One of the most anticipated games of this NFL regular season will take place on the Sunday: the New England Patriots will visit the Jacksonville Jaguars in a rematch of last year’s AFC Championship Game. But while the Patriots are projected to be in better physical shape this time around, they still have some questions as a look at the team’s first practice report of the week shows:
Did not participate
Patriots: RB Rex Burkhead (concussion)
Jaguars: RB Leonard Fournette (hamstring), OC Brandon Linder (knee)
Two days after the Patriots placed Jeremy Hill on injured reserve with a torn ACL, another one of their running backs is now dealing with an injury: Rex Burkhead, who was spotted during the media session of practice, was held out today because of a concussion. This development together with Hill’s season being over puts even more stress on New England’s offensive backfield – especially because of this:
Limited participation
Patriots: TE Jacob Hollister (hamstring), RB Sony Michel (knee), OT Marcus Cannon (calf), SS Nate Ebner (knee)
Jaguars: TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins (core muscle), OL Jeremy Parnell (knee), LB Telvin Smith (back)
Sony Michel, who was inactive last week against the Houston Texans, is still limited in practice after originally hurting his knee in early August. Getting the first-round rookie back as soon as possible has to be high on the Patriots’ list of priorities considering that the position group is currently composed of two healthy players in James White and recent addition Kenjon Barner.
The Patriots originally had Marcus Cannon and Nate Ebner listed as full participants, but updated their injury report shortly afterwards. Still, both should still be expected to be good to go for Sunday’s game in Jacksonville.
Full participation
Jaguars: LB Leon Jacobs (ankle), WR Jaydon Mickens (knee)