New England Patriots wide receiver A.J. Brown avoided the worst case scenario when X-Rays showed no fracture in his injured ankle suffered in his team’s 13-10 loss to Seattle on Wednesday. That being said, the recently acquired pass catcher is expected to miss some time after suffering a high ankle sprain in the contest.
Brown is set to undergo an MRI on Thursday to reveal the extent of the sprain, but he’s believed to be closer to “week-to-week” than “day-to-day” in terms of when he’ll be back up to full speed. As with most ankle sprains, his timetable will be a pain tolerance issue, though New England is unlikely to try and rush back their star wideout.
The former Philadelphia Eagle left the contest early in the third quarter and did not return after Seahawks cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett appeared to land on his ankle while Brown was attempting to catch a low pass. The 29 year old was slow to get off the field, but eventually left under his own power with a noticeable limp.
Afterwards, Brown was seen leaving the Patriots locker room with a walking boot on his right foot.
Earlier this offseason, New England sent a 2028 first and a 2027 fifth round pick to Philadelphia in order to acquire Brown after a tumultuous season with the Eagles. An uber talented wideout, it was evident that Brown had worn out his welcome with the birds who eventually became willing to part ways with him.
Brown had a productive Pats debut, catching 3 of 4 passes for 26 yards, and causing a pass interference penalty on an under thrown ball which set up his team’s first TD of the game. The veteran pass catcher has gone over 1,000 yards receiving in 6 of his 7 professional seasons, but could be at risk of falling short of that plateau if he’s looking at a lengthy absence.
New England will now be off for the next week and half as they’ll travel back home to play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday September 20th in Week 2 action.
Photo: Walker Kinsler. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.