When Sebastian Vollmer woke up on Sunday morning, he obviously had no idea how his day was going to end up.
However, what should have been business as usual for the veteran right tackle on Sunday ended up as one of the most difficult injuries fans have had to witness in recent years, and it came on a second quarter run by Stevan Ridley that ultimately went horribly wrong.
 Sebastian Vollmer is likely gone for the season after Sunday's injury. (USA TODAY Images) |
On the play Vollmer was engaged with Miami defensive tackle Tony McDaniel, who Vollmer had blocked out of the play, which opened up a hole behind him for Ridley to cut through. However, Dan Connolly, who was lined up next to Vollmer, wasn't able to keep McDaniel's teammate, Randy Starks, from cutting inside and taking Ridley down as he made his move behind Vollmer.
Starks grabbed Ridley from behind and as he twisted to pull down the Patriots running back, he landed right on the legs of Vollmer.
The normally tough right tackle let out a scream that was audible on the television broadcast and was heard by the fans who were on hand to witness it unfold right in front of them. Over and over he yelled, slamming his fists into the turf as his right leg was bent awkwardly.
The stadium clearly became very quiet, as fans witnessed trainers rushing to him and placing his leg into an air cast. Air casts generally mean a broken leg, and the replay on the television broadcast more or less confirmed it.
Even the normally coy Bill Belichick didn't try and downplay it during his press conference.
"That's a tough loss," said Belichick after the game. "To see Sebastian get carted off like that, he's been such a great player for us and such a great teammate."
Marcus Cannon stepped in and did a good job after Vollmer left, but there's no question that seeing the veteran tackle's season end so abruptly was tough to take. It will likely be Cannon's job for the foreseeable future now that Vollmer is gone, and Belichick was at least happy with what Cannon was able to do once Vollmer went out.
"I thought Marcus [Cannon] went in there and did a good job and the line, that's a good front," said Belichick. "We ran the ball competitively, we were able to give Tom [Brady] some time to deliver the ball there in the second half, he made some good throws, made some good catches, got some good plays from our offense. Finished the drives, got the ball in the end zone, so there were a lot of positives there."
It's yet another tough loss for a Patriots team that has already had their fair share of injuries this season and unfortunately for Vollmer, he's now part of that group.
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