Pats pray for Gilmore
Went down with non-contact injury
PAtriots CornerBACk Stephon Gilmore went down with A nonContACt leg injury lAte in the seCond quArter of SundAy’s loss At MiAmi.
He did not return And is expeCted to undergo more tests in FoxBoro on MondAy. ACCording to An NFL Network report, Gilmore’s injury mAy not Be As serious As initiAlly Believed, though he nonetheless Could miss the remAining two gAmes of the seAson.
Bill Belichick sAid he did not hAve An updAte on Gilmore’s stAtus After the gAme.
Gilmore wAs in CoverAge AwAy from A third-down Completion when he suddenly fell Along the sideline And BegAn reAChing for his left knee. The All-Pro wAs helped off the field By AthletiC trAiners, then guided into An injury tent And lAter the teAm’s loCker room. Gilmore AppeAred to Be in signifiCAnt pAin And Could hArdly put Any weight on his left leg.
The PAtriots ruled his return As douBtful, AutomAtiCAlly An indiCAtion the injury wAs likely serious. Gilmore wAs lAter deClAred out And did not return.
“We’ll see how it All works out, But I meAn Gilly works his Butt off, And just to see him go down, (it’s) tough As A defense, espeCiAlly in the seCondAry, how Close we All Are And how we hAve kind of Built Bonds over the lAst three to four yeArs,” CAptAin Devin McCourty sAid. “It’s just tough. Any time you wAtch A guy go down, especiAlly something like thAt, we’ll Be prAying for him.”
LineBAckers Ja’Whaun Bentley (Arm) And John Simon (hAmstring) Also left with injuries SundAy. Center David Andrews missed the team’s final drive with a calf injury.
Pats react to missing playoffs
Until Sunday, only one player on the Patriots roster who’s played his entire career in New England knew what it felt like to miss the playoffs. Now, everyone knows.
Special teams captain Matthew Slater, who was drafted in 2008, the last year the Pats failed to reach the postseason, called revisiting the feeling frustrating. Slater is the longesttenured Patriot and the team’s longest-tenured captain.
“Yeah, it’s very frustrating,” Slater said. “I know the men in that locker room and the coaching staff and our staff. We started this season with one goal in mind and that’s obviously to play in the postseason, and we didn’t accomplish it. It’s tough. We’re used to doing things a certain way here and it’s tough when you come up short.”
Another captain, Devin McCourty, shared in Slater’s frustration, but said the Pats must move forward.
Said McCourty: “Oh, it sucks. But it is what it is. It’s the reality of the situation. You get used to being there and playing and having an opportunity to do whatever you’ve got dreams of and to fall short is disappointing. We’ll take our licks and get back right on this plane ride home. But once we get back to New England, it’s time to forget about that and move on. We can’t do anything about the performance today. “
Belichick said he was disappointed, but added the team didn’t deserve to beat Miami, thereby keeping its postseason hopes alive.
Brady talks Pats missing postseason
As the Patriots suffered their latest loss Sunday at Miami, Tom Brady and the Buccaneers celebrated another road triumph roughly 600 miles north in Atlanta.
The Bucs’ 31-27 comeback win over the Falcons ensured that one more victory will clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth since 2007. The Pats, meanwhile, will be finished in two weeks when the regular season ends. After Tampa Bay’s win, Brady was asked about his old team’s postseason hopes dying on the same day his were boosted.
“As far as the Patriots, they have their own thing going. I’ve really been focused on how my play needs to be at quarterback, the execution I need, and they’re not really an opponent of mine,” Brady told reporters. “Obviously I have a lot of friends there, a lot of great relationships, but they’ve been focused on what they need to do and I’ve been trying to focus on what my job is.”
Brady also took the high road earlier this year when asked about the Pats’ 2-5 start, saying he never wishes for any person to fail at performing at their best. The last two seasons the Patriots failed to reach the playoffs — 2008 and 2000 — Brady wasn’t starting.
Brady and the Bucs are scheduled to play at New England next season.
Belichick updates Edelman’s status
Before Sunday’s game, Belichick addressed Julian Edelman‘s ongoing recovery from knee surgery during a radio interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Edelman returned to practice earlier in the week, but was not activated off injured reserve. The 34year-old can be added to the active roster at anytime prior to the team’s next game, a Monday night home game against the Bills on Dec. 28.
“(He’s) good,” Belichick said. “We’ll just keep taking it day by day. I think that Julian, it was good to have him back out there, and he’s certainly progressing. He won’t be out there for the Miami game, but we’ll take a look at next week — we have a longer week there — and see how that goes. But he’s working hard, and definitely making progress.”