FOXBOROUGH — Mostly good news on the Patriots' injury front today as Mike Vrabel met with the media for the final time before Sunday night's wild-card game against the Chargers.
DT Khyiris Tonga, despite returning to practice on Friday, will be out with his foot injury. He seems to be on the same timeline as Robert Spillane, who made his first appearance at practice last Friday, before being cleared to return to game action this week. Not having Tonga is obviously a blow against a physical team that likes to run the ball, but that's the deal.
LB Harold Landry (knee), WR Kayshon Boutte (hamstring), and OL Thayer Munford (knee) are the only questionable players.
That means rookie left guard Jared Wilson is cleared from concussion protocol and ready to go.
I thought there could be a consideration of sticking with reserve Ben Brown heading into this game, so I asked Vrabel about that.
"No, I think I would anticipate Jared starting at left guard," he said quickly, without elaboration.
In hindsight, this big dope should have followed up with, "Why no discussion?" Does Vrabel not believe in benching starters for injury? It would be good information to have.
Not only do I think the topic deserves discussion, but I would probably opt to start Brown in this game and hope to find some playing time at some point for Wilson.
There are a variety of good reasons, from a Patriots perspective, to return Wilson to the starting lineup. One, he earned the job out of camp and has always been in the starter for a team that was 10-3 when he was in the starting lineup. The team just views him as the better player. Two, Brown is ready to back up all three interior spots. Wilson is not. Much easier transition if there's an injury inside. Three, when Wilson was in the lineup, Brown was a big factor in the jumbo packages. If Brown starts at LG, it would be all Thayer Munford with no real backup plan. Four, there's not a big difference between the two players. If it's that close, why not stick with and get playoff experience for a third-round pick who will be playing big games for you now and in the future?
There are also reasons to stick with Brown:
• Wilson has missed the past two games, and it might be difficult to go from nothing to the playoff fire against a very physical Chargers defensive line. Wilson is not worried about the rust.
"I think my coaches have done a great job," Wilson told me. "We've gotten a lot of extra work this week, earlier on in the week. I think they've done a great job helping me to knock that rust off before practice, and then going out there and practicing at the speed that I can improve it every single day. Think there might be a little bit of rust, but one or two plays, I'll be alright."
• Brown (6-5, 313) is bigger and wider than Wilson (6-3, 310), which might be helpful against a powerful Chargers interior, and long edge players on stunts.
• It was only against the Jets and Dolphins, but it seems like the line has