The good news for the Patriots is that the Christian Gonzalez return is nearly upon us. The bad news is that it won’t come in time to face Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers in Week 3 on Sunday.
The Patriots have announced that Gonzalez, who suffered what was deemed a minor hamstring injury in July, has been downgraded to “out” on Sunday’s injury report, pushing his season debut back yet another week and leaving the team open for criticism on how it has handled this injury, and the reporting on this injury.
Gonzalez is among the best cornerbacks in the NFL, and the Patriots have sorely needed him, as the team has been lit up in back-t0-back weeks by Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa. New England has given up 630 yards passing through two weeks, dead last in the NFL. One of Gonzalez’s prime replacements has been Alex Austin, who has allowed nine of the 11 passes thrown his way to be completed, and is giving up a 148.9 quarterback rating when he is targeted.
Christian Gonzalez Was Supposed to Be ‘Sidelined for a Bit’
The reporting on Gonzalez’s injury from the team has been spotty, at best. When the injury first happened at the opening of camp late in July, the team did not give a timeline.
The reporter who broke the story, insider Jordan Schultz, wrote on July 29, “Sources: #Patriots All-Pro CB Christian Gonzalez suffered a hamstring injury during Monday’s practice that will sideline him for a bit, but I’m told it will not impact his Week 1 availability.”
Patriots Were Not Sure on Gonzalez Injury on Friday
It’s not clear whether Gonzalez has just taken a surprisingly long time to come back from the injury or whether he has had a setback.
On Friday, all coach Mike Vrabel said of Gonzalez was, “We listed him as limited, which means that he did some work, and we’ll still kind of evaluate where he’s at towards closer to the game. So again, it was good to see him out there. It’s very good to have him out there, and the more guys we can get out there, the better.”
Patriots Emphasize Protecting Injured Players
During the week, though, there was speculation and even some head-butting with Vrabel on the reporting of injuries. Without talking specifically about Gonzalez, Vrabel was asked what’s behind the philosophy of being vague about injury reports.
After all, the team could have simply said that Gonzalez might be out six weeks when the injury happened.
“I’m trying to just get them back as soon as they can get back and make sure that they’re staying engaged, and then we have to decide how long that’s going to be,” Vrabel said.” Is there short-term IR? All these different things that come into it, but everybody wants to blame if it’s not in some window that the doctor on Twitter suggests or recommends.
“Again, having had numerous injuries, they all recover differently. We’ve had players that have recovered differently, and it’s like, ‘Well, why did one injury take this long, and is it the player not working hard to come back? Is it the trainer’s fault? Is it this person’s fault?’
“I’ve said this, the injury rate in a professional football league is 100%. If you play this game long enough, you are guaranteed to get injured. I don’t think you can avoid that. I think it’s just how you handle it and kind of go from there.”
