The New England Patriots played some near-flawless football against the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday, at least as far as the scoreboard is concerned: New England beat its opponent with a final score of 35-0, dominating the contest almost from start to finish. But while the result does look good, there are some areas of concern.
One of them is injuries. As a look at this week’s injuries list shows, the Patriots suffered a few of them.
Injury analysis
LB Josh Uche: After already missing a bit of time during last week’s preseason game against the Washington Football Team, Uche suffered another injury in Philadelphia. Neither the severity of the ailment nor when it exactly happened is known at this point in time — his last snap came early in the second quarter — but we do know that he left for the locker room with the team’s trainers early during the second period. Uche did not return and his night ended after a combined eight defensive and special teams snaps.
QB Mac Jones: The first-round quarterback, who had another strong outing, appeared to be a bit slow getting up after a scramble in the second quarter. His slide to the ground looked a bit awkward and he did not immediately pop back up again, but it seems that he did not suffer any major injury if any at all: Jones went right back to the huddle and remained in the game for 29 additional snaps afterwards.
WR N’Keal Harry: Harry is in the middle of his best summer since entering the league in 2019, but he suffered an apparent shoulder injury late in the second quarter against the Eagles. Laying himself out for a deep Mac Jones passing attempt, the wideout remained on the ground and later had to visit the blue medical tent before departing for the locker room. Harry did not return to the game and he was later spotted wearing a sling on his left arm.
LB Ronnie Perkins: Perkins was slow to get up after a third-down sack midway through the third quarter. The rookie was blocked to the ground during the play and stayed there, but later walked off the field under his own power while still visibly shaken up. He was checked out by the medial staff but returned to the field for a punt play later that same quarter.
What this means for the Patriots
Jones and Perkins should be fine moving forward — neither of them had any visible limitations after their injury scares — but the same can unfortunately not yet be said about Uche and Harry. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also did not offer any updates during a media conference call on Friday morning.
“We just got back here a couple of hours ago, so we’ll see how things are today. I’m not sure,” he said about Harry’s injury status.
“We’ve only been back here a couple hours, so it usually takes a day or two on the day after the game to kind of resolve everything and so, we’ll just see how that process goes. I really don’t know,” he said a few seconds later when asked about Uche.
Both Harry and Uche will be worth keeping a close eye on with the Patriots headed into another week of joint training camp practices, this time back home at Gillette Stadium versus the New York Giants.
While details about Uche’s injury are scarce, Harry’s situation appears to be a bit clearer. As Dr. Jessica Flynn pointed out on Twitter, an AC separation and clavicle fracture are the biggest concerns for him at the moment. If his X-rays looked good, however, an AC sprain might be the most likely injury suffered by the former first-round draft pick. His recovery time would then be around 2-4 weeks, depending on the severity of the ailment.
Even in the best-case outcome, however, this latest injury is another blow for Harry.