Pats Pulpit
When the New England Patriots boarded their flight from Providence to Cincinnati on Saturday, linebacker Jahlani Tavai was not with the rest of the team. While healthy, he was ruled out of the game for what was announced as personal reasons by the club.
The exact nature of Tavai’s absence is not known, and something the Patriots themselves are understandably not willing to address. However, they showered the 29-year-old with love following their 26-20 victory over the Bengals.
“We’re glad to get the W for him,” said cornerback Marcus Jones, who returned an interception for a touchdown during the game. “It’s just one of those situations where we hate it for him and everything, but when it comes down to football, he loves the game of football. We definitely did it for him.”
“We just wanted him to know how much we love him, how much we care for him, and how much we care for everything he’s got going on,” said tight end Hunter Henry, who dedicated his receiving touchdown in the first half to Tavai.
“I’m going to take a lot of pride,” Henry said after the game. “We’re brothers. I’ve been playing with him for a few years now and gotten close with him. Just wanted him to know he’s loved.”
A former second-round draft pick by the Detroit Lions, Tavai joined the Patriots in 2021 — the same year as Henry — and has been a valuable part of their defense and special teams operation ever since. Before Sunday, he had appeared in seven games with four starts registering a combined 19 tackles.
Versus Cincinnati, however, he was not able to add to those numbers. After missing Friday’s practice for undisclosed personal reasons, New England ruled him out for the game. Afterwards, however, his teammates made sure to reach out to him via FaceTime.
“He came in, and everybody got in on the FaceTime, and just talked to him,” recalled cornerback Christian Gonzalez. “It’s been great to be able to talk to him, see his face, see the smiles, and [we have] just continuous praise for him and his family, and we love him like a brother. So we’re just continuing to pray for him, and asking everybody to pray for him as well.”
“I think that you can see that the players in this team and everybody associated with it, the organization, care deeply about him,” added Mike Vrabel on Monday. “But respect to his privacy, and so we’ll leave it at that.”
