New England Patriots Injury Report: Should We Be Concerned About Stevan Ridley?
New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley was not spotted in today’s practice. The release of an injury report today has Ridley listed with a knee injury. MassLive.com Nick Underhill further reports that the cause of the injury is unknown at this point. Let’s hope it’s something really minor because it was not noticed on Sunday’s game that Ridley might have suffered any knee injury. This is the first time Ridley has been listed in the injury report this season, and unfortunately, he joins with Vince Wilfork and Matthew Slater as the three players who did not participate in practice.
Sep 29, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; New England Patriots running back Stevan Ridley (22) straight arms Atlanta Falcons safety William Moore (25) during the second half at Georgia Dome. The Patriots defeated the Falcons 30-23. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Even though Ridley has some issues with ball security, he still is the Patriots leader in the rushing game with 174 yards on 47 rushing attempts, averaging 3.7. Last Sunday, he rushed for 53 yards (the most of all four games) on 11 rushing attempts. His numbers are relatively low in comparison to last year at this point in the season, but losing Ridley to injury is just something the running game cannot afford. Since Week 1, Ridley has improved in taking care of the football (no fumble) and his total rushing yards have been steadily increasing. The fact that the team had to make adjustments in distributing the ball more due to his mistake in turn overs seems to be working well for Ridley and the team. For Ridley, perhaps it presents an opportunity for him to restart getting his confidence back, and for the team, schematically it just adds some unpredictability on who is the running the ball.
In Week 4 we had eight players listed as limited in practice and their status did not change for Week 5, and they are: receiver Danny Amendola (groin), cornerback Kyle Arrington (groin), running backs Brandon Bolden (knee) and Leon Washington (tight), defensive back Nate Ebner (ankle), tight end Rob Gronkowski (forearm/back), linebacker Jerod Mayo (ankle), and tackle Will Svitek (knee).
For Week 5, the players with limited participation are: cornerback Marquice Cole (hamstring), receivers Aaron Dobson (neck) and Kenbrell Thompkins (shoulder), linebacker Dont’a Hightower (knee), tight end Zach Sudfeld (hamstring), defense back Tavon Wilson (hamstring) and tackle Sebastian Vollmer (foot).
For the Bengals
Did not practice
CB Leon Hall (hamstring)
DE Michael Johnson (concussion)
CB Dre Kirkpatrick (hamstring)
G Mike Pollak (knee)
Limited participation
LB Vontaze Burfict (neck)
S Reggie Nelson (hamstring)