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The New England Patriots could be without wide receiver Danny Amendola longer than they thought, as his groin injury could cause him to miss up to six weeks in the 2013 NFL regular season.
Amendola injured his groin in Sunday's 23-21 victory over the Buffalo Bills, which has forced him to miss tonight's matchup against the New York Jets on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football. Sources say the injury could have Amendola missing anywhere between two-to-six weeks.
Amendola had been limited in practice all week, so it was no surprise that he was listed as inactive for Thursday night's matchup. Along with Amendola, Zach Sudfield and Rob Gronkowski also will not be suited up, which will leave Tom Brady with a lot less weapons to throw to.
The Patriots could be in for their toughest season yet in the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era if Amendola's injury leads up to six weeks, as the former St. Louis Rams wideout was brought in to be the new replacement for Wes Welker, who ended up heading to Denver to play for Peyton Manning and the Broncos.
Many already had predicted a major depletion to the Patriots passing attack, which is why their preseason performance featured a lot of strong focus on the rushing attack.
It was shown against Buffalo, but New England will have a tough time there as well with Shane Vereen not expected to return to the team until Week 11 (he's on injured-reserve no). Instead, the Patriots will have to rely on Stevan Ridley, who has had tons of fumbling issues in the past.
Amendola was the clear-cut No. 1 receiver based off his Week 1 performance, where he produced 10 catches for 104 yards. However, since the day he was signed, many knew he was been known to be an injury-prone player.
New England better hope Amendola can return before Week 8, or the major move they made turns out to be a complete bust.
This article was written by Josh Dhani. Follow him on Twitter here and read more of his work here.
