Practice / Playoff Roster Discussion Only!!!

[The Brandon Five]

Not ideal.

Report is not up on the Patriots site. Where is it?

 

[AtomicDawg]

Key guys taken off.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Report is not up on the Patriots site. Where is it?

Ok, they have it one place on the site but not in the usual place (News/Injury Report).

Patriots - Titans Injury Report

 

[RIpats88]

Not ideal.

guess it depends how limited they are...if most can play and be effective not too bad.

 

[Tony2046]

Sounds like he ain't gonna be doin that...

 

[luuked]

I wonder if the 2nd part of his previous tweet is accurate - i.e., that Mitchell could still be activated on the Saturday before the AFCC, or if he reverts to season ending IR after 4pm on Friday.

He never wrote that MM can be activate on the Saturday before the AFCC. As others have written MM needs to be activated until January 17th or reverts back to IR. This is 3 weeks after he came back to practice. That doesnt change.

 

[maineman209]

I wonder if the 2nd part of his previous tweet is accurate - i.e., that Mitchell could still be activated on the Saturday before the AFCC, or if he reverts to season ending IR after 4pm on Friday.

As I understand it, Mitchell's roster exemption lasts 21 calendar days from the day he began practicing. That period will end next Tuesday (at 4:00pm). If the Pats don't file the paperwork to activate Mitchell by that time, he automatically reverts to IR. IOW, they can't wait until the day before the AFCCG.

The Pats have the option of activating Mitchell for this Saturday night's game, but they must do so by 4:00pm this Friday (and also make the corresponding roster move that opens a spot for him). If the Pats don't activate him this Friday, he's still "alive" through Tuesday.

 

[maineman209]

Report is not up on the Patriots site. Where is it?

 

[maineman209]

HOGAN ... played @-MIA in wk-14 and has been LIMITED for the three official practice weeks and INACTIVE for the three games since. However, he also earned a Practice Player of the Week award for contributing to preparing the team for the win over the Jete in wk-17, and he was "present" during both of last week's BYE-week sessions.
--- My guess is that he's "more probable than not" to be ACTIVE for Saturday night.

LEE ... has been on the injury report as LIMITED with his ankle issue beginning the week prior to the wk-15 game @PIT (the "finger" issue was added during wk-17 practices). Even though he was DNP for the final practice before the wk-17 NYJ finale, he played all three games with no sigificant reduction in his snap percentages (57%-69%).
--- There's no evidence to suggest that he won't be ACTIVE on Saturday (for health reasons).

VAN NOY ... was LIMITED in practice for weeks 15-17. He was INACTIVE for weeks 15 & 16, but ACTIVE for wk-17 and played a dozen snaps in relief of Roberts. He was "present" for both BYE WEEK sessions, and LIMITED again yesterday.
--- My guess is that he's "more probable than not" to be ACTIVE for Saturday night.

[Side bar regarding ROBERTS ... At the very end of Q3 in the Jete game, Roberts pushed WR Sterling OB at the NYJ 28 after a 3-yard catch on 2nd-and-6. Roberts got up an walked a few steps back onto the field, while holding his left arm before dropping to his knees. The Pats trainers rushed over to him and, after a few seconds, appeared to pull Roberts' left arm with a visible jerk. My guess is that they "fixed" some sort of dislocation on the spot before taking him back to the bench. Roberts was apparently back on the field for at least a couple of the remaining 23 defensive snaps before calling it a day. He's NOT on the injury report.]
***************

WHITE ... first showed up on the injury report as LIMITED in the week prior to the BUF game in wk-16. He was INACTIVE that game, and LIMITED-INACTIVE for the wk-17 finale against the Jete. Given that he did practice, it could be that he was held out of those two games merely as a precaution, but there's no way to know that for certain. He was "present" for both sessions during the BYE WEEK, and was LIMITED again yesterday.
--- UNKNOWN status for Saturday night

BRANCH ... was DNP-INACTIVE (knee) for weeks 15-17. He was "present" for both sessions during the BYE WEEK,and was LIMITED yesterday.
--- UNKNOWN status for Saturday night

BURKHEAD ... was DNP-INACTIVE (knee) for weeks 16 & 17. He was "present" for both sessions during the BYE WEEK,and was LIMITED yesterday.
--- UNKNOWN status for Saturday night

GILLSLEE ... was DNP-INACTIVE (knee) for wk-17, was "NOT PRESENT" for either BYE WEEK session, and was DNP again yesterday.
--- Seems likely to be INACTIVE for Saturday night at this point (that could still change)

MITCHELL ... the only even "semi-official" information we have are the media reports that he was "ABSENT" at the start of yesterday's practice, but that still doesn't really tell us much (he might've shown up later; he might've simply had the flu). This, combined with sports media speculative tweets based on "unnamed sources", and combined with an interpretation of BB's presser statement makes it easy to conclude that Mitchell's potential return is doubtful. However, it's still mere speculation at this point. We won't know until we know.

