Pats Pulpit
In addition to running back Antonio Gibson, the New England Patriots will face the New Orleans Saints down three on defense.
Defensive end Keion White, outside linebacker Anfernee Jennings and safety Jaylinn Hawkins have been ruled out for the road trip, head coach Mike Vrabel announced during his Friday press conference.
All three finished preparations as non-participants in Foxborough. But three others will move forward as questionable, including reigning All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who was a midweek addition to the limited.
Here’s the rest of the game statuses leading up to Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET kickoff at the Caesars Superdome.
Gibson sustained a torn ACL on a kickoff return against the Buffalo Bills and has yet to be placed on injured reserve. That delayed backfield transaction was described as “procedural” by his head coach. And on the other side of the ball, both White and Hawkins missed three consecutive practices because of elbow and hamstring injuries, respectively. Yet Jennings was partial with an ankle issue on Wednesday before joining them on the sidelines. The 2020 draft choice out of Alabama played a season-high 22 snaps on defense and 19 snaps on special teams last weekend at Highmark Stadium.
Gonzalez’s workload was scaled back to limited on Thursday, with New England cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton telling reporters post-practice that it was part of a predetermined plan. It remained on Friday. No. 0 had been sidelined for the initial three games of the campaign due to a hamstring injury that first arose during training camp in July. He handled every defensive down in what became a 23-20 AFC East upset in Orchard Park last Sunday. Critical stops were made through his coverage in the fourth quarter.
“We’ll continue to monitor him and see where that goes and try to make a decision at 10:30 a.m. CT, 90 minutes before the game,” Vrabel said of the starting corner. “So that’s where we’re at. We’ll have to have a plan if he doesn’t go and we’ll have a plan if he does go.”
Guard Mike Onwenu, defensive tackles Milton Williams, Christian Barmore and Joshua Farmer, as well as outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson finished the week as full participants and will go without designations.
