Official Patriots Regular Season News Thread

[B'sCeltsPatsSox]

Wes Welker (ankle) was absent from Wednesday's practice.
He's probably at home playing PS3. Welker escaped Sunday's win without setbacks, and should be back on Thursday. It will be of little consequence if he's listed as questionable for the second straight week on Friday's injury report. He'll start against the Colts.

Rotoworld

Mankins was also out today too.

[Aust]

Rotoworld

Mankins was also out today too.

He's playing that new Halo game with Gronk. You see that ESPN Halo special with them 2 playing Cruz and another Giants player?

[subroc]

Regular Season News:

The Jets are in the division basement!

As much as all division opponents are the same on the division scale, for some reason the Jets being on the bottom of the standings gives me some added happiness.

[B'sCeltsPatsSox]

NFL Network's Albert Breer confirms that Aaron Hernandez (ankle) will play Thursday night at the Jets, "barring any late setbacks."
Breer has been all over Hernandez's situation for the past few weeks, so he's a reliable source. Hernandez has been practicing for two weeks, with at least one report that he's been at or close to full speed in drills. The evidence suggests the Patriots have been holding him out until he's close to 100 percent in an effort to avoid further setbacks. Jimmy Graham is the only fantasy tight end we would definitely play over Hernandez in Week 12.

Brandon Lloyd played on just 34-of-61 offensive snaps in the Patriots' Week 11 blowout of the Colts.
Lloyd did not play in the majority of two-wide sets, leading to the first time this season that he has been third among wideouts in snaps. Wes Welker led the way with 57 snaps and Julian Edelman recorded 52. Lloyd ended up with just four catches for 45 yards, a familiar line for a guy averaging just 52.5 yards per game on the season. The only glimmer of hope here is that the Patriots figure to use three-wide formations more often now thanks to Rob Gronkowski's forearm injury. Still, we can't trust Lloyd as anything more than a WR3 against the Jets on Thanksgiving.

Brandon Lloyd (knee) was limited in Tuesday's practice.
Lloyd has been limited in practices since late October. Although he was replaced in two-wide sets by Julian Edelman last week, Lloyd could see more snaps in increased three-wide packages with Rob Gronkowski out of the lineup.

Wes Welker (ankle) was limited in Tuesday's practice.
Welker has been limited in practices for the past few weeks, but his game status has never been in doubt. He could be a target monster at the Jets with Rob Gronkowski out of the lineup.

Rotoworld

PFF's review on the Patriots performance against the Colts:

New England – Three Performances of Note

Back to His Best

Maybe it was a favorable matchup, or maybe he used our recent piece on his struggles as motivation (unlikely), but either way, Wilfork showed up ready to play. The +3.8 grade he received was comfortably his highest of the season, and he tied his season-high with three pressures (all hurries). Two of those came against Joe Reitz, who had difficulty containing Wilfork in the running game as well. The fact that that grade includes a pair of missed tackles by the big man indicates Wilfork may be rediscovering his form just in time for the Patriots to climb to the top of the AFC.

Back in Action

Most will look at his 59-yard pick-six and think that the trade for Aqib Talib was just another example of the New England ripping someone off. But that interception was a result of a huge overthrow by Luck rather than an amazing play by Talib, and aside from that play Talib (-2.6) had a long day. Of the other 10 balls thrown his way, eight were completed for a massive 141 yards, or 42% of Luck’s passing yards. T. Y. Hilton in particular had success against Talib, tallying 68 yards and two touchdowns on three targets into his coverage. Talib was even flagged for Illegal Contact on one of those touchdowns, and the Patriots better hope he’s done shaking off the rust before they have to face a more potent offense.

An Heir Apparent?

Many have speculated that New England is fully ready to let Welker go after the season and replace him with the similarly-sized Julian Edelmen. Although Edelmen did record his best receiving day on the season (statistically, at least), it was hardly worth writing home about. Edelmen did force a couple of missed tackles and picked up 56 of his 58 yards after the catch while putting one pass on the ground. He really proved his value on special teams though, gaining 117 yards and a touchdown on his two punt returns. Add to that a forced fumble on special teams and a 47-yard run and it looks like the former seventh rounder is stating his case as an integral member of the team.

Game Notes

– Indianapolis kept a halfback in to block on 21 of Luck’s 55 drop-backs.

– Every Colt defender who was targeted more than once allowed at least 60% of those targets to be completed.

– Tom Brady was 18 of 20 on throws between the numbers, with 250 yards and two touchdowns for a QB rating of 155.8.

PFF Game Ball

He caught everything thrown his way for 137 yards and two touchdowns, but with a broken arm, this well could be Rob Gronkowski’s last game ball of the regular season.

Link.

[lolollort]

Jones, Mankins miss walkthrough, status in doubt against Jets


Source


Also the injury report list

[JerseyBrave]

If we are down mankins jones gronk and hernandez, we are in trouble

[Super.]

If we are down mankins jones gronk and hernandez, we are in trouble

Hernandez is most likely going to play.

[BostonSports96]

Hernandez is most likely going to play.

It was confirmed already that he will.

[JerseyBrave]

AH playing is huge, hopefully he isnt rusty,

[penuch]

Salas claimed by the Eagles

ESPN

[Aust]

So can we chalk that up as a wasted pick?

[ne3xchamps]

If we are down mankins jones gronk and hernandez, we are in trouble

Eating your words now huh? Where's the faith?

[JerseyBrave]

We had hernandez! So no haha

[bagwell368]

So can we chalk that up as a wasted pick?

They'll cut him and we'll pick him up again.

[Ben5736]

With a Bills loss today, Patriots can clinch the AFC East next week by beating the Dolphins.

If they beat the Dolphins, they'll have 9 wins, which is the best the other three teams can do, and with a 5-0 intra-division record, they'll win any tiebreaker.