Julian Edelman's tender ribs may test receiver depth

FOXBOROUGH -- The instant he eased off the field, in the final 80 seconds of the first half, Julian Edelman injected drama into Sunday’s 30-14 smothering of the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.

Edelman was done for the day at seven catches for 62 yards with what the team deemed a “chest injury.” Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network later noted that the injury was to his ribs and that x-rays came back negative.

The injury and the loss of Edelman was accentuated by this week’s not-so-sudden departure of Antonio Brown.

Without Edelman, Tom Brady then missed on 3rd-and-1, missing Jakobi ending a potential scoring drive at the New York 41.

Brady went 19 of 27 for 199 yards (7.4 per attempt) and two TDs with Edelman in the lineup and 9 of 15 for 107 yards (7.1) without him.

The injury tested the depth of the unit.

“We did some good things,” said Bill Belichick, who chose to not answer the one Antonio Brown question tossed his way in the postgame. “There’s certainly a lot of things we can do better, some route techniques and adjustments and so forth. But we’ve got a couple of young guys in that position, a couple new guys there. Josh has still only been here a few weeks. We’ll just keep grinding.”

Myers, the free-agent rookie, saw extensive second-half action, and caught the one other ball tossed his way by TB12, an 18-yard hookup on a blown Jets zone coverage.

The case could be made that Edelman’s injury, even if not serious as the x-rays would seem to have you believe, speaks to the fragility of the position and the New England offense on the whole.

The Patriots put up 20 in the first half, almost with ease.

Edelman’s absence hastened a Jets adjustment to much more man-based defenses in the second half.

“Attrition plays a part,” said Brady. “It’s a physical, violent sport and guys take big hits and they get injured and you just do the best you can to kind of rehab those and get back as quickly as possible. A lot of guys are dealing with stuff.”

The offense couldn’t cash in on Devin McCourty’s third-quarter interception return to the New York 17, settling for a Stephen Gostkowski field goal.

Brady did hook up with Josh Gordon for 28 yards on a 3rd-and-22 at the New York 32, setting up Rex Burkhead’s 2-yard TD, but the offense did sputter some, clicking on just 2 of 8 third downs in the second half.

“When you’re missing your best players, it gets more challenging,” said Brady.

Injury woes were not limited to the offensive side of the ball, either.

Linebacker Dont’a Hightower left the game in the second half with what the team called a shoulder injury.He did not return and was not available in the locker-room postgame. Hightower had three tackles, a half-sack and two quarterback hits before leaving.

Fortunately for the Patriots, the position is stocked with athletes, many of whom are extremely versatile.

Rookie Chase Winovich seemed quite eager to get his hands of Jets’ QB Luke Falk, picking up a half-sack of his own in Hightower’s absence. The Patriots have replacements and plenty of time, staring at Buffalo, Washington, the Giants, and yes, these same, hapless Jets over the next four weeks. Clearly, the Hightower exit did little to slow down the NFL’s top-ranked defense.

New York did not convert a third-down (0 for 12) and averaged a paltry 2.2 yards per snap.

“Whether it’s Jamie (Collins), High (Hightower), Mike B (Bennett), Danny (Shelton), all those guys up front are just playing so well,” said Devin McCourty. “And we’ve got depth.”

Other Injury Notes: Defensive lineman Adam Butler left the game for a bit with a leg injury. He returned to the trenches shortly after and finished with three tackles and a half-sack. … Gordon appeared to have a minor finger issue, getting a mid-game tape job but returned to catch five balls for 66 yards in the second half.