Retour
Sunday wasn’t perfect for the New England Patriots, but it was good enough for head coach Mike Vrabel to see his team beat the New York Jets. With that, the Patriots moved to 4-2 on the season, working to keep pace with the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East.
One problem that has popped up all season for the Patriots continued on Sunday, though. Injuries.
Romeo Doubs suffered a shoulder injury, the same week A.J. Brown returned at wide receiver. Worse, the offensive line saw Morgan Moses, Alijah Vera-Tucker, and Ben Brown all exit as well. Now, depth is going to be tested in a major way for the Patriots.
Making things worse for the Patriots, this week is going to be a quick turnaround. On Thursday, the Patriots will have a major test against the Chicago Bears.
With that in mind, Mike Vrabel was asked about the availability of players like Romeo Doubs and Alijah Vera-Tucker, among others for next week. However, for the time being, Vrabel admitted that they still need to figure that out.
“I mean, again, listen, we are all smart people here, some smarter than others,” Mike Vrabel said. “But it’s a short week. So whether they can make it back or not, I don’t know. They don’t finish the game. We’ll have to see. But I don’t know any other thing other than that. And we’ll just have to figure out who we have available and find 48 to put out there. So it’s just hard to say, but it’s a short week. And if you don’t finish the game, that’s a quick turnaround. Thank you.”
This comes a week after the Patriots, seemingly, got lucky with some injuries. Will Campbell and TreVeyon Henderson both went down a week ago with what looked like injuries that could cost them several weeks. Both bounced right back.
It’s too much to ask that to happen again. So, the Patriots will likely see their depth get tested once again.
One of the players who the Patriots got back healthy was star wide receiver A.J. Brown. However, the excitement of his return quickly died down as he had one of the poorer performances of his career, which included several drops.
That led to some wondering whether or not he was actually fully healthy. If he wasn’t fully healthy, then could there be a chance he misses Thursday’s game?
Brown put that notion to bed quickly. After the game, he shared that he “absolutely” will be good to go for Thursday.
Brown would go on to explain that his timing was off a bit. However, he didn’t want to use his injury or anything else as an excuse for his poor play.
“No excuses… Ankle or not, I should make those plays,” Brown said.
The good news is that the quick turnaround will give him a chance to put this game in the rearview mirror quickly. That is, if he can prove to be more consistent.