a blog by La Kifo A couple of big names hit the injury report with some more than concerning news. Obviously, Dion Lewis having another surgery this close to the start of the season is disconcerning. He is expected to be out for a couple months, which means he will be starting the season on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list. The earliest he could return would be week 6, last season Brandon Lafell started on PUP. His return came at week 6, so that's when we should expect Dion to be back.
The confusing part about this clean up procedure was that Dion was putting in work on the practice fields during OTAs and other team activities prior to training camp. All the indications from the beat writers huddling around those 'practices' was that Dion looked as if he hadn't torn a single ligament in his knee. Ian Rapoport, came out with the story of Lewis's follow up procedure which was apparently required after his first surgery in November. What I don't get, again, why didn't we know that? This is the first I am hearing of Dion needing a follow up procedure and I am sure most of you are in the same boat. Maybe it's typical Patriots injury reporting procedure or maybe it's total bullshit and the Patriots running back tweeked something during his rehabilitation. The second bit of injury news is far worse. Sebastian Vollmer has been on the PUP list due to a hip injury and he is expected to stay inactive for the entire season. The Patriots starting right tackle has been battling injury for the past couple seasons as he had offseason shoulder surgery after missing a lot of the NFL season last year. Losing Vollmer is a huge blow. The offensive line sank the Patriots last year, they had a shitty coach, minimal depth, and too many wounded bodies. The Pats have improved their depth by adding impressive rookie Joe Thuney to the mix who is competing for a starting job, but losing a starting tackle means promoting a depth player who just so happens to be Marcus Cannon. In 2014, the Patriots extended Marcus Cannons, 2 years $9 million, in quite possibly one of the worst deals Bill has made in the past decade. Cannon played like shit last season, and know will be nearly forced to start on the right side of the offense. I feel negatively confident with Cannon in the starting lineup, the guy is a decent depth piece. The kind of player who could come in and spot start more than a few games, but he is not a starting tackle in the NFL. If you don't beleive me, just watch any game he started in last year. The back up tackle is slow off the line, lacks strength and proper balance. Three keys to playing the position. At the same time, I could be wrong about Cannon. Last year is last year, like I said, we had a terrible offensive line coach and a long list of injuries. Cannon could bounce back and have a great year under Dante Scarnecchia. We gotta bank on that, if this team wants to show the full potiential of its talent, old and young, they need consistent offensive line play. Comments are closed.
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