The New England Patriots have officially ruled out four players for their Thursday Night Football matchup against the New York Jets: RB Rhamondre Stevenson (Toe), WR Kayshon Boutte (Hamstring), TE Austin Hooper (Concussion), and LB Christian Elliss (Hip).
This will be the third straight game Stevenson has missed, the second straight for Boutte and Elliss and the first for Hooper. Stevenson, Boutte and Elliss were all limited participants on Monday and Tuesday of this week, while Hooper did not practice as he is in concussion protocol.
While Hooper will be on a pretty strict watch in concussion protocol, the other three all seem to be relatively close to finding their ways back onto the field. The short week leading into Thursday Night Football doesn’t help, but a little bit of extra rest following the Jets game could allow Stevenson, Boutte and Elliss to return for week 12 against Cincinnati.
Trouble at Running Back For New England
The good news in New England’s backfield is that rookie TreVeyon Henderson had a breakout game against Tampa Bay in week 10, with a spectacular 147 yard game while scoring two touchdowns.
The bad news is that he may be the only viable option at RB for the Patriots game against the Jets. With Stevenson officially ruled out and Antonio Gibson on long-term IR, Terrell Jennings had been New England’s RB2 before he suffered a knee injury in Tampa and is officially questionable for the game as of Wednesday evening.
If Jennings can’t suit up, then the Patriots second back will be D’Ernest Johnson, who has bounced between the active roster and practice squad this season, only registering two carries. Johnson has bounced around the league as a backup running back and isn’t someone the Patriots’ staff has much confidence in, so Henderson could see upwards of 20 carries on Thursday night.
Hopefully for New England, the rookie can handle that kind of volume.
New England Cautious With Injured Players On Short Week
The Patriots foe on Thursday night will be their division rivals, the New York Jets. Although New York has grabbed a little bit of momentum with two straight wins after starting 0-7, the Patriots shouldn’t need to rush their injured players back to defeat this embattled Jets club.
With Boutte out at WR, Mack Hollins stepped up in week 10, catching six passes for 106 yards in New England’s win. Rookie WR Kyle Williams also got involved with his third catch of the season, a 72-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter, his only catch of the day.
The Patriots have begun including defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga on some offensive packages as a run blocker on short yardage plays. He’s quickly become a fan favorite: at 6-foot-2, 335 lbs, he looks like a freight train tearing through opposing lines. It’s possible that we’ll see more of him against New York with Hooper out, who had been one of the Patriots best run blockers.
Kickoff in New England is set for 8:15 p.m. on Amazon Prime with the Patriots favored by 12.5 points.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post 4 Patriots Officially Ruled Out For TNF Against Jets appeared first on Heavy Sports.