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The New England Patriots are back! Not only are the Pats in the playoffs again, they have won the AFC East for the first time in the post-Tom Brady era. New England is also still fighting for the first seed in the AFC, which would give them a first-round bye and home-field advantage until the AFC Championship Game.
What’s even crazier is that the Patriots are doing this without arguably their most important rookie. Will Campbell, the Pats’ first-round pick this season, was an excellent blindside tackle for the resurgent Drake Maye. However, Campbell suffered a knee injury in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The initial fear was that Campbell may have suffered a season-ending injury. Thankfully, the Patriots left tackle’s injury turned out to be just a sprained MCL. The injury still forced Campbell to miss some time, but Patriots left tackle returned to practice this week as they prepare for the Miami Dolphins.
As he returns to the field, Campbell shared his experience immediately after suffering the injury. The Patriots rookie shared his initial reaction to the injury.
“What was going through Will Campbell’s mind when he suffered his knee injury? ‘F—,'” Doug Kyed reported.
This MCL strain was Campbell’s first major injury of his football career. It was a scary moment for the Patriots rookie, but he said that he was supported by the team staff well.
Whenever you hear a noise, it’s not something that you want to hear,” Campbell said, per Brian Hines. “I think every athlete in every sport will tell you that. It’s just difficult to process, but I had a lot of good guys around me on the team, the coaching staff, the training staff, that have gone through this injury before. They helped talk me through everything.”
The Patriots are gunning for the first seed in the AFC this week. They need to win over the Dolphins this week, and for the Denver Broncos to lose to the Los Angeles Chargers, in order to get that first round bye.
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