Until the Patriots have their key players back, I wouldn't be surprised to see this a reoccurring feature.
Following up on yesterday's Bad News of the Day (BNotD), where we learned that special teams captain and all-around good guy Matthew Slater was going to be checked out for his broken wrist, we have more details.
According to Karen Guregian of the Boston Herald, it looks like Slater could be out for 4-6 weeks. That means that Slater won't be active for the Buccaneers, Falcons, Bengals, and Saints, and maybe not for the Jets (round 2) and Dolphins. That's kind of an important stretch for the team. I guess the bright side is that he'll be back for the Steelers, Panthers, Broncos, and Texans, but holy cow the Patriots have a really tough schedule this season.
In other news, the Patriots tried to run Danny Amendola at practice, but he looked a little hobbled. My non-expert guess is that they wanted to see how he could move and what his realistic time table for a return would be. As of now, I'm more inclined to think he'll be out until Week 5 or so.
Also, star cornerback Aqib Talib wasn't to be found at practice. So...there's that. Let's hope that when a certain Jet rolled up on his ankle there was no serious damage. If Talib is out, then, you know, Belichick might as well just put Tom Brady at all 22 positions to see what happens.