The New England Patriots will be without cornerback Jonathan Jones, who missed all three practices in Week 16 with a groin injury. He was ruled out for the team’s matchup against the Buffalo Bills on Saturday.
The Patriots had four limited participants, all listed as questionable, on Thursday: LB Ja’Whaun Bentley (knee), WR Julian Edelman (knee/shoulder), LB Jamie Collins (shoulder) and CB Jason McCourty (groin).
McCourty missed Week 15 with his groin injury — his injury will be worth monitoring with Jones’ injury already thinning the cornerback position. Collins was added to the injury report on Wednesday. And Edelman has been on the injury report for most of the season, but suffered a knee injury during Week 14, and seems to be inhibited significantly.
Belichick addressed how tricky it can be to manage an injured player, like Edelman, who might need a rest-week but the Patriots need him more.
Again, at this point, you’re kind of in a lot of one-game-seasons,” Belichick said during a press conference on Thursday. “But, there’s a game after this and we’re fortunate we have at least one more game after that. But, as they’re getting fewer and fewer, then I’d say there’s fewer options and again, you have to try to figure out what’s best for that player, what’s best for the team and so forth.
“But, it’s a normal problem with every position, it’s not one player – this year, it was just this player – every year it’s multiple players throughout the entire course of the year, and every team goes through it – that I know of. So, you just do the best you can to manage it, and you stay in constant communication with the player, the people who are training him and working on him, and again the coaches that are involved in his utilization.”
The Patriots kick off against the Buffalo at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.
