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BOSTON -- Veteran receiver Troy Brown acknowledged Wednesday that he had offseason knee surgery, after saying in an earlier interview that he intends to play next season and hopes to finish his career with the New England Patriots.

Troy Brown

Wide Receiver New England Patriots Profile

2006 SEASON STATISTICS Rec Yds TD Avg Long YAC 43 384 4 8.9 23 190

"My intentions are to play. That's what the deal is," the 35-year-old unrestricted free agent said Wednesday before attending the Catholic Schools Foundation scholarship dinner. "But we'll see what happens. I'm not writing anything in stone or anything, but my intentions are to play."

At the beginning of his dinner speech he said: "I started the day having to make one confession and now I've got to make two. One, I did have offseason knee surgery, but I'll be all right. Two, I'm not Catholic. I'm a Southern Baptist."

Brown had declined before the dinner to comment on recent reports of his surgery.

"My body feels well. My back feels good. But my shoulder is not so good," he said. "I'm feeling better and I'm looking forward to getting the 2007 season started."

He said he hopes to play for the Patriots, who have signed free-agent receivers Donte' Stallworth, Kelley Washington and Wes Welker during the offseason.

"Of course I would rather be here," the 14-year veteran said. "This is where I've been my whole career. I'd love to finish it out here."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press