Danny Amendola Injury Watch 2015

50-yard-line said:

Harper looked lost on punts - these are important plays.

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Actually, Harper did a very credible job fielding punts. I was there. You obviously didn't see the coverage in total or the directional punting employed by the Bills. Harper showed sure hands.

supafly said:

Eh, we'll find out soon enough and I hope you're right, but the Broncos defense poses plenty of challenges next Sunday night--for obvious reasons.

The old "we'll beat them with the quick, timing routes" idea took a bit of a hit with the loss of Edelman, and things would be even worse with the loss of Amendola. I don't see what Buffalo had tonight that Denver won't replicate next weekend in their home stadium, other than the front DL where I'd give the advantage to BUF.

Either way, I don't see anything wrong with pointing out that we'd have a challenge "without Amendola against a tough defense on the road during a shortened week," and that's the statement that you responded to.

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How's Denver going to score?

Joker said:

Actually, Harper did a very credible job fielding punts. I was there. You obviously didn't see the coverage in total or the directional punting employed by the Bills. Harper showed sure hands.

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The Bills punter was terrific tonight, in stark contrast to Ryan Allen. Not a good night from him (except for the last punt).

Harper was competent on punt return. That's good enough for the time being.

TommyD4207 said:

How's Denver going to score?

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I'd be a rich man if I knew the answer to that question, but it's their defense which I was speaking of.

Again, I see nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious, which is that we'll have a challenge to overcome against a fairly tough defense on the road during a short week. That's if Amendola can't play of course, which is how this convo started.

If the Pats could RUN the ball worth a damn, they'd have less to worry about with their passing game on the road in Denver. I expect the worst this game. First off, you can scratch Dobson the rest of the season. He should be a spokesman for a glass company. Amendola was flexing his knee on the sideline after he was taken out. When that tightens up tomorrow I'm betting he's gone with a sprain for at least a few games. They need a running game to take off the pressure of having no discernible slot threats but getting two yards off tackle on 1st downs is not going to cut it.

supafly said:

I'd be a rich man if I knew the answer to that question, but it's their defense which I was speaking of.

Again, I see nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious, which is that we'll have a challenge to overcome against a fairly tough defense on the road during a short week. That's if Amendola can't play of course, which is how this convo started.

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I think you're spot on.
Make no mistake (directed at everyone), we are facing one of the best defenses in the league with receiving targets of Gronk, LaFell, Chandler, White and a couple of inexperienced unheralded newbys. And we'll be doing it with an OL that looked frighteningly bad much of the Bill's game.

If the OL can't keep 3 and 4 man rushes from getting quickly to Brady? I fear for Brady......and the D better shut the Denver O down bigtime.

Unfortunately I envision the clearly lowest point output of the year coming up for the Patriots, however, the good news is our D is capable of shutting Denver's O down. Hopefully we can score or simply manufacture enough points to win a major D battle....

Joker said:

If the Pats could RUN the ball worth a damn, they'd have less to worry about with their passing game on the road in Denver. I expect the worst this game. First off, you can scratch Dobson the rest of the season. He should be a spokesman for a glass company. Amendola was flexing his knee on the sideline after he was taken out. When that tightens up tomorrow I'm betting he's gone with a sprain for at least a few games. They need a running game to take off the pressure of having no discernible slot threats but getting two yards off tackle on 1st downs is not going to cut it.

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Yeah, a guy like Lewis would've been simply perfect for the Denver matchup. I'm a bit concerned that this may be one of those games against tough fronts that we've seen before, where Blount just isn't able to get going.

Not sure if White could be in line for more carries, but I was a bit irked to see Robert Turbin looking good (5 yards per carry) with Dallas on Sunday. He was running with authority, and was one of the guys we brought in last week.

