Patriots: There’s no ‘good news’ with injury report heading into matchup vs Ravens

EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 09: Cam Newton #1 of the New England Patriots reacts during the second half against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on November 09, 2020 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - NOVEMBER 09: Cam Newton #1 of the New England Patriots reacts during the second half against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on November 09, 2020 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
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The New England Patriots are banged up and it won’t be easy to get by against the Ravens.

Heading into their matchup against the New York Jets, New England Patriots fans weren’t all that concerned despite an injury report that could fill out an entire roll of toilet paper. But the 0-9 Jets are not the Baltimore Ravens, who the Patriots will be facing in Week 10 on Sunday Night Football.

And here we are again. The injury report is still a novella, and we have some new names on there after Monday night’s victory. If the Pats scraped by the Jets with a last-second victory, how in the world are they going to fare against one of the favorites in the AFC?

Perhaps Bill Belichick was giving some guys an additional day of light work, but this list of those who participated on a limited basis during Wednesday’s practice is of paramount concern because there might not be one single matchup the Patriots can exploit against the Ravens — even if they were at full strength.

One could say “good news” came in the form of N’Keal Harry returning to the field and Damien Harris’ injuries not being as bad as initially expected, but when most of your offensive line and secondary are hobbled, no news is good news.

The Patriots’ struggling defense will face a near-impossible task in containing Lamar Jackson while the offense, which has no discernible strength (as evidenced over the last five weeks) will go up against one of the league’s top defenses … and cornerback Marlon Humphrey will be back in action after missing last week’s game against the Colts.

On top of that, the Patriots’ only tight end is among those on this report!

Oh yeah, and the Patriots accidentally announced that Stephon Gilmore was removed from the injury report — another piece of “good news” that was quickly reversed.

In a shortened week, this is pretty much as bad as it gets, outside of all of these players sitting out of practice to further put their availability in question. The Patriots can barely execute week in and week out at this point. How will they survive with their best players not close to full strength?