The New England Patriots may not have been able to pull out a road win versus the Seattle Seahawks, but they did something not a lot of teams could say on Sunday: come away from Week 2 without suffering any visible injuries. In fact, no injury updates were announced by the club during the game and only a handful of players appeared to either get shaken up at one point or to possibly be dealing with some minor ailments heading into the new week.
With that said, let’s take a look at three players who did catch the eye at one point yesterday.
Injury analysis
WR N’Keal Harry: As was the case last week against the Miami Dolphins, Harry was a top-two wide receiver for the Patriots offense in terms of playing time: he was on the field for 61 of 72 offensive snaps and had his best statistical game since joining the team last year. Along the way, he also absorbed a nasty-looking helmet-to-helmet collision on a successful fourth down pass from quarterback Cam Newton. Harry did stay in the game and finish it without any obvious limitations, but the play was a scary one nevertheless.
WR Julian Edelman: Heading into the game, Edelman was listed as questionable on the Patriots’ injury report because of a knee ailment but he still played 52 snaps while setting a new career-best with 179 receiving yards on eight catches. However, he also took a beating against the Seahawks. Two plays are standing out, even though they are not related to his knee but rather his head/neck area: he held his neck after rolling over following a third down catch early in the third quarter, and later landed on his head on a deep pass in the fourth. He stayed in the game each time, but the situation is still one worth monitoring.
LB Derek Rivers: The story of Rivers’ NFL career so far is one of injuries: he missed the 2017 and 2019 seasons because of knee issues, and was limited in 2018 while still rehabbing. The 26-year-old finally appears to be fully healthy this year, which is why it was disheartening to see him go down in the late third quarter. Rivers walked off the field under his own power, though, and eventually also returned to the field again as part of the Patriots’ third down package later in the game. It was just one play, but it was encouraging to see him back out there again.
What this means for the Patriots
All in all, the Patriots can feel good about their injury situation two weeks into the regular season: with the exception of Edelman and Rivers, no players were visibly shaken up or hurt during Sunday’s game in Seattle. This is particularly noteworthy considering that a long list of players suffered serious injuries earlier during the day — including Jimmy Garoppolo, Drew Lock, Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, Courtland Sutton, Nick Bosa, Malik Hooker, and the Seahawks’ own Bruce Irvin, who appeared to have torn his ACL versus New England.
While the Patriots do have four players on injured reserve who could start to come off the list after sitting out three games (Yodny Cajuste, Damien Harris, Gunner Olszewski, Beau Allen), and had to deactivate tight end Dalton Keene and linebacker Josh Uche against Seattle because of neck and ankle issues, respectively, the current active roster on the whole appears to be a pretty healthy one after the first two games of the season.
The first injury report of the week, which will be released on Wednesday, will create a clearer picture, though — especially when it comes to the statuses of Harry, Edelman and Rivers.