After sustaining a knee injury this past week against the Cincinnati Bengals, Patriots left tackle Will Campbell will be placed on the injured reserve the team announced Wednesday. Head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters that the team does not believe the injury will be a season ending one for the rookie.
Campbell appeared to be injured on a running play in the third quarter. The Patriots’ offensive lineman managed to limp his way over to the sidelines before ultimately heading back to the locker room for further evaluation.
Afterwards, Vrabel insinuated that he didn’t expect to have Campbell available this coming week. “Yesterday was not a great day for us with injuries,” Vrabel said in a subsequent interview. “So, there will be some players that went out of that game yesterday that won’t be available on Monday night. Hopefully, we get some of those guys back. We get an extra day, but I won’t be able to tell you much. I wouldn’t imagine that Will’s going to play in the game. I don’t think that will be something that will happen. That injury’s probably going to be more than a week or two.”
With the injured reserve designation, the 21 year old will miss at least the next 4 games for New England. While he could theoretically return for a playoff run, it will do little to help the team in the immediate future as they attempt to lock up the number one seed in the AFC.
The Patriots already featured one of the league’s shakier offensive lines with Campbell in the lineup, being ranked 27th in the NFL according to Pro Football Network’s OLi grading system. But not only did the team lose their starting LT, but LG Jared Wilson also went down with a high ankle sprain against Cincy as well.
Right tackle Morgan Moses was forced out of the game briefly as well, but managed to return. The team is currently listing his departure as “illness” related, but whether or not there’s also some nagging bumps and bruises at play remains to be seen.
This leaves a massive void along the left side of the line, and potentially at right tackle as well if Moses is unable to shake whatever seems to be ailing him. Vederian Lowe, Ben Brown, and Thayer Munford Jr. are likely to see additional responsibilities leading up to the team’s Monday night showdown vs. the Giants. However there will almost certainly be some additional maneuvers coming over the next several days.
“We’ll put Will on IR here at 4 o’clock, and sign Miles Battle to the 53-man roster,” Vrabel said. “Just working through some moving parts here as we get to the middle part of our week with Monday night preparation and everything that we have to do to make sure that we have 48 guys that all have a role and understand how they can help us win that game on Monday.”
While Battle will help add some depth on the defensive side of the football, as will CB Brandon Crossley who the team subsequently signed to their practice squad. However an already thin offensive line is not even thinner still, and a date with the fearsome pass rush of the New York Giants is just around the corner.
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