The New England Patriots opened two spots on their 53-man roster on Thursday when they placed tashawn Bower (neck/concussion) and rookie supporter Josh Uche (foot) in the injured reserve at the end.
Patriots will most likely have to fill the ranks by selling players in their practice squad with injuries to the supporter and their offensive line.
– The Patriots’ deep loose, Devin McCourty (shoulder), returned on Thursday after missing Wednesday’s session.
Corner/special group ace Justin Bethel recently limited on Thursday due to a neck injury. Bethel spoke to the media on Thursday, saying the injury is not too serious.
Here’s the full patriots injury report from his latest practice in 2020:
N’A DID NOT PARTICIPATE C David Andrews (calf) OLB Tashawn Bower (neck) LB Terez Hall (ankle) LB Anfernee Jennings (shoulder) G Shaq Mason (calf) LB Josh Uche (foot)
LIMITED PARTICIPATION LB Ja’Whaun Bentley (shoulder) CB Justin Bethel (neck) DT Adam Butler (shoulder) OLB Shilique Calhoun (knee) LS Joe Cardona (ankle) DT Byron Cowart (back) OT Jermaine Eluemunor (ankle ) K Nick Folk (back)) DT Lawrence Guy (shoulder) RB Damien Harris (ankle) OT Justin Herron (ankle) CB JC Jackson (knee) WR Donte Moncrief (thigh) S Devin McCourty (shoulder) WR Matthew Slater (knee)
– Quarterback Cam Newton won this year’s Ron Hobson Media Good Guy Award, which is awarded to the most valuable player, available and accommodating to journalists. Newton has had a complicated season but has been friendly and profitable, winning or losing.
– Patriot Protection Adrian Phillips feels smart despite the most consistent clichés of his NFL career.
“I have pain and bruising, but I can maneuver some tactics to make sure I don’t gain a lot of weight,” Phillips said. “It’s crazy that I have max shooting, max production this year and my frame feels good. I have to finish strong, I hope to finish strong with this last game, but overall I feel pretty good.
– Left guard Joe Thuney in that Sunday’s game against the Jets will be the last in the Patriots uniform:
“Basically, Sunday and the Jets and everything. But yes, just take a look to soak it all up. You never know.
Thuney will be an unrestricted loose agent after the season.
– Cam Newton will celebrate the New Year with something called events.
“So you call your close friends, the ones you enjoyed, and it’s like Skype and you have to set your intentions on what you expect,” Newton said. “Be cautious. Know your surroundings. Crystals if necessary. And just have that kind of euphoric verbal exchange with you and your loved ones, and the other people you know best. This type of puts others in this position of being your spouse of responsibility, as we imagined in the new year. So it can be a new year, resolution of the year, possibly what your expectations are, somehow it makes you move from there to having a dashboard. Yes, then it’s my plans for tonight and I can’t wait to be there. “