New England Patriots - NESN.com
The New England Patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-20 on Sunday, but lost starting left tackle Will Campbell to an injury. Campbell left in the third quarter and was carted off to the locker room.
After the game, head coach Mike Vrabel did not provide an update on Campbell or any injured players. However, he dropped an unfortunate update on Campbell during an appearance on “The Greg Hill Show.”
“We won’t know much,” Vrabel said on Monday morning. “Yesterday was not a great day for us with injuries. There will be some players that went out of that game yesterday that won’t be available Monday night. Hopefully we get some of those guys back. We have an extra day. I won’t be able to tell you much. I wouldn’t imagine that Will is going play in the game. I don’t think that will be something that will happen. That injury is going to probably be more than a week or two.”
Campbell’s injury is clearly serious, but perhaps not as serious as many believed when he had a towel draped over his head while being carted off. There has been no indication that the team will place him on injured reserve, but if they continue to conduct tests and believe he will miss at least four games, that move will likely follow.
Campbell was not the only starting lineman to exit the game with an injury. Starting left guard Jared Wilson also exited with an injury. He was seen in a walking boot after the game.
If Campbell and Wilson are both unavailable against the New York Giants, the left side of the offensive line could be manned by Ben Brown and Vederian Lowe, who replaced Wilson and Campbell against the Bengals.
The Patriots are 10-2 this season and have the best record in the AFC. However, injuries to Campbell and Wilson could prove to be costly down the stretch. Campbell and Wilson had started 11 games together, with Campbell starting every game this season.
