Bad News for Patriots on Injured Breakout Starter
This is Year 6 in the NFL for Patriots pass-rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, and it has been, arguably, his best year in the league, at least through his strong training camp and first four games. He has shown some of the ability that once made him a first-round pick out of LSU, posting 2.5 sacks for a team that has shown more faith in him than he’d gotten in either of his past two stops, in Jacksonville and last year with the Raiders.
Entering Week 4, Chaisson had played 75.9% of the Patriots‘ snaps as a hefty contributor to a much-improved pass-rush. But he has been battling a knee injury and that, combined with a blowout win over the Panthers, nudged New England into reeling in his snap count in Week 4–he played just 49.3% of the snaps in that one, according to Pro Football Reference’s estimate.
On Wednesday, Chaisson sat out practice, throwing into question his status for Week 5 in Buffalo, a nationally televised game to be played on Sunday night.
He was joined by safety Jaylinn Hawkins, who sat out with a hamstring injury.
Patriots Set to Get Jahlani Tavai Back
The Patriots did get some good injury news on Wednesday, though, as Jahlani Tavai returned to practice for the first time since suffering a calf injury during OTAs in June.
Tavai had been placed on injured reserve, meaning he could not play or practice with the team for the first four weeks of the season.
The Patriots have a 21-day window now to declare Tavai fit to return to the 53-man roster. There is an open spot for him, so he could be up and ready to go this week, though it remains unclear what his role will be no a defense that added linebackers Robert Spillane and Jack Gibbens to the mix offseason.
“I expect him to practice, yes,” coach Mike Vrabel told reporters. “I don’t have an update on the game, but he will return to play and practice.”
Week 5 at Bills in Primetime: ‘You Certainly Better Enjoy It’
It’s a big week for the Patriots, who have looked like an AFC playoff team at times and have flubbed their way through key stretches at other times.
The 42-13 win over the Panthers was as convincing a win as the Patriots have had in nearly three years, but they will face a Bills team that is a perennial Super Bowl contender and sits at 4-0 with a conference-best plus-43 point differential this year.
If this is truly a new-look Patriots team ready to put away the back-to-back 4-13 seasons in 2023 and 2024, a primetime Week 5 game is a good time to show it.
“I think if you want to get to where you want to get to, I think you certainly better enjoy it – better enjoy playing in primetime games,” Vrabel said.
“And that’s something that we’re trying to prepare for right now. And so, I think that certainly it will be a huge challenge. The last time (the Bills) lost at home was 14 games ago. We’re well aware of that and have to do a lot of really good things to give ourselves a chance. They’re, playing good football, they’re playing clean football, they’re not beating themselves and they’re doing a nice job in all phases.”
