Injuries are a part of the National Football League. They always have been.
They stretch your personnel and examine your skills at roster-building.
Three games into the season, the New England Patriots have absolutely been put to the test. To date, Mike Vrabel, Ryan Cowden and Eliot Wolf – the Patriots’ personnel brain trust – are losing the battles, potentially on the way to losing the war.
“We have to find players that are willing to emerge when things are not great. We don’t want front runners. We want guys that are prepared to come to work with a great attitude, that do not rely on somebody else’s positivity or me trying to get guys going,” said Vrabel on Monday.
Are there enough of them on the roster as it has been put together by Wolf, the son of legendary Green Bay Packers exec Ron Wolf?
Brown injury exposes receivers
Wolf boasted about what he called the “Jaylen Reed trade” back in August.
But when A.J. Brown was injured on opening night, it created the need for a guy to step in, a guy like Kayshon Boutte, who was sent to Houston for Reed.
Eric Canha-Imagn Images
Without Brown, the lack of talent in the assembled receiver corps has been exposed. That falls on Wolf.
Onwenu hole getting wider
Back in the day, when Bill Belichick was piecing together the roster for the franchise’s first three Super Bowl titles, he often talked about how guards were a dime a dozen, easily replaceable.
The current-day Patriots are testing that theory. When right guard Mike Onwenu went down in Week 2, journeyman Greg Van Roten got the call and struggled against the Steelers. Van Roten was hurt on Sunday in Jacksonville, and Walter Rouse got the nod. Again, the struggles were apparent on a day when the top two Patriots rushers averaged fewer than three yards a carry.
Concerns at edge, secondary
The edge-rushing spot was destined to be problematic even with Harold Landry and Dre’Mont Jones in the lineup. Without them, things are perilously unsafe. In 100 combined snaps on Sunday, Elijah Ponder and second-round pick Gabe Jacas managed three solo tackles, splitting a four-yard sack. Production there is at a minimum.
And finally on Sunday, the Patriots sat in zone, most likely to protect the aforementioned Reed, who was filling in for injured Craig Woodson at safety.
Trevor Lawrence picked the safeties apart on Sunday, posting a 102.9 rating.
