New England may have beaten Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos on Sunday, but unfortunately it may have come at a steep price.
The Patriots may now be without defensive lineman Andre Carter for what could be - if the early reports are any indication - the remainder of the season.
 Andre Carter left Sunday's game with an injury to his left leg and didn't return. (FILE:Icon/SMI) |
The injury occurred on what was the final play of the 1st quarter. On the play Carter was blocked to the ground and then reached for his left knee, which was also stepped on by Broncos guard Zane Beadles.
Watching the play back Carter was already holding his knee when Beadles stepped on him, so it's clear he was already hurt prior to Beadles making contact with him. He was carted off the field and didn't return.
As expected, after the game Belichick didn't offer much on Carter's status.
"No," said Belichick when asked if he knew about the severity of Carter's injury. "Just walked in off the field."
According to Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe, she reported via Twitter that she confirmed that Carter sustained a quad injury and will likely need to undergo surgery, which likely means the Patriots defensive lineman season is probably over.
Brandon Deaderick came in and replaced Carter, with Mark Anderson also stepping up and filling in during his absence. Belichick pointed out that his football team fortunately got plenty of contributions from everyone during the victory.
"Again, we got great contributions from everybody," said Belichick. "Mark [Anderson], Eric Moore, [Rob] Ninkovich, Dane [Fletcher], Gary [Guyton], Jerod [Mayo], all the way across the board. Our defensive line, I mean those guys played well. They were out there, Vince [Wilfork], Kyle [Love], Gerard Warren, [Brandon] Deaderick, Ron Brace…they all played good.
"We used a lot of people on defense and they all stepped up and came through for us at one time or another. You know, losing [Andre] Carter, that was a big loss there in the second quarter. But we had guys step up and they contributed throughout the game."
With Carter gone, now they'll need each of them to step up even more for the rest of the season.
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