The New England Patriots can feel very good about themselves on this Monday. Not only did they beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-17 in a hard-fought prime time contest to improve to 4-5 on the season, they also came out of the game unscathed: there were no new obvious injuries added after the team entered the weekend with 18 players listed as questionable on its final practice report on Friday.
That said, one player did still catch the eye at one point. Let’s therefore take a look at the Patriots’ injury situation from their win over Baltimore.
Injury analysis
WR N’Keal Harry: The former first-round draft pick was back in the lineup after having missed the Patriots’ previous two games because of a concussion. In the second quarter, however, it appeared as if Harry’s bad injury luck was about to continue. First, he was rolled up on a rushing attempt by Rex Burkhead and appeared to favor his left ankle when walking off the field. He was back after sitting out the ensuing two plays, but again came up slowly after taking a hard blindside hit on a short pass to James White later in the quarter. Harry did stay in the game again, though, and eventually finished it having played 35 of a possible 58 offensive snaps.
What this means for the Patriots
As noted above, New England should feel good about its injury situation coming out of what was a physical game against Baltimore on a short week. While Harry will be kept a close eye on, the fact that he finished the game despite his two scary moments should be seen as a good sign. On top of that, the team will only get healthier in the coming days and weeks — especially with Monday being designated a “Victory Monday” that has players take a day off.
The Patriots will officially return to the facility at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday before starting on-field preparation for the upcoming game against the Houston Texans one day later. At that point, we will get a clearer picture of the team’s health situation: Will the group of players limited in practice get smaller? Will players such as Sony Michel or Julian Edelman return from injured reserve? Will any new injuries be added?
We will have to wait and see, but it sure looks as if New England is on an encouraging way when it comes to getting back to full strength.