What Chandler Jones Injury Really Means for the Patriots

Week 7 against the Jets was a sad day for not only Chandler Jones, but also the New England Patriots, with a hip injury that was initially predicted to keep him off the field for a minimum of six weeks. So let’s be optimistic and do the math. Dating back from when the injury occurred, this would put Jones back in action in Week 13 against the Green Bay Packers. And if you think of the way the Packers have been playing, with Aaron Rodgers connecting with his targets week after week like child’s play, the Patriots are going to need all the defense that they can get to stop Rodgers from embarrassing them at Lambeau Field. But not only for the sake of the tough Week 13 matchup, if Jones is in fact out for the season, what does his injury really mean to the Patriots in the long run?

Jones is detrimental to the Patriots defense, leading his team with 4.5 sacks this season and 22 quarterback takedowns since he was a first-round pick in 2012. At the time of his injury, his 16 sacks since the start of the 2013 season were the eighth most in the NFL. Sadly, reports are leading people to believe that the hip injury could in fact be season ending, as unnamed sources are reporting. So, without the team’s most dominant pass rusher on the field, this will not bode well at stopping running backs and even quarterbacks from dominating them by finding holes and breaking away.

“No real update” – Coach Belichick

As a surprise to no one, coach Bill Belichick has stayed relatively mum on the subject of Jones’s return: “No real update,” Belichick said. “He’s been making progress. We’ll list him weekly as we are required to do on the injury and practice notifications. Whatever he’s able to do, then that’s the way it will be.”

With initial reports proving more pessimistic than optimistic Jones being sidelined for the rest of the season could significantly hurt the Patriots chances during their playoff push and dreams for the Big Game in Phoenix come February 2015. The glimmer of hope might be the fact that the Patriots have yet to place Jones on the IR list for the season, so holding on to that might provide the leap of faith that people need to cling to for the Patriot’s longevity.

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Clearly, no one man on the Pats defense can fill the role of #95, with Dominique Easley, Akeem Ayers and Zach Moore all getting their numbers called in attempts of filling in some very big shoes. And although they’ve collectively done well, no one alone can provide the magnitude of defense that Chandler Jones can all by himself. The Patriots front seven is looking thin, like 2013 season kinda thin, and the Patriots need him back — despite staying afloat without him since his injury on October 16th. The Patriots have a tough schedule ahead, with most of their “easy” games behind them. The team’s next four games alone read more like a playoff schedule than a series of regular season match ups: Colts, Lions, Packers, Chargers… not to mention 3 out of the 4 match ups being road games. Jones better be busy resting that hip, because his team needs him back on the field pronto, and that’s no joke.