UPDATE: Dion Lewis has been IR'd with torn ACL, and will be out for the season

PatriotsPimp136 said:

Ray Rice's name will come up but who knows

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I would sooner see the Patriots finish 8–8.

This really sucks obviously but not a surprise. Lewis put this offense over the top. The offense loses some of its explosiveness but let's not despair too much.

We still have Brady, Gronk, and Edelman. If all of those guys are healthy and complimented by receivers like Amendola and LaFell we will certainly get by. We really need James White to step up as a serviceable pass catcher out of the backfield because I don't like Bolden can do a whole lot in that role.

The bottom line for me is that our offense is still very good and the defense looks pretty solid as well. At this point the greatest danger is how thin we are on the OL.

I feel terrible for Dion to get injured again but for us it is the next man up. We are still the best in the league and let's just hope nothing happens to the trifecta of TB/Gronk/Jules.

Just bring archer in. If he stinks then just release him.

Is Cadet still unattached? If so I'd expect White to take Lewis's spot with Cadet signed to take White's spot as back up. I also think Blount will feature more and White won't get as many snaps as Dion did.

But I was told by people on here not to fear the worst and that it was probably just a sprain????

As big a blow as you can suffer on offense without it being 12 or 87. The only good thing is that with the cold months coming, Blount is going to become more valuable. Still, you can't replace the 1st downs that Lewis was cranking out. A loss.

Besides the points and the yards, Lewis just made the whole television experience of watching the game so much better. It'll be less interesting watching White or Bolden crash into the LOS and not boogie his way to 8 more yards.

ATM, it might make more sense for the Pats to promote an OL, or maybe activate Chris Jones and/or Dane Fletcher.

Then again, it would also make sense for them to cut down on the number of safeties.

Bruins29 said:

I guess the only good news is that they have 1/2 a season to get to next guy up to speed? Trying to look for a positive.

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That's not trying to find good news it is good news in its own way. Having this happen in the POs with no time for adjustment and practice would be much more sharp of a sting.

Lewis helped us to get to 8-0. It sucks Lewis is now gone but it is what it is -- next man up. Outside of Brady this O has to be able to roll with the injury punches. Injuries are part of the process that every team faces. Adaption and adjustment are important to going on the SB. Without that ability we would be in trouble (which we are not).

My feelings:

ctpatsfan77 said:

Then again, it would also make sense for them to cut down on the number of safeties.

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it would also help if they cut down on the number of injuries lol

shmessy said:

We are only 50% through the season and have already lost Tarrel Brown, Darryl Roberts, Nate Solder, Ryan Wendell, Dion Lewis, James Develin to IR.........

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Good thing Bill was thinking depth instead of 1 shutdown corner.

I cannot believe I'm saying this but maybe there is more to Brandon Bolden that meets the eyes. James White being Inactive even at this point in time just doesn't instill confidence.

Username said:

Is Cadet still unattached? If so I'd expect White to take Lewis's spot with Cadet signed to take White's spot as back up. I also think Blount will feature more and White won't get as many snaps as Dion did.

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I agree. It seems to me that the pass-catching back needs to have a good handle on the offense, and at least Cadet had some exposure to it from his time here. It would be harder to integrate a random dude on the fly after the bye week has gone by.

lets all remember, we won a superbowl without Dion Lewis, I think we can do it again. lets stay positive.

Plus we only need to win like 2 more games to lock up the playoffs.

EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE! right? right?

rochrist said:

I disagree. I thought Vereen was great last year. Not up to Lewis level, but it was pretty close to being comparable to Faulk's best years. You're talking about a kid who had 11 receptions in the SB after all.

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That was one of a couple really good games by Shane (he only had one other game all season with more than 5 receptions). Even then he couldn't run for **** and his catches were mostly dump offs. I see no reason why White can't get 3-4 catches for 30 yards along with a sub 3 ypc.

A fun stat quirk, Shane Vereen's average receiving production last year was 3.3 catches for 28 yards. James White in his two active games this year has average 3.5 catches for 26 yards.

This really sucks. While I am sad as a Patriots fan obviously because our offense is so much better with him in it I also really feed bad for this kid on a personal level. He's already been through some injuries and he finally gets a chance and he takes it and absolutely runs with it and shows the world what he can do and now this.

It's a cruel sport sometimes.

It sucks to be this injury prone i don't know if i can take another one. Some of our rivals have stayed healthy. Ticks me off!!

PatsFan2 said:

I cannot believe I'm saying this but maybe there is more to Brandon Bolden that meets the eyes. James White being Inactive even at this point in time just doesn't instill confidence.

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White being inactive says nothing other than Lewis is better and Bolden is an acceptable emergency option. The one game Lewis missed, it was all White.

Oswlek said:

That was one of a couple really good games by Shane (he only had one other game all season with more than 5 receptions). Even then he couldn't run for **** and his catches were mostly dump offs. I see no reason why White can't get 3-4 catches for 30 yards along with a sub 3 ypc.

A fun stat quirk, Shane Vereen's average receiving production last year was 3.3 catches for 28 yards. James White in his two active games this year has average 3.5 catches for 26 yards.

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And yet, he had 52 regular season catches last year. Faulk only exceeded that once, with 58.

He hasn't had a lot of opportunities, so we don't really know what we're going to get from White, but nothing I've seen from him, to date, inspires any confidence whatsoever.