FOXBORO –– A number of familiar faces made unexpected appearances on the practice field Friday at Gillette Stadium, with linemen Matt Light and Dan Koppen, wide receiver Julian Edelman, and running back Sammy Morris all practicing and giving hope that they could be healthy in time for the much-anticipated brawl with the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday night.

The Patriots had 11 players sit out of practice Thursday. Friday, all but three were back on the field participating to some extent. Light is still listed as doubtful, but the other three are questionable, and many seemed hopeful about their status for Sunday.

“It was certainly good to see most of the guys out there running around [and] participating,” said coach Bill Belichick. “Some of those, of course, will be game-time decisions. We’ll see how things turn out after practice here, how these guys are doing. But it was definitely good to have them back out there, no doubt.”

Light, dealing with knee problems, demurred when asked about his status in the locker room after practice, saying he had to see the trainer. Morris was similarly not available as he worked through his own knee injury. But fellow running back Laurence Maroney was ecstatic at seeing his backfield mate return to the workout, referring to him by the nickname “Sammy the Bull,” a moniker once used by famed New York Mafia hitman Sammy Gravano.

“Man, the bull, the bull is back! We missed him. The stable is almost back together,” Maroney said. “It was great to have the bull back out there, running around having fun like he always does. It was great to have him back out there.”

With the Colts looming, the entire team got a boost out of seeing so many players back at practice, guard Stephen Neal said.

“It was great seeing all them guys back out there; it was great,” he said.

Maroney part of a special class

Maroney will be reunited with one of the many players taken along with him in the 2006 draft — the Colts’ Joseph Addai, a fellow first-round pick. That class brought a number of big-name backs into the league, including the highest pick, Reggie Bush of the New Orleans Saints, his USC teammate, LenDale White of Tennessee, and current stars DeAngelo Williams of Carolina and Maurice Jones-Drew of Jacksonville.

Maroney stays in touch with many from that group, including Addai.

“I call them, I text them, I tell them they’re doing a good job. Our class is definitely doing a lot –– from Jones-Drew, Addai’s doing good. DeAngelo! DeAngelo’s doing well. Reggie’s doing his thing, LenDale’s still trying to hold it down with Chris [Johnson] over there,” Maroney said.

Maroney hasn’t made as much of an impact as some of his classmates so far, but he still has time to prove that he’s the best of all the ’06 backs.

“I’m trying to come in and do my little thing. So our class is definitely making a little bit of an impact,” he said.

Meriweather tunes up for Peyton

Patriots safety Brandon Meriwether says the days leading up to his first on-field matchup with Peyton Manning were fraught with fear.

“You want me to be honest? Completely honest? I was scared as hell. Excuse my French, but I was nervous,” Meriwether said. “The couple of plays I did get, I was nervous. Even last year, I was nervous until I got the flow of the game.”

Over time, he became more comfortable with the NFL, and his next meeting with Manning wasn’t nearly as frightening –– in large part because he had so many intrasquad practices against Tom Brady under his belt.

Having Brady to face in practice is a boon to the Patriots’ defensive players, who are able to prepare for a heady, strong-armed quarterback like Manning by thinking about their many practice sessions against Brady.

“Me personally, I have to play him like I play Tom. Not saying I play Tom great — I don’t think anybody plays Tom great. But you just have to be comfortable with yourself, and you have to read your keys exactly right,” Meriwether said, noting that it helps him. “It helps tremendously. When you can go against a guy like Peyton or a guy like Tom in practice, it helps you so much.”

It’s something Belichick recognizes as another of Brady’s many subtle contributions, one that gets little recognition outside of the Gillette Stadium locker room.

“Sure. I think there are some similarities between Tom and Peyton in terms of their ability to read defenses, quick release, accuracy and those types of things,” Belichick said. “There’s not a lot of margin for error defensively. If you don’t have the receivers covered pretty closely, then both quarterbacks get it in there. We’ve seen Tom, [he’s] done that plenty in practice and Peyton [has done that] in games. I agree with that.”

This week, backup QB Brian Hoyer has been leading the scout team, trying to mimic Manning’s on-field gesticulations and his constant play changing. Nothing, of course, can compare to the real thing, as the Colts quarterback changes the scheme on the fly and forces young players to catch up.

“As much as you can talk about it before the game and say this is the way it’s going to be and all that, but until they get out there and experience it, it’s not quite the same. [Brian] Hoyer’s done a real good job for us this week, I’ll just say that up front. He’s done a great job of running the Colts’ offense for our defense, running the scout team, and I think he’s run the plays, made the decisions and given our defense the looks that are probably most similar to what Manning would do. He’s done a nice job of that,” Belichick said.

dbarbari@projo.com