The Patriots seem to be no stranger when it comes to being unlucky with injuries, and Friday night’s battle against Carolina ended up seeing them come away with another one during the team’s 20-10 win over the Panthers at Gillette Stadium.
Rookie receiver Tyquan Thornton went down with what Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network is reporting to be a collarbone injury, which is expected to keep him out for the foreseeable future. Thornton seemingly suffered the injury early in the second quarter after the rookie caught a 13-yard pass from Brian Hoyer, with Panthers defenders swarming him and wrapping him up before Carolina linebacker Brandon Smith drove him into the ground.
Thornton remained in the game and was even in on the punt team, but left shortly after. He didn’t return and was later ruled “OUT” with a shoulder injury.
His loss definitely changes things at the position and now sets up an interesting battle heading into the final week of the preseason between what appears to be Kristian Wilkerson, Tre Nixon, and Lil’ Jordan Humphrey. Wilkerson had been playing well but suffered a concussion this week during joint practices against the Panthers and missed Friday night’s game.
Nixon has had a productive preseason but has been a little inconsistent, although he finished the game with 6 receptions for 56-yards. Humphrey also had a good night after he caught 5 passes for 71-yards. The two currently lead the club in receiving through two games, with Humphrey catching 11 passes for 133-yards and a TD, while Nixon has 10 catches for 137-yards. Wilkerson is right behind them after he had 8 receptions for 99-yards last week against the Giants.
The team will head to Las Vegas this week for joint sessions against the Raiders, with their final preseason game scheduled for Thursday night at 8:15pm ET.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
