(Photo courtesy of Matt West/Boston Herald)
By Dakota Antelman
Wednesday’s rain forced the Patriots to hold their practice indoors at their domed Dana Farber Field House. But that did not dampen flames on the midseason hot stove for New England.
While the team ran through their midweek drills and press conferences, a flurry of transactions and announcements were completed by the team.
The majority of these transactions fixated around the post-practice injury report. Among lesser stories were the listings of long snapper Danny Aiken and Cameron Flemming as being limited in practice. Among greater stories were those surrounding players like Kyle Arrington, Domonique Easley and Julian Edelman.
Arrington was listed as limited on the practice report meaning he participated in some but not all of the drills the team ran Wednesday. His presence no less, was reassuring to Patriots fans who watched him go down with a hamstring injury back on Sunday. It was made so by an MRI that Arrington reportedly underwent on Monday that showed no further injury to his hamstring.
While it remains to be seen whether or not he will practice at full participation in the coming days, his appearance at Wednesday’s practice hinted at him possibly being available for Sunday’s game with the Jets.
One player who will not be playing on Sunday though is rookie defensive tackle, Domonique Easley.
Easley has been suffering from knee pain for much of the season but that did not prevent the first round draft pick from making three starts and appearing in 11 games. He was a mobile addition to the defensive line that was appreciated by coaches of that largely big bodied unit. His 10 tackles in 11 games were among the most of Patriots DT’s while an interception in Week Four had him equal with Vince Wilfork as the only Patriot DT’s with interceptions this season.
Complications from his tearing both his ACL during college however saw the Patriots put him on injured reserve on Wednesday. The transaction officially ended what was a promising rookie season for Easley.
Needless to say, roomers of today’s Easley move have been circulating all week while the results of the Arrington MRI suggested a similar level of participation as was true today. Patriots fans could have predicted those two moves. What came as a bit of a surprise however was the sudden announcement via the practice report that Julian Edelman had been recently diagnosed with a concussion.
All that the team has divulged on the Edelman concussion matter is that said concussion limited his ability to participate in Wednesday practice. No reports have been made about when he suffered the concussion just as no report has been made regarding the severity of the concussion. More so, Edelman’s status for next Sunday’s game vs the Jets has been suddenly made unclear by this reported diagnosis.
The Patriots have made headlines this week trying to stay focused on Sunday’s game and find reason to stay invested in a matchup with New York that figures to be a blow out. They made headlines on Wednesday however when they were suddenly given reason to worry about games beyond this week following their troubling injury report.
Very simply, any prolonged injury to their offensive anchor, Edelman, could definitely hurt the Patriot going into and in the first games of the postseason.
0 comments:
Post a Comment