Unless you believe Bolden can earn extended reps, but I have no reason to believe that. I'm actually a bit concerned about the running game as a whole the more I type this

Losing Lewis was arguably worse than losing Edelman because Lewis added a legit rushing threat. He wasn't just a third down back, we had him in there on early downs all the time. He wasn't an every down back, but for 20 snaps a game he was multidimensional. He created plays where there were none to make, turning 2 yard gains into 7 yard gains. Now we simply can't run worth a damn. Sorry but Blount is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. I'm tired of waiting until the opposing defense is gassed in the 4th quarter for him to start gaining yards because eventually it will be too late. Bolden is no better so I say go with White just to try something.

Should have kept Ridley.

This is so unbelievably frustrating because the league is so weak this season and the road to a Super Bowl is paved out in gold for us like never before but we just cannot stay healthy. I expect a general bounce back by the league next season, especially in the AFC. We need to win NOW when the opportunity is there.

varjao said:

He shouldn't be there returning punts

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Non-contact injuries can happen anywhere, even in the parking lot of the grocery store.

You also should consider that punt returners have more safety options than a WR. A punt returner can call for a fair catch every single time if they want and not get hit even once. There's no fair catch option for a WR on a route. Amendola has 7 fair catches vs. 18 returns as a punt returner.

And let's also not forget the risk vs. reward actually leads to a pretty good reward. Dola leads the league in punt return average among regular returners, is tied for the league lead in 20+ yard returns, and we probably lose the Giants game without that huge return from him.

Consider the reward further. Those 4 20+ yard returns are big plays out of only 18 returns. Consider he has 5 20+ yard catches in 49 catches. That means his chances of making a big "chunk" of yardage play of 20+ is more than double as a returner than a receiver (22% vs. 10%).

He got hurt running away from the ball. Hopefully he's okay. But let's not get carried away by one fluky injury.

convertedpatsfan said:

Non-contact injuries can happen anywhere, even in the parking lot of the grocery store.

You also should consider that punt returners have more safety options than a WR. A punt returner can call for a fair catch every single time if they want and not get hit even once. There's no fair catch option for a WR on a route. Amendola has 7 fair catches vs. 18 returns as a punt returner.

And let's also not forget the risk vs. reward actually leads to a pretty good reward. Dola leads the league in punt return average among regular returners, is tied for the league lead in 20+ yard returns, and we probably lose the Giants game without that huge return from him.

Consider the reward further. Those 4 20+ yard returns are big plays out of only 18 returns. Consider he has 5 20+ yard catches in 49 catches. That means his chances of making a big "chunk" of yardage play of 20+ is more than double as a returner than a receiver (22% vs. 10%).

He got hurt running away from the ball. Hopefully he's okay. But let's not get carried away by one fluky injury.

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You make a ton of valid points, but with Edelman out, Amendola's role as a WR may be much more important than his role as a punt returner.

That said, it's not like KORs where every play is outright violent, so I can see both sides. Ultimately, we can ***** all we want and it doesn't mean a thing unless Belichick sees it the same way.

3 things make me feel optimistic on Dola:

1. He stayed on the sideline
2. Had it been a serious injury, he would have been taken down to be x-rayed
3. At no point during the game did they downgrade him to questionable/out.

dannydyn said:

3 things make me feel optimistic on Dola:

1. He stayed on the sideline
2. Had it been a serious injury, he would have been taken down to be x-rayed
3. At no point during the game did they downgrade him to questionable/out.

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They did downgrade him to Questionable

Joker said:

If the Pats could RUN the ball worth a damn, they'd have less to worry about with their passing game on the road in Denver. ... They need a running game to take off the pressure of having no discernible slot threats but getting two yards off tackle on 1st downs is not going to cut it.

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Actually, the OL has some extraordinary run blockers in Stork, Mason, Andrews and Fleming. Williams at TE is a good run blocker. Look for the Pats to install a run heavy offense for Denver and to call up somebody to help carry the rock.

supafly said:

You make a ton of valid points, but with Edelman out, Amendola's role as a WR may be much more important than his role as a punt returner.

