The New England Patriots won’t be playing with a full deck of cards in Week 3.
New England announced on social media on Wednesday, September 18 that two of their starting offensive linemen have been ruled out for the New York Jets game on Thursday Night Football. Plus two more of their starting offensive linemen received “questionable” injury designations.
Starting left tackle Vederian Lowe was ruled out with a knee issue and their starting left guard Sidy Sow was ruled out because of an ankle.
The Patriots’ starting center, David Andrews, is dealing with a hip problem. Starting right tackle Mike Onwenu has a wrist injury. Both players are coin tosses to play in the game.
Patriots O-Line Issues Benefit the Jets D-Line Issues
New England starting quarterback Jacoby Brissett has been sacked four times through the first two weeks of the season, per ESPN.
Heading into Week 3, Pro Football Focus ranked the Patriots O-Line as the worst in the NFL. That was before considering any of the players who were ruled out due to injury.
“The Patriots’ offensive line accounted for 13 pressures — including two sacks — on 32 pass plays in Week 2. The unit recorded a 76.6 PFF pass-blocking efficiency score, which ranked second to last in the NFL in Week 2,” PFF analyst Zoltán Buday wrote. “Left tackle Vederian Lowe let up five pressures on his way to a 15.6% pressure rate, which was the second-worst clip among all NFL offensive linemen in Week 2.”
With Lowe already being ruled out, the Patriots will turn to rookie offensive tackle Caedan Wallace to make his first NFL start.
Wallace, 24, was the No. 68 overall pick in the third round of April’s draft. According to his NFL draft combine profile, Wallace served as exclusively a right tackle during his time at Penn State. He will be making the flip over to the left side of the formation in the NFL.
In college, he was teammates with Jets first-round pick Olu Fashanu at Penn State.
Injury Report Update Came Back Much Cleaner for the Jets
ESPN’s Rich Cimini said on social media that the Jets will have both D.J. Reed and Michael Carter II available for Week 3.
Both players were full participants in Wednesday’s practice on September 18.
There isn’t as much good news for Jets’ team captain C.J. Mosley. He officially received a questionable designation for the game and he hasn’t practiced all week because of the toe injury he suffered against the Tennessee Titans.
“Still uncertainty with LB Mosley, who is listed as questionable. He didn’t practice again today. As Mosley (toe) said yesterday, it’s a matter of swelling/pain management,” Cimini explained on X previously Twitter.
The Jets will probably play the long game with Mosley and rest him. It doesn’t make any sense to rush an older player who hasn’t practiced all week onto the field in a game like this.
Plus there was a waft from Jets analysts that the defense actually looked better when Mosley left the game. Reserve linebacker Jamien Sherwood stepped up in his place and earned some high praise for his performance.
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