 

[nowayback]

Is MM fragile(fragility ) . I wonder if that is in their minds .ie bring him back and cut Britt or Dorsett and then he gets injured again

 

[Sicilian]

I don't view that injury report as all that bad to be honest. "Limited" can mean a lot of different things, especially with BB. A guy could have taken off two snaps to scratch his balls and BB can technically list him as "Limited". And given that it's a Tuesday (or more like a Wednesday practice I suppose this week), players tend to start off on the more conservative end and then get more involved as the week goes on. Not to say all of these players will progress or play, but that's actually not a long limited list for this team at this stage of the week.

I'm guessing Mitchell isn't listed because he's technically not on the 53 man roster, is that correct?

 

[primetime]

Limited can be gamesmanship if a player is recovering from an injury, so long as they weren't present for some part of practice. No reason to take a player off the injury report until you need to. It's not a service to fans or gamblers. Keep the other team guessing.

 

[maineman209]

Is MM fragile(fragility ) . I wonder if that is in their minds .ie bring him back and cut Britt or Dorsett and then he gets injured again

I'm pretty certain that the Pats coaches have been monitoring Mitchell's rehab progress closely all season, since he's been working out at the facility the whole time. The fact that they designated him to begin practicing on the exemption would appear to indicate that they felt that his running and cutting was strong enough for him to participate in team practices - in order to evaluate him in a game-like situational context.

The only question, then, is whether or not the coaches feel he's performing well enough in that context to contribute value in actual playoff games that is equal to or greater than the value presented by other options currently on the roster (for the intermediate-range routes that Mitchell would be most likely to run). Those other options might include (a healthy) Hogan and, to varying degrees, Britt, Dorsett, Allen and Hollister.

We have exactly zero "real" information on how that's working out (or not).

If the coaches feel that Mitchell DOES offer more value than the other options, he'll likely be activated and someone else will be waived (there's no way to know for certain who that might be, specifically) or Gillislee sent to IR. If Mitchell offers LESS value, then the Pats are likely to simply allow the clock to expire on their window to activate him (Tuesday at 4:00pm), and he'll revert back to IR.

SIDEBAR:

It's possible that Gillislee's knee injury is sufficiently severe that he's unlikely to be able to contribute even by the Superbowl. We don't have any solid information about this one way or the other. However, if that IS the case, the Pats would be unlikely to move him to IR until they've reached a final decision on Mitchell's status going forward.

Even if Mitchell is ultimately returned to IR, AND Gillislee's injury is (effectively) season-ending, Gillislee could still be moved to IR and replaced on the active roster by one of the healthy potential passing tgts on the practice squad (WR Cody Hollister, WR/PR Riley McCarron, TE Will Tye) as a deep (bench) reserve. Alternatively, LB/ST Trevor Reilly might be promoted to take Gillislee's spot.

 

[Vatahala]

Provided Hogan is not limited I would wait until the 17th on MM just in case we have an WR injury Saturday which would then make a roster decision easy.

 

[Vatahala]

How important is Alan Branch right now with others playing well?

 

[PatsFan2]

So with Money Mitch we are still in the dark... would anybody be surprised if he's present Today for practice?? Hmmmm.

 

[maineman209]

How important is Alan Branch right now with others playing well?

Difficult to evaluate. The interior DL appears to have been functioning quite well in his absence. The available players seem to be working well together and with the edge guys. RJF seems to have been at least an adequate rotational/relief piece.

Branch being healthy is definitely good for depth but I'm not at all certain that his return directly improves anything for the interior DL at this point.

 

[Deus Irae]

Difficult to evaluate. The interior DL appears to have been functioning quite well in his absence. The available players seem to be working well together and with the edge guys. RJF seems to have been at least an adequate rotational/relief piece.

Branch being healthy is definitely good for depth but I'm not at all certain that his return directly improves anything for the interior DL at this point.

DL depth against the Titans is extremely important.

 

[Mack Herron]

 

[dannydyn]

I don't like the Burkhead news one bit.