Last week's game against the Falcons was a close one for the New England Patriots, and it might be fair to say they were lucky to sneak out a win. It was a hard-fought battle that could have gone the other way at any time, and things only worsened as multiple players left the field due to injuries.
One of the most concerning was WR Kayshon Boutte, who has become an integral part of their offensive game plan this year and is well on his way to putting together the best year of his career. He reportedly suffered a hamstring injury, according to a post on his Discord, and was diagnosed with a grade 1 sprain.
Although he hopes to be ready for this week's game, the latest reporting from ESPN's Mike Reiss suggests that might not be the case. Not only did Boutte miss Wednesday's practice, but so did LB Christian Elliss due to a hip injury and RB Rhamondre Stevenson, who is still nursing a toe injury that kept him sidelined last week.
Their absence could create a big problem for the Patriots against a tough team like the Bucs.
There's a high possibility that the Patriots will be without key contributors against the Bucs
The Patriots have been much more fortunate with their receiving corps than anyone could have predicted before the season began, with Stefon Diggs and DeMario Douglas outperforming all expectations. The same can be said about Boutte, who has had a resurgence this year and is playing like a clear WR1.
That makes the potential of him missing Sunday's game, or even more time, a massive loss for the offense, even if there are other receivers that have become reliable for Drake Maye to work with.
The running back situation is a little different, however, since rookie TreVeyon Henderson didn't get a real shot at proving himself until last week in Stevenson's absence. Although he proved he can be trusted in the RB1 role, we haven't seen him in that position consistently enough to feel completely comfortable with him continuing that this week, so Stevenson remaining out is certainly something to worry about.
There is some optimism that Henderson is the right guy for the job, though, and now that he's been given the keys, we're going to see why the Patriots chose him in the second round of this year's draft.
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The hope is that he will continue to perform at a high level and help establish the run game that has been lacking over the past month. They'll certainly need it against a tough defensive line in Tampa Bay.
Elliss's absence shouldn't take as big a hit on the defense as the others do for the offense, but his lack of availability is a hit to the Patriots' depth at linebacker, which is already considered a weak unit as it is. That's why many hoped they would trade for a linebacker ahead of Tuesday's deadline, which didn't happen.
There's a chance he, or any of these injured players, could return to practice this week before Sunday's game. But as of right now, those chances aren't looking good, and they might have to prepare for the game as if that won't change.