Tom Brady, center, could play in tonight’s game against the Eagles if his sore right foot is well enough.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

FOXBORO — Typically, the third exhibition game is treated like a “real” game by most NFL teams, in that the projected starters see their highest number of snaps, though they don’t play the whole game.

So it will be interesting to see if things unfold that way tonight, when the New England Patriots welcome the Philadelphia Eagles to Gillette Stadium.

Against the Buccaneers on Sunday, Randy Moss and Wes Welker saw their first action of the preseason for the Pats. The defensive starters have gotten some playing time in both of the team’s previous games.

For the Eagles, quarterback Donovan McNabb has seen a fairly high number of snaps.

But one prominent player has yet to step between the lines, and the biggest question entering tonight’s game is whether Tom Brady will be in uniform and under center.

Brady didn’t play in the preseason opener against Baltimore, and didn’t make the trip to Tampa Bay because of a sore right foot. He did take part in the team’s second of two practices, on Wednesday, and did not seem limited for the few minutes the media were able to watch the session.

While it wouldn’t be disastrous if the reigning league MVP didn’t take any snaps in the preseason, it can only help for him to see at least a couple of series in real time, to reacquaint himself with timing and such.

Some other things to look for during the game:

•Asante Samuel.

The former New England cornerback returns to face the team that drafted him in 2003 and helped him develop into an All-Pro. Samuel signed a six year, $57-million free-agent contract with Philadelphia but strained a hamstring early in training camp and missed some time before returning to play in last week's exhibition game against Carolina. Asked about his former teammate this week, Rodney Harrison said he had spoken to Samuel just a day earlier, and said, “He’s doing great. Wouldn’t you — $60 million richer?”

•John Lynch.

Signed late last week, the veteran safety saw a handful of snaps against his former team, the Bucs. While New England had only two on-field practices given the short turnaround between games, it’s a safe bet that Lynch will get to play a bit more tonight as he continues to learn the Pats’ playbook and terminology. Harrison said the two have spoken quite a bit since Lynch arrived as Harrison tries to bring him up to speed. It will be interesting to see if Lynch spends any time in the linebacker role Tank Williams had been filling before his season-ending injury.

•Chad Jackson and Kelley Washington.

With Jabar Gaffney clearly in possession of the No. 3 receiver role, the battle now is for No. 4. Jackson has been given a multitude of chances this preseason to prove that he finally gets it, even more so since Washington was on the shelf for a couple of weeks with an undisclosed injury. But he hasn’t shown results on the field. Washington must be itching to play a larger role — any role, really, given that he had zero catches last season — in the offense, and with the way Jackson has struggled, this could be his time to seize it.

•Matt Cassel, Matt Gutierrez, Kevin O’Connell.

A move has to be made soon, and the chances for each to show what he has are starting to run out. Publicly, both coach Bill Belichick and Brady backed Cassel this week, with Brady taking the NFL Network’s Sterling Sharpe and Marshall Faulk to task for being too hard on Cassel during the broadcast of the Buccaneers game. Gutierrez didn’t play in Tampa Bay, though it’s not clear whether it was because he had missed a few days of practice or because the coaching staff wanted to see more of Cassel and knows what it has in Gutierrez. O’Connell has led the Pats to their only preseason touchdowns, though they were against second- and third-tier players.

smanza@projo.com