There was a lot of news on the Patriots' injury report Friday ahead of Sunday's game against the Jets.
The headlines:
- LB Kyle Van Noy (throat) is out;
- RT Trent Brown (calf) was limited in practice and is questionable, along with fellow tackle Yodny Cajuste (hamstring);
- TE Jonnu Smith (hip) was limited for the second-straight day and is questionable;
- K Quinn Nordin (Foxboro Flu ... err ... abdomen) was out of practice and NFL Network reported he is likely to be placed on injured reserve — shocking, I know.
Where's that leave the team for Sunday?
BSJ ANALYSIS
We dealt with a lot of this stuff earlier in the week, and not much has changed.
Linebacker
Remember, Dont'a Hightower is not listed with a foot injury and while he's going to play, he might not be at 100 percent after sitting out the Dolphins' final series in the loss. Combine that with Van Noy being out, and things will get complicated.
I would expect Hightower to start alongside Ja'Whaun Bentley, but I would not be surprised if Adrian Phillips quickly moves to linebacker for Hightower in passing situations. Zach Wilson loved throwing underneath in the flat to the backs and tight ends against the Panthers, as they accounted for 16 of his 36 targets (44.4 percent) and eight of his 20 completions (40 percent).
Josh Uche is another candidate to play inside linebacker if needed, along with former Jet Harvey Langhi.
Edge
Without Van Noy, you figure. Uche is going to feature prominently on the edge opposite Matthew Judon. Uche's speed could be a real asset against Jets fill-in LT, George Fant. Judon played 39 of his snaps on the left side (right tackle) against the Dolphins. Judon's power would be a better asset against RT Morgan Moses. Chase Winovich should also see more action than his 12 snaps in the opener.
So to keep things a bit more organized, Langhi as the interior backup/sub would make sense, and let Uche loose on the edge, where he played only 15 snaps in the opener (he produced a sack and a QB hit in seven pass rushes).
Right tackle
As we laid out previously, the Patriots likely have two choices at right tackle:
- Insert Ted Karras at left guard and move Mike Onwenu to right tackle;
- Keep the status quo and just start Yasir Durant at RT, where he finished last week.
The Karras situation seemed overly complicated — they'd need to promote James Ferentz to the active roster to sure up the interior backup spot, but those two spots seemed to be full with Brian Hoyer and Nick Folk — but wouldn't you know it ... Nordin going on IR and signing Folk to the active roster now opens up a promotion spot. Man, that really works out nicely. What great timing! (blinks with shock)
For the record, I'd still go with the Durant option because I'm worried about how Karras will hold up strength and speed-wise against three very good interior players for the Jets (Quinnen Williams, Falo Fatukasi, Sheldon Rankins). I'd worry about the interior first, and give Durant help against LE John Franklin-Myers.
Kicker
No shock ... Nick Folk has always been the kicker for this team, and Nordin was a future bet. This makes things nice and clean to setup a redshirt season for the kicker.
My only question is, who took care of Nordin, Victory-style?
