FOXBOROUGH - Guess who wasn’t seen at the start of the Patriots practice on Thursday afternoon? A.J. Brown.
The 29-year-old wide receiver met with the media on Wednesday and admitted (as I wrote) that his ankle isn't where he wants it to be and has challenged his explosiveness, but otherwise his body appreciated the mini-bye. He also noted there were no excuses for his play and lack of productivity.
However, when the practice report was filed with the league and dished out to the press, Brown was not only listed as limited with the ankle but also with the knee. Team sources wouldn’t reveal which knee it is, and I don’t want to assume, but for someone with a degenerative knee condition (the Pats were well aware when they surrendered a first-round pick for the wideout), this certainly opened some eyes.
Perhaps this goes back to what Mike Vrabel said around the time of the acquisition: Brown will have to be managed like some of their players (Morgan Moses and Christian Barmore, for example, and, as last year progressed, Hunter Henry). Or, as is always the fear when you invest in a veteran player, Brown’s body is rebelling against the daily grind.
When we spoke to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels before practice, he said this about Brown and his impact.
“I think there are things that we can work on to do better,” he said, talking about the offense as a whole, “and certainly his health is going to be a big part of that. So they (medical) tell us he can do A, B, and C, we'll do A, B, and C, and if there's some element of things we need to wait on, then we'll do it. Love his attitude and his approach. He's been here, working his tail off to try to put himself in a great position to help our team, and I know he's going to do that.”
He didn’t sound like someone worried he’d be without his number one wideout, but we’ll see if Brown ends up listed as limited again, or if he gets a DNP when today’s practice report comes out. Stay tuned. I’ll update here.
MEANWHILE
Even though the Bears game is now well in the rearview mirror for the team, and probably for you at home as well, I couldn’t help but seek some answers from McDaniels on a couple of plays in that game.
The first happened in the opening quarter. It was third-and-four; the Bears pressured, and Drake Maye had only