The New England Patriots have been hit with a bit of bad news ahead of Sunday's game against the New York Jets, made worse by the fact that the news has seemingly come out of nowhere.
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is reporting that New England cornerback Stephon Gilmore will be out with an injury. At first glance, it may appear that it could have to do with the ankle injury the Patriots listed in the Week Six injury report, but Florio is reporting that it's actually a concussion keeping the sixth-year corner out of the game.
Here's more:
This suggests that the concussion happened since practice on Friday ended. The Patriots have provided no details regarding how the concussion happened. (Since teams are required to promptly disclose any changes to the final injury report, the Patriots will be risking scrutiny from the league office if they became aware of Gilmore's concussion well before the late-afternoon update to the injury report.)
Bill Belichick has long been known to keep his injury cards close to his vest in an effort to gain as much of an advantage over his opponents as he can, but this injury can only be seen as a bad thing for the Patriots.
At 3-2 and coming off a loss to the Panthers, New England is in the rather unusual position of looking rather average this season. Specifically, the Patriots' defense has been an issue, so losing Gilmore, a former Pro Bowl cornerback is certainly not going to help that situation.
The timing of Gilmore's injury is made worse by the fact that cornerback Eric Rowe is also out with an injury, so the Patriots are extremely thin in the defensive backfield.
Meanwhile, the Jets check in at 3-2 and currently find themselves on a three-game win streak.
Things are getting weird in New England. No, it's not Tom Brady who's hurt, but this injury report is still a devastating one for the Pats.
