a hamstring that has been giving him trouble felt good.

The 27-year-old New Jersey native missed his entire second season in 2010 to injury, but also acknowledged that having to learn a number of different defensive systems has been difficult.

“Since Greg Williams [in New Orleans], this is my fifth D-coordinator in four years,” Casillas said. “That’s the tough part, learning all these different defensive schemes, not really transitioning from city to city.

“A city’s a city. I can get acclimated to my surroundings.

“But it’s my job, learning the X’s and O’s about what I’m going to do every day, and the particulars of it, and the verbiage, and the communication. That’s the difficult part.

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“That’s what I’m going through right now. I’m cramming, I’m staying a couple hours after today, just like I did yesterday, and then when I go back to the room I’ve got a couple more hours before I go to sleep.

“I’ve got to be ready, because the level of preparation in here is held at a high. I can tell I don’t want to let these guys down.”

Chilly receptions?

With the forecast for Sunday calling for temperatures in the low 40s and wind, it stands to be quite a different experience for receiver Brandon LaFell from most of the games he’s played.

LaFell grew up in Houston, played collegiately at Louisiana State, and began his NFL career in Charlotte. None of those places is known for cold weather. Sunday will be one of the very few cold-weather games he has experienced.

He’s OK with it, at least on Sundays.

“I’d rather deal with the cold on game day than deal with the cold all week during practice,” he said. “On game day, you’ve got heaters on the bench, you’ve got the jackets, you’ve got the skullies. At practice, all you’ve got is each other. I’d rather it be cold on game day than at practice.”

Mammoth month

Tom Brady wasn’t named AFC Player of the Week for his near-flawless day against the Bears — that honor went to the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger for his 522-yard passing day against Indianapolis — but on Thursday the league named Brady the AFC Player of the Month for October. As the Patriots went 4-0 in the month, Brady was 100 of 144 (69.4 percent) for 1,268 yards, 14 touchdowns, and zero interceptions. He was the only quarterback in the league not to throw an interception in October. It’s the seventh time in his career Brady has been named player of the month, but the first since December 2011. The conference’s Defensive Player of the Month also will be in Foxborough Sunday: the Broncos’ Von Miller.

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Branch out

Newly signed defensive tackle Alan Branch did not participate in Thursday’s practice; the Patriots listed his absence as non-injury-related. The rest of the day’s practice report was the same as Wednesday’s: DE Chandler Jones (hip) did not practice; DT Dominique Easley (knee), DB Nate Ebner (finger), OL Cameron Fleming (finger), and WR Matthew Slater (shoulder) were limited; Brady (ankle), CB Brandon Browner (ankle), and LB Dont’a Hightower (knee) were full participants . . . The Patriots re-signed offensive lineman Chris Barker to the practice squad. Defensive lineman Ben Bass was released to make room for Barker, who had been promoted to the 53-man roster for the Jets and Bears games.


Shalise Manza Young can be reached at syoung@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @shalisemyoung.