Pats Injury Situation Looking Up

Ian Logue

Oct 22, 2002 at 4:00am ET

FOXBORO, MA -- It appears a week off hopefully has done wonders for New England's injury situation.

Offensive lineman Joe Andruzzi has been nursing a knee injury, and after practicing last week he may finally be close to 100% after having some time off over the weekend to rest. Fellow teammate Daniel Graham has missed the last couple of games with a dislocated shoulder that he suffered in the team's loss to San Diego on September 29th, but he practiced in a limited role last week and it's a good possibility that he also may be upgraded when the team releases their injury report on Wednesday.

The best news for Patriots fans is that wide receiver Troy Brown said in a radio interview with WEEI earlier in the week that his knee was feeling much better, which is good news for a New England offense that has struggled in recent weeks. Brown had 5 catches for 37-yards in a 28-10 loss against Green Bay before the bye week, and is second on the team in receptions with 36, one behind rookie Deion Branch who has 37.

Meanwhile Greg Robinson-Randall saw action against the Packers and may have finally shown the coaching staff that he deserves to be back in the line-up. Robinson-Randall had lost his job to second-year player Kenyatta Jones who apparently impressed the coaching staff enough during the preseason to give them a reason to bench last year's starter who was inactive for four of the first six games.

With Robinson-Randall back in the line-up runningback Antowain Smith had a strong performance last week, rushing for 75-yards on 13-carries (5.8 avg). He may end up being a big help in bringing back the resurgance of the physcial running game which made the Patriots so effective last season.

BACK AGAIN

The Patriots announced that they re-signed WR T.C. Taylor to the practice squad on Tuesday. Taylor was released last week after the team brought back WR Scott McReady who head coach Bill Belichick felt would be better because of his experience with the team's offense. "I just thought we should make that change now," said Belichick last week. "He was with us last year, he's got a little bit of experience in the system, a little bit more than T.C. does.".......The team also released OL Teag Williams and CB Brock Williams, and signed OG Russ Hochstein to the practice squad.