Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots had Jared Wilson back on hand to begin the postseason.
The rookie left guard, who missed consecutive starts while in the NFL’s concussion protocol, wore a red non-contact jersey during Wednesday’s work on the Los Angeles Chargers. Sack leader Harold Landry III and tackle leader Robert Spillane were also present after both defensive captains finished the final weeks of the regular season among the inactives.
Seven in all were limited in Foxborough, while a handful stayed sidelined.
Here’s the first injury report ahead of Sunday’s 8 p.m. ET wild card at Gillette Stadium.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said during his Wednesday press conference that a sickness going around the locker room would keep four veterans away from practice. But in addition to Moses, Lowe, Bradbury and Jennings, the non-participants for the AFC’s No. 2 seed went on to still include Tonga. The offseason award winner and all-purpose nose tackle hasn’t practiced since being ruled out with a foot injury on Dec. 21.
Rest was due for Henry on Wednesday. The captain at tight end started every game in the regular season on the way to catching 60 passes for a career-high 768 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns. But New England’s partial participants would also include several ramp-ups. Wilson has handled 71.7 percent of the offensive snaps since arriving on the interior line at pick No. 95 overall last spring. And despite missing back-to-back games with a knee injury to end the slate, Landry managed to finish atop the Patriots with 8.5 sacks and 19 quarterback hits. The outside linebacker also tied for the team lead with 10 tackles for loss. As for Spillane, who made his return to practice as a limited participant last Friday, the inside linebacker hasn’t played a down since sustaining an ankle injury on Dec. 1.
No Patriots dealing with ailments opened the week of the wild card in full. But the Chargers had a pair go...
