Danny Amendola has a “good chance” of playing this week
New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola (80) catches a pass against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Patriots beat the Bills 23-21. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
New England Patriots No. 1 wide receiver Danny Amendola has been making good progress from a severe groin injury, as he completely tore his adductors during a Week 1 victory over the Buffalo Bills; a victory that wouldn’t have happened if Amendola didn’t come back into the game and play through the injury. The tough-as-nails slot receiver was back on the practice field last week (ahead of schedule), and participated fully in full pads whilst slugging through the pain. There was a chance of him playing against the Atlanta Falcons, and it was actually reported on Friday that Amendola would likely play. However, he did not make the trip to Atlanta with the team, and thus the Patriots decided to hold him out for a week. That definitely looks like a wise move in hindsight as the Patriots won, and I thought it was a wise move at the time as well.
Danny Amendola looks on track to play in another important game this week, as the Patriots will have to take on the Cincinnati Bengals. Even though the Bengals were upset by the rival Cleveland Browns on Sunday, they are a very good team and showed it a week before by beating the Green Bay Packers.
According to ESPN Boston’s Mike Reiss, Danny Amendola has a “good chance” of playing against the Bengals this week. That certainly seems to be the case given his toughness and good recovery to this point, and I think he has a better chance of playing than Rob Gronkowski. The severity of Aaron Dobson’s injury could potentially have an affect on whether or not the Patriots decide to play Amendola, so we’ll see how that shakes out as the week goes progresses.
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