Patriots lose Rex Burkhead to brutal-looking injury on harsh tackle

The New England Patriots lost RB Rex Burkhead to a brutal leg injury midway through Texans-Pats on Sunday.

The New England Patriots are in comeback mode in the second half against the Houston Texans on Sunday, but they’ll have to do it without a bruising half of their running back tandem.

Rex Burkhead, often trusted to pick up big chunks of yardage for this Pats team, was stuffed on a 3rd & 1 earlier in a way that would make any old-school NFL player blush, and when the dust settled, he was unable to put any weight on his leg.

You can watch the Texans swarm to the tackle below. The aftermath of this one didn’t look good.

Burkhead was down for several minutes, and he wasn’t nursing the painful loss of a single yard. This we can assure you.

Eventually, he was able to get to his feet, but put no pressure on the leg as he hobbled off after screaming in pain.

To no fan’s surprise, Burkhead was ruled out for the game nearly as soon as he got off the turf.

What does this mean for the Patriots in the immediate aftermath? Their most effective offensive players over the past few weeks have been Burkhead, Damien Harris and WR Jakobi Meyers. Even without his complement behind him, you can expect a whole lot of Harris moving forward as the Pats attempt to execute a playoff chase.

But it always hurts to lose your heart and soul, and that’s very much the role Burkhead has embodied over the past several years in New England. You can bet that some of Harris’ doggedness rubbed off on him thanks to the influence of the veteran.

No matter how this story ends, the way this injury came about will make any Patriots fan cringe. It’s time to grit our teeth and win this one anyway.

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