Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots were back from their bye week on Monday and got right to work on the practice field inside the WIN Waste Management Field House.
The time off led to a handful of regulars returning to action, which included starting left guard Jared Wilson and special teams captain Brenden Schooler. Both Wilson and Schooler previously suffered ankle injures back in Week 12 in Cincinnati that left them sidelined for Monday Night Football in Week 13.
During positional drills, Wilson repped at his usual left guard spot in between left tackle Vederain Lowe and center Garrett Bradbury. That shifted Ben Brown, who drew the start in place of Wilson and impressed playing 65 snaps while allowing just two pressures, back to a top reserve option along the interior.
Elsewhere Monday, defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga, who suffered a chest injury in Cincinnati and missed last Monday’s game after being listed as questionable, was also present. Tonga sat out of positional drills as he appears to remain limited, as did linebacker Robert Spillane, who played a season-low 39 defensive snaps against the Giants.
“I think that just playing everybody and where we are in the season – Harold [Landry III] was in that category as well,” Vrabel said last week about Spillane’s workload. “So, we’ve got a lot of trust in everybody that’s here, and be ready to go and just try to get everybody ready for this next week.”
As for Landry, the veteran pass rusher was not spotted during Monday’s session as he continues to nurse a knee injury. He was joined by running back Terrell Jennings on the absent list as Jennings was ruled out of the Giants game with a head injury.
The Patriots will be back on the practice fields on Wednesday where they will then be required to release their first injury report of the week ahead of a matchup with the Buffalo Bills. Kickoff is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.
