When the New England Patriots released their final injury report of the week on Thursday, they had five players listed. While cornerback Jonathan Jones, who suffered a groin injury last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, was already ruled out, four other players entered the weekend tagged as questionable: wide receiver Julian Edelman, linebackers Jamie Collins and Ja’Whaun Bentley, and cornerback Jason McCourty.
While it remains to be seen whether or not Collins (shoulder), Bentley (knee) and McCourty (groin) will play against the Buffalo Bills today, it appears as if Edelman should be good to go. The reigning Super Bowl MVP “moved pretty well” in practice, after all, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and is therefore expected to play in the AFC East showdown despite nursing knee and shoulder injuries throughout the week.
This is obviously good news for the team: not only do the Bills field one of the best defenses in all of football — the unit ranks second in points allowed behind only New England’s — the Patriots have also struggled to consistently move the football through the air as of late. Having Edelman, who Rapoport classified as being “probably less banged up this week than he was last week,” available should therefore help Tom Brady and company.
The Patriots will release their final injury report 90 minutes before kickoff later today, so make sure to visit Pats Pulpit at around 3:00 pm.