Hightower out for the year with a torn pec

[RobertWeathers]

i guess that's it..

Jesus he looks mean.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

And hits just keep on comin! Shame. Best Wishes HT, You were a game changer in last two SB Wins. God Speed.

 

[102 Pat]

A worst case scenario, given the current squad, is they lose to PIT, DEN, OAK and sweep the rest to finish 11-5...do you expect the Patriots to win out and finish 14-2? That's awfully optimistic if you do.

Crazy stuff eh? A fan being optimistic and not turning into a instant doom and gloomer, how dare they think like that!

I'd love to see how some of the posters live their lives, do they cower at any bit of adversity? Must be a total meltdown when the photocopier is out of paper...

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[Ring 6]

So are we anticipating a miracle or an error/omission by the media?

I think the initial report was premature and he is being examined by Andrews today.
Never mind just saw updated report.

 

[Ring 6]

A worst case scenario, given the current squad, is they lose to PIT, DEN, OAK and sweep the rest to finish 11-5...do you expect the Patriots to win out and finish 14-2? That's awfully optimistic if you do.

I’m sure they will have a bad game or 2 but individually I expect them to win each game.

 

[102 Pat]

I’m sure they will have a bad game or 2 but individually I expect them to win each game.

Remember when dealing with a fair amount of Patriots "fans" that if the team doesn't win by at least 3 scores it's not a win in their minds...

 

[IcyPatriot]

Does any athlete ever fully recover from a torn pec - that's a brutal injury.

 

[HailHydra]

Starting to wonder if Jamie Collins talent-wise would have been a better fit to remain in New England. Sure, its great that Hightower makes clutch plays, but it is vital for him to actually play for the majority of the games that we play. As much as I love Hightower, we need a leader for our defense being able to play on a weekly basis so that we don't field different starters every week.

RIP

 

[RIpats88]

We won a super bowl without gronk and collins last year. I think we should be ok

 

[Sciz]

Does any athlete ever fully recover from a torn pec - that's a brutal injury.

Johnathan Hankins seems to have recovered okay, but he did last way longer than expected in free agency even a full year later. We’re about to get a whole lot more data points between Hightower, Freeman, Mercilus, and Malcolm Smith, though.

 

[Bradyking12]

We won a super bowl without gronk and collins last year. I think we should be ok

Yea and we have a deep secondary especially with BadMofo kicking on, I think we're better equipped to handle injuries this season than in the past (2015) and we have 2 unproven receiving targets (Dorsett, Allen) who if click on especially Dorsett big problem for opposing D's, and we have Van Noy clicking on and Adam Butler showing up we will be fine imo

 

[RobertWeathers]

Why did Shefter say he was visiting Andrews for a 2nd opinion?

Looks like this might be the first time he's screwed up on info.

 

[patsinthesnow]

New England Patriots at New Orleans Saints - September 17th, 2017 | Pro-Football-Reference.com

I just remembered the defense played without Hightower vs. the Saints. Damn, ok. Makes me hopeful they can play good (not great) defense without him.

 

[Uptown]

There is only one player without whom the Patriots cannot win a Super Bowl at this time and he does not play LB.

Jake Kumerow

 

[Tuck]

The Patriots agree with you.

If you look at the High contract they totally hedged their bets.

With the exception of Brady, I cannot think of another player in the BB era in which they have doled out a mega deal to a player beyond age 30.

McCourty is the only guy I could think of...

 

[TennisBallHead]

Aw, ****

 

[Wordsmyth]

We won a super bowl without gronk and collins last year. I think we should be ok

Eventually.

I'm looking at the Pats to beat the Chargers by 3, and a possible hiccup in Poopsburgh.

I've loved the way the D has gelled the last few contests. There will be a slight adjustment required (another learning curve), but we should excel if everybody remembers BB's words:

"Do your job."

 

[supafly]

Eventually.

I'm looking at the Pats to beat the Chargers by 3, and a possible hiccup in Poopsburgh.

I've loved the way the D has gelled the last few contests. There will be a slight adjustment required (another learning curve), but we should excel if everybody remembers BB's words:

"Do your job."

If the Steelers can’t beat them this year with the #1 pass defense, both Brown/Bell healthy, and the Patriots finishing up a stretch of 5 road games in 6 weeks, they should just fire Tomlin and start over.

 

[Sciz]

Why did Shefter say he was visiting Andrews for a 2nd opinion?

Looks like this might be the first time he's screwed up on info.

There's definitely something out of the ordinary here, so I don't think Schefter was wrong, necessarily. If it had been a complete tear, then they would likely have known "almost immediately," in Dr. Flynn's words. The torn pectorals for Malcolm Smith, Whitney Mercilus, William Jackson (2016), and Johnathan Hankins (2015) were all announced the same day that they happened. Mercilus', in particular, was reported about 4 hours after the injury occurred if I'm doing my time zone math correctly. The news on Jerrell Freeman and Cameron Heyward (2016) came on Tuesdays after Sunday games. Will Beatty tore his in May of 2015 and had surgery the next day.

Basically, there's something here that made it not nearly as obvious as all the others. I'm going to stick with my completely unsubstantiated theory that it was not quite a complete tear, but that both doctors said to do surgery on it now anyway, so they did.