That said, it's not like KORs where every play is outright violent, so I can see both sides. Ultimately, we can ***** all we want and it doesn't mean a thing unless Belichick sees it the same way.

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I don't know. It's usually been a key offensive cog returning punts for us. Before Dola, it was Jules, and before Jules, it was Welker, Faulk, Brown. There were years with 100+ catches for Welker and Brown yet they were returning punts too.

And I can't think of too many injuries occurring over the past 15 years on a punt return for Patriots returners. Welker had no concussions here. Then he goes to Denver and has 3 in 10 months playing with Peyton laying him out all the time as a wide receiver. None of those concussions were on punt returns.

So I think everyone is over-reacting a bit. Injuries happen, even when celebrating sacks and made field goals but nobody is suggesting players stop celebrating.

What is irritating is that the Pats will not divulge anything until mid week.

convertedpatsfan said:

I don't know. It's usually been a key offensive cog returning punts for us. Before Dola, it was Jules, and before Jules, it was Welker, Faulk, Brown. There were years with 100+ catches for Welker and Brown yet they were returning punts too.

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The difference is that we're already down a major part of our offense, and you could see some of the struggles last night.

If the backup were lost as well, the offense would be insanely predictable and much easier to defend. You double Gronk and take your chances with everyone else. The lack of an adequate running game only adds to the woes.

In other words, I doubt that Troy Brown was taking on the exact same STs role when he was forced to play CB, and that's simply because we couldn't afford to lose him.

goheels22002 said:

Actually, the OL has some extraordinary run blockers in Stork, Mason, Andrews and Fleming. Williams at TE is a good run blocker. Look for the Pats to install a run heavy offense for Denver and to call up somebody to help carry the rock.

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Did they just not try last night, or was it simply a tough defensive front? If it's the latter, we can likely assume much of the same against similar defensive competition.

All of DEN, CIN, and PIT have tough run defenses and maybe more specifically, just tough defenses overall. That could certainly play a part down the stretch, and the same goes for the WC contenders like KC, BUF, and the NYJ.

We've got to be able to successfully run the ball, particularly with some of the passing game missing.

Fortunately, the game on Sunday is a nice-to-have game but not one that we really need. Rather have the bruised players sit out to not unnecessarily gamble with our chances in January.

Even with a healthy DA, this offense needs JE11 back- badly.

supafly said:

Did they just not try last night, or was it simply a tough defensive front? If it's the latter, we can likely assume much of the same against similar defensive competition.

All of DEN, CIN, and PIT have tough run defenses and maybe more specifically, just tough defenses overall. That could certainly play a part down the stretch, and the same goes for the WC contenders like KC, BUF, and the NYJ.

We've got to be able to successfully run the ball, particularly with some of the passing game missing.

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The Patriots didn't come out committed to running the ball, but had success in the second half when they did, particularly after Amendola left the game. The 10 points in the 2nd half came primarily on running plays.

White scored on a well-blocked off-tackle run from the 6 in the 3Q on Amendola's final drive. LeGarrette Blount set up the field goal in the 3Q to make it 20-10 with a 17-yard run and Bolden added an 8-yd run on that drive.

Assuming Amendola is out against Denver, the Patriots will have to load up for the running game. I expect that we'll see a game that features White, Bolden, Blount and some trickeration running behind Mason and Stork who are nasty maulers.

Vollmer was clearly not right last night, and I'm interested to learn why they yanked Andrews. He and Kline were getting beat up the middle in the first half by the DL. I wonder if Andrews got concussed.

I hope things settle down this week as those guys get some more reps together in more natural positions. My guess is we see Vollmer-Mason-Stork-Kline-Cannon if Vollmer is healthy enough to play LT.

The other thing was that Gronk spent a tremendous amount of time blocking which wears you out. I think we'll see lots more of Michael Williams at TE.

If the OL could settle down, order can be restored as we saw in 2014 when Stork took over for Wendell at center.