FOXBORO – Patriots defensive end Jarvis Green confirmed yesterday that he had knee surgery last week. He could miss up to a month of action.

Green, 30, started all seven of the Patriots’ games this season, recording 18 tackles. Green was walking without a limp in the locker room yesterday, but said that he was “off limits” to talk to and could not elaborate on his injury.

Defensive lineman Mike Wright is expected to start in Green’s place. Wright leads the Patriots in sacks this season with four to go along with his 17 tackles.

“It’s tough to lose any player on the defense,” Wright said. “We’re going to let Jarvis handle his business. We’re going to take care of what we can on the field.”

Wright said that he will be comfortable starting at the right defensive end position if that’s what the Patriots want him to do.

“I’ve been playing a little bit more (over there) this year since (Richard) Seymour’s gone, and Jarvis is over there,” he said. “I’m kind of backing up Jarvis a little bit more. It’s been good. I’ve been getting a lot of reps over there in games. It’s been helping me out a lot. So I’ve been a lot more comfortable over there. But we’ll see where they put me.”

Wright said that he is willing to play anywhere to help his team beat the Dolphins on Sunday.

“I’m the utility guy so wherever they want to put me, I’ll be, and I’ll be prepared,” he said.

Special delivery

Special teams could play a big role in Sunday’s game versus Miami.

Miami kick returner Ted Ginn Jr. became the first player in NFL history to record two touchdowns of 100 yards or more in the same game when he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last Sunday against the New York Jets.

His two kickoff returns for a touchdown were a Dolphins’ record, and so were his 299 return yards.

“Ginn is very fast. He has the ability to take the ball any place on the field – start on one side [and] go to the other, start up the middle [and] bounce it out, start outside [and] cut it back and just outrun just about everybody we have on our kickoff team,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “I don’t know that we or any team in the league has more than one or two, if that, people that could run with Ted Ginn.

“Leverage, tackling and discipline in our lanes and recognizing blocking schemes and doing a good job of tackling – all that is going to be crucial against Miami this week, but again we’ve seen a lot of that all year – good return teams, good returners – and this is another in that list of challenges for us.”

Ginn is ranked first in the league among kickoff returners with more than two returns, averaging 34.9 yards per return average (14 returns for 489 yards).

“He’s an explosive guy,” Patriots special teams ace Matthew Slater said. “He has good vision, a good change of direction. I think he has all of the tools that you look for that make him a good returner. The tapes speak for itself. Everybody saw what he did. We just have to focus on us and our job and being disciplined and being able to go down and cover him as a unit.

“It can’t be one man going down there, trying to make the play. We have to have all 10 guys covering to contain him and we have to stay disciplined.”

Myers to practice squad

The Patriots signed tight end Rob Myers to the practice squad on Tuesday and placed tight end Robbie Agnone on the practice squad injured list with a shoulder injury.

The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Myers signed with the New York Jets as a rookie free agent out of Utah State in April.

He was waived by the Jets prior to the start of training camp and then signed with the Philadelphia Eagles in August. Myers spent two weeks on the Philadelphia practice squad after being waived by the Eagles prior to the start of the regular season.

“I would like to call myself well-rounded but if you had to put a label on it I would be more of a pass-catching tight end, but I’ve been working on my blocking,” Myers said. “I want to be a well-rounded tight end in this league.”

Among the missing . . .

Players not seen at the media portion of practice yesterday included wide receiver Julian Edelman (forearm), linebacker Adalius Thomas, running backs Fred Taylor (ankle) and Sammy Morris (knee), cornerback Jonathan Wilhite, tackle Matt Light (knee) and Green.

Defensive lineman Ty Warren, who left the Tampa Bay game with an ankle injury, was back at practice.