Updated Patriots injury report for Week 15 has gotten even longer
The Patriots are coming off their super-late bye week and preparing for their Week 15 matchup against the Cardinals on the road. It will be far from easy, especially since Arizona is still vying for a spot in the playoffs and could ultimately win the division with a few more wins to close the season.
On top of that, they face back-to-back road games before heading home for the final stretch, facing the Bills twice in three weeks with the Chargers in between.
There is certainly a chance for the Patriots to shock the NFL world and add a couple of wins to end the year, one of which could come from the Cardinals, but based on their most recent injury report, released on Thursday afternoon, it looks like a steep slope.
DID NOT PARTICIPATE | LIMITED PARTICIPATION |
|---|---|
WR Javon Baker (concussion) | DT Christian Barmore (not injury related) |
S Jaylinn Hawkins (illness) | S Kyle Dugger (ankle) |
DT Jaquelin Roy (foot) | CB Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) |
LB Anfernee Jennings (knee) | |
CB Marcus Jones (illness) | |
T Vederian Lowe (shoulder) | |
S Jabrill Peppers (knee) | |
OL Cole Strange (knee) | |
LB Sione Takitaki (knee) | |
OT Caedan Wallace (ankle) | |
DE Deatrich Wise Jr. (foot) |
While it's expected that injuries will pile up at this point in the year, and it's good that most injured Patriots did participate in practice even in a limited capacity, it's not great that their injury report is getting longer rather than shorter.
The playoffs are out of the picture and it's mostly universally agreed that they're competing for better draft positioning, but adding a few wins would be crucial to going into the offseason with a more optimistic outlook of the future, even more so to help entice free agents to want to sign with the team. It would look even better if they could sneak out some wins against playoff-contending teams, which are all they have left to play.
That could play a big role in how their offseason starts and maybe relieve some pressure on the coaching staff, who are facing a lot of uncertainty regarding their status with the team moving forward.
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