White lost for season RB suffered hip injury vs. Saints
FOXBORO — Patriots running back James White will miss the rest of the season with the hip injury he suffered last Sunday against the Saints, a league source told the Herald.
PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK
White was carted off in the second quarter of the 2813 loss after getting tackled on a third-down run along New Orleans’ sideline. The 29-year-old reportedly endured a subluxation of his right hip as he hit the turf. White had been thriving in his longtime role as a thirddown back and led the Pats in receptions through Week 2.
The coaching staff is expected to replace White through a combination of J.J. Taylor, fourth-round rookie Rhamondre Stevenson and Brandon Bolden, who assumed most of White’s duties last weekend. Starting running back Damien Harris struggled in pass protection against New Orleans, which caused the coaching staff to lean on Bolden, who hadn’t shouldered a significant offensive workload since 2015. He finished with three catches and three rushes for 22 total yards.
However the Patriots divvy up the offensive snaps White leaves behind, teammates say no one can fill the leadership void his loss has created in the locker room.
“It’s the worst part of this business, and with someone — especially like James, who we all love and is a great teammate and obviously a great player, but even a better person to have in our locker room — it’s terrible,” said Pats center David Andrews. “I hate it for him because I know how hard he works, and it’s always frustrating. … But he’s one of the toughest people we’ve got, so I know he’ll bounce back.”
ESPN first reported White’s injury will be season-ending.
Bruschi predicted Brady-Belichick split
Tedy Bruschi remembers the car, a black SUV. He remembers his company, Tom Brady. And he remembers the conversation, a revealing chat between old friends.
“It was a real heart to heart,” Bruschi told the Herald.
Roughly 10 years ago, Brady picked Bruschi up one offseason night, then at the height of his powers and midway through his Patriots tenure.
Bruschi had recently settled into retirement and joined ESPN as an NFL analyst. But during that drive, he was a teammate again, a rare person Brady could unequivocally trust.
So Brady, 34, confided a great secret to Bruschi the world would soon know: he wanted to play into his early 40s, maybe even longer. It was audacious and unprecedented, of course — until it wasn’t. Bruschi believed Brady could outrun Father Time, but first his mind ran to another legendary figure who would get in his way:
Bill Belichick.
“Well obviously you’ll be finishing your career somewhere else,” Bruschi told Brady.
The quarterback nodded. “He wasn’t surprised when I said that, and really I wasn’t surprised to say it,” Bruschi told the Herald. “Because you just know the formula, the way Bill sees you as an aging player. He projects. It’s what makes him a great coach. He projects … and then he prepares for that situation.
“So when a quarterback gets past 40, he projects to have this team ready with someone else. I just think this was one situation that not even the great Bill Belichick could anticipate, someone playing this well at 44 years old.”
Brady will make his longawaited return to Foxboro on Sunday, when Bruschi will preview the Pats-Bucs clash during ESPN’s live edition of Sunday NFL Countdown broadcasting outside Gillette Stadium. Bruschi remains close with Brady and Belichick, whose Patriots are six-point home underdogs.
Bruschi says he’ll feel torn at kickoff, but appreciates the magnitude of the moment, both for football at large and his former coach and quarterback.
“It’s something you just have to end up doing. And I’m glad (Brady)’s going through this. And I’m glad the Patriots organization is going through this,” Bruschi said. “Because you do get to reflect, and you do get to see the result of a decision, where the most celebrated player in the organization’s history is now somewhere else.”
Even as Brady won a league MVP at age 40 and a Super Bowl at 41, Bruschi says he felt their divorce coming. Recent reporting suggests Brady wanted to leave Belichick in 2017, before he hoisted either trophy. At last the day came in March 2020, barely a year after Brady and Belichick raised their last Lombardi together.
As Brady signed with Tampa Bay, the footballwatching world peeked ahead to when his Bucs would next play the Patriots; a game the NFL has now waited 18 months to arrive, but Bruschi predicted more than a decade ago.
“It’s something that I knew I’d see,” he said. “But it’s something I never wanted to see.”
Harry back at practice
Four days after scoring a season-low 13 points, the Patriots offense received needed reinforcements Wednesday, with wide receiver N’Keal Harry returning to practice.
Harry’s presence indicated he’s been activated off injured reserve. The former first-rounder was placed on IR on Sept. 2, after hurting his left shoulder during a preseason game at Philadelphia in mid-August. Harry can be added to the active roster at any time, though the Pats must first clear a roster spot.
Relatedly, White was the only player missing at practice, aside from kickers Nick Folk and Quinn Nordin, who may have been working off to the side. Folk was later listed as a limited participant on Wednesday’s practice report.
If/when he returns, Harry should serve as the team’s No. 4 receiver, behind Nelson Agholor, Jakobi Meyers and Kendrick Bourne. That role has been filled by Gunner Olszewski, who’s seen 32 offensive snaps through three weeks and zero targets. If Harry is not activated, the team will have two more weeks to add him to the 53-man roster, or he will be sidelined for the season.
Bucs CB Sherman not expected to play
The Buccaneers signed free-agent cornerback Richard Sherman to a one-year contract Wednesday, but he is not expected to play, according to head coach Bruce Arians.
Arians told Tampa reporters multiple Bucs defenders would need to get hurt before or during Sunday’s game at the Patriots for Sherman to play. The 33-year-old corner was limited to five games last season due to injury and made 18 tackles and intercepted one pass for San Francisco. He signed this week to provide depth for an injuryravaged Tampa secondary.
Sherman said he joined the Buccaneers because they made the best offer, and playing with Brady has long appealed to him.
“He’s the same animal I am,” Sherman said.
Brady and Sherman famously faced off in Super Bowl XLIX, when the Patriots defeated the Seahawks, 28-24. At the end of that 2014 regular season, both players were named All-Pros, as was Rob Gronkowski, who missed practice Wednesday with a rib injury.