Alfonzo Dennard will miss a few weeks for New England Patriots
Antonio Brown (84) catches a pass as New England Patriots cornerback Alfonzo Dennard (37) defends during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
New England Patriots No. 2 corner Alfonzo Dennard emerged as a solid player in his rookie season with the team, and his first game of not came against the Denver Broncos. He was extremely impressive when covering Eric Decker, and that set the tone for an impressive rookie campaign. A solid No. 2 corner, Dennard holds plenty of importance to the Patriots at CB, because they aren’t deep enough to account for his absence. That’s especially true against the Denver Broncos, because they have three excellent wide receivers (and uber-athletic TE Julius Thomas). If Dennard is unable to play this week against the Broncos, then Decker should have a monster game if he gets the targets.
In fact, it looks like Dennard will be out for more than this week after being ruled inactive for last week’s game against the Carolina Panthers. The Patriots immediately felt the loss, as Brandon LaFell shredded the Patriots defense. Dennard missed Friday’s practice with a knee injury, and the issue isn’t minor.
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Dennard’s knee injury was serious enough that he needed to have a meniscus procedure on it over the weekend. Rapoport described the surgery as “minor”, but Dennard will still reportedly miss a “few weeks” due to the ailment. Again, that’s not good news at all against the deep and explosive Broncos passing attack, and the Patriots have to hope that everyone else will be healthy and that Marquice Cole and/or Logan Ryan will step up.