There is one NFL opponent that not even His X’s and O’s Eminence Bill Belichick can game-plan for or outsmart. Injuries. No one knows when and where they’ll strike and whom they’ll strike down. The Patriots’ toughest opponent thus far this season has been the injury bug.
The dominant Patriots haven’t lost a game yet. But they have lost some valuable pieces and seen the availability of others drift into doubt. New England’s offense is racking up points and injuries in tandem.
Center David Andrews (blood clots in his lungs) was lost for the season in the preseason. Left tackle Isaiah Wynn is on injured reserve with a toe injury. On Monday, the team put brawny and brainy fullback James Develin on IR with a neck/back injury.
The team’s two best wide receivers are walking wounded. Julian Edelman, Tom Brady’s football soulmate, suffered a rib/chest injury in the second quarter of Sunday’s victory over the New York Jets; his health moving forward is uncertain. Josh Gordon gutted out Sunday’s win after landing hard on his hip and hurting fingers on his left hand. N’Keal Harry, the first wideout to be selected in the first round in the Belichick era, was already on IR (ankle).
The team played Sunday with just one tight end, Ryan Izzo, after both of its active tight ends — Izzo (calf) and Matt LaCosse (ankle) — spent the week on the injury report.
Forget Next Man Up, the Patriots might have to alter their mantra to Last Guy Left. No one is going to cry for New England. They’ll just keep sticking the pins in their Patriots voodoo dolls. The NFL regular season is a 17-week war of attrition. Who’s left standing has a lot to do with who’s left playing.
Like Tacko Fall, the Patriots tower over the competition on paper. But injuries represent the single greatest threat to their preeminence this season. To paraphrase a Patriots adage, availability is as important as ability when chasing a championship.
Most teams in the NFL have to worry about self-inflicted wounds and hurting themselves. The Patriots just have to worry about wounds and getting hurt. Develin is a huge loss with his versatility. Any extended absence for or significant impairment of Edelman would be particularly damaging to the cause in the wake of the decision to end the Antonio Brown social experiment.
The hope is that this season doesn’t take a turn for the tourniquet like 2015. That was the last time that a hot start by the Patriots generated visions of an undefeated season. Injuries took down that club as much as Peyton Manning did.
After a 10-0 start, the Patriots were ultimately undone by too many injuries, limping into the AFC Championship game in Denver and losing to Manning and the Broncos to render that 10-0 start a footnote of failure. Injuries were the reason that game was played in Denver, as the wounded Patriots went 2-4 down the stretch.
Develin (broken right leg), left tackle Nate Solder (torn biceps), guard Ryan Wendell (knee), wide receiver Aaron Dobson (ankle), and running backs Dion Lewis (ACL) and LeGarrette Blount (hip) all landed on season-ending IR. Linebacker Jerod Mayo (shoulder) joined them in the postseason. Center Bryan Stork started the season on IR (concussion), as did wideout Brandon LaFell, following offseason foot surgery. LaFell never caught up or caught on.
Edelman broke his foot in the ninth game and missed seven contests. He and Danny Amendola, who missed two games with a knee injury, were physically compromised at the end. Per usual, Rob Gronkowski, who battled a bruised knee and a balky back, was less than 100 percent.
Injuries killed that ’15 season and any hopes of repeating as Super Bowl champions. Hopefully, history doesn’t repeat itself. (The Patriots can return two players from IR after they’re sidelined for at least eight weeks, provided they’re healthy.)
The good news for the Patriots is that while their roster fluctuates from week to week, their schedule still goes weak to weak. The Patriots are in the midst of a six-game stretch of opponents who aren’t built to inflict pain where it really counts: the scoreboard.
This Sunday’s opponent, the Buffalo Bills — Brady’s personal Washington Generals — appear to have the best shot at surgically removing the zero from the Patriots’ perfect record.
Buffalo is off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 2011. Its defense is as fierce and havoc-causing as a Bills fan’s tailgate in Orchard Park, N.Y. The Bills are top five in total defense (299.7) and points allowed per game (15.7). The one caveat for coach Sean McDermott’s crew is that the teams they’ve defeated — the Jets, New York Giants, and Cincinnati Bengals — have a total of one win among them. This reeks of gridiron grade inflation.
The other reassuring element for the Patriots as they stagger down injury row is that historically no team compensates for injuries as well as they do. Overcoming injuries is part of the DNA of the dynasty. No coaching staff adapts to thrive better than one featuring Belichick, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, and offensive line alchemist Dante Scarnecchia.
That trio dealt with the ultimate injury woe in 2008, the loss of Brady.
The Patriots patch holes with what they have or take guys off the street and coach them up — the Hank Poteats, Earthwind Morelands, and Antwaun Moldens of the world. Or they improvise, converting players to other positions, like Troy Brown and Edelman taking turns at defensive back.
And if all else fails, there is the fact that a healthy Brady basically acts as human spackle in most cases.
Still, it’s a little harder when the injuries accumulate on offense, because offense relies on continuity, flexibility, unpredictability, and natural ability. You downgrade in all four elements with injuries to key players such as Develin.
However, doing X’s-and-O’s triage and creatively scoring points is part of the job at Patriot Place.
“Look, injuries are a part of our game, and that’s why we have depth on the roster and on the practice squad,” said McDaniels. “Every team goes through the same challenges. Every group we play has injuries on the other side of the ball, and they have to deal with that as well. That’s just the nature of our sport.
“I think the goal for us is not to replicate what we did last year; it’s to try to figure out how we can be the best version of ourselves this year with the personnel that we have playing and available for us each week this season.
“We’ll try to figure out how to use their strengths to their advantage and to our team’s advantage and try to go out there and be productive offensively with what we have now.”
Injuries are part of the game, but even for the Patriots, there is a tipping point where if enough players’ bodies break down, it breaks down the team.
Nothing hurts more than knowing the former resulted in the latter.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.