The Injuries and the Amazing Patriots

[ivanvamp]

Projected starting offensive lineup heading into the season:

QB - Brady
RB - Blount/Lewis (situational)
WR - Edelman, LaFell (Amendola)
TE - Gronk, Chandler
LT - Solder
LG - Kline
C - Stork
RG - Wendell
RT - Vollmer

Now, this past week, here was the actual lineup:

QB - Brady
RB - Bolden/S.Jackson (out of football)
WR - Martin, LaFell (who was playing hurt because SOMEBODY has to play)
TE - Gronk, Williams
LT - Stork
LG - Mason
C - Andrews
RG - Jackson
RT - Cannon

So only three guys from the original projected starting lineup were playing in their normal positions this past week - Brady, LaFell, and Gronk. And LaFell was playing hurt.

They are playing backups EVERYWHERE. The OL has NOBODY on it who was a starter and in their correct spot. Stork was a starter, but he's been forced to LT.

Only Gronk is left among skill position players - and even he missed some time this year. It's been Brady and a revolving door the entire offense. Imagine Aaron Rodgers or Carson Palmer or whomever having to play with almost a *complete* turnover in the offensive personnel.

It's incredible that the Patriots have not scored fewer than 20 points this year in a game, given that they are playing almost all backups on offense.

It's tempting to say, "When all these guys come back", but the reality is that some of them are NOT coming back this year. Out for the season: Solder, Wendell, Kline, Lewis, Blount.

So it's a matter of thinking about what this offense will be like when the other injured guys come back, assuming they do.

QB - Brady
RB - Jackson/Bolden/White
WR - Edelman, Amendola, LaFell, Martin
TE - Gronk, Chandler
LT - Vollmer
LG - Mason
C - Stork
RG - Jackson
RT - Cannon

That offense would probably be pretty solid - an offense that, even against a good defense, should score 27+ points. And that *should* be enough, given the quality of the defense.

But man, what they've been able to do is incredible.

 

[1960Pats]

Incredible indeed. It makes it more obvious that we have the GOAT QB on our side. In spite of the incredible amount of injuries, the Pats have only lost 3 games. One to Philly at home after just missing on a great comeback and two overtime games on the road to two playoff teams. If the Pats get even remotely healthy they can still win it all.

 

[BlueThunder]

Just having Chung,McCourty and Hightower back at 100% will do wonders.....

 

[Concussion Protocol]

Is Kline really out for the year? Did I miss that one?

 

[Concussion Protocol]

Incredible indeed. It makes it more obvious that we have the GOAT QB on our side. In spite of the incredible amount of injuries, the Pats have only lost 3 games. One to Philly at home after just missing on a great comeback and two overtime games on the road to two playoff teams. If the Pats get even remotely healthy they can still win it all.

I was gonna say that they're only really like 5-3 since the injuries started to decimate this team, but you're right, they lost 2 OT games on the road against tough playoff teams. They dropped 24 points on The Defense Without Any Weakness with their 2 best WRs on the sideline. It's going to be weird when they kick off at Gillette in a few weeks, because nobody really knows what we're going to see. It'll be like opening night part 2. It's a pretty soft AFC field, I still like our chances.

 

[chasa]

is chandler hurt or just not good?

 

[Connecticut]

This team may not be the most talented we've seen but it has something that teams in the past were lacking - grit. It's a cliche but it rings true, especially when you've got good coaching. This grit has compensated for a lot of the crap we've seen come our way.

 

[BadMoFo]

Don't mean crap if we don't win it all.

 

[I.M. Fletcher]

I had a long post about this yesterday outlining exactly how many guys have been missing each week. Sunday was the most banged up we have been all season, but we will also get half of those guys back for the playoffs.

The injuries shouldn't effect our playoff performance anymore than other teams, but it absolutely should have sunk our regular season. Speaks volumes to the job Brady did this season.

 

[billdog3484]

Decent post..but i would say not all of it is completely accurate

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

It would still be dissapointing if they are not at least in the afc championship game. Just need edelman back healthy and making plays. Also McCourty and chung

 

[fgssand]

is chandler hurt or just not good?

Looks like both, except in the red zone, he does that pretty well for us, he has four TD's.