Some disappointing, albeit not surprising, news on Monday, with the New England Patriots officially placing offensive lineman Reilly Reiff on injured reserve ahead of their home opener this weekend.
ESPN’s Field Yates reported the news late Monday afternoon, which now sidelines the veteran for at least the first four weeks of 2023.
Reiff suffered an apparent leg injury after getting his leg rolled up on during the Patriots final exhibition contest down in Tennessee to finish out the preseason. In that game, the remainder of New England’s starters sat out the contest, but Reiff was getting some work in at right guard, as the club still had some question marks as Mike Onwenu comes back from an injury.
Unfortunately, Reiff was injured just minutes into the second quarter as the Patriots attempted to gain a first down facing a 3rd-and-1 from the Titans’ 29-yard line. Second-year running back Kevin Harris picked up the yard to move the chains, but Reiff left the field and didn’t return.
The club went on to finish the drive two plays later with a touchdown, but it appears there were some long-term repercussions from that play.
New England is already pretty thin at tackle after being forced to make two trades at the end of training camp to try and bolster their tackle group. Along with losing Reiff, Conor McDermott was also injured this preseason and was placed on injured reserve, which left the Patriots having to scramble a bit to add depth up front.
The Patriots acquired Vederian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley Jr., via trade last week, with New England also catching a bit of a break after Calvin Anderson came off the non-football injury list.
Belichick talked about the latter move on Monday, pointing out that Anderson’s return was a pleasant surprise that will definitely help them in the coming weeks.
“It’s good to have Calvin back out there,” said Belichick on Monday. “It’s similar to what we saw from him in the spring and at Denver. He’s flexible, position flexibility to play both tackles. He’s a young player but he’s experienced enough to where he can handle a lot of things and pick things up quicker than a rookie would, even though he played for another team.”
“He’s been able to, I would say, transition pretty well from an assignment standpoint, technique standpoint and we’ll see how it goes. We’re kind of working through multiple moves there at tackle with Calvin, as you mentioned, and then the two players that we acquired with [Vederian] Lowe and [Tyrone] Wheatley [Jr.], so we’ll see how things come together.”
“We gained three tackles there in one day, it seemed like and it was good to get that.”
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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.
