Perfect time for the Bye

[TheGreatestEVER]

Our early bye last year hurt the team dearly especially coming off a gruelling Super Bowl run. The injuries hit hard and fast just after the midway point of the season, so hopefully that's avoided.

A Bye at the midway point of the season will hopefully allow Bennett, Hightower, Collins, and Edelman to come back rested and healthier. Better yet, if we manage to get the first seed then that will be another bye that hopefully gears the team for another run at the Super Bowl.

 

[IllegalContact]

injuries are random.....

that said, it's good timing to give bennett, edelman, hightower, and a few others a break....they're in a spot to be 100% healthy with seattle visiting

 

[Kontradiction]

Bennett needs it worse than anyone it looks like. That ankle is nowhere near 100%. Edelman actually started looking like his old self when he wasn't doubled yesterday.

 

[ivanvamp]

Bennett especially needs the rest. Edelman does too, but not as much. I think everyone is happy to get a bye, probably except Brady, who seems to be in great health (despite taking some big hits against Buffalo) and who is just on an epic roll right now.

Love the idea of everyone back healthy for the Seattle game.

 

[RobertWeathers]

injuries are random.....

that said, it's good timing to give bennett, edelman, hightower, and a few others a break....they're in a spot to be 100% healthy with seattle visiting

Collins doesnt seem like himself either. I think the hip is limiting him a bit.

 

[The Gr8est]

Collins doesnt seem like himself either. I think the hip is limiting him a bit.

Enough so that it crossed my mind, watching the game, that if the Pats needed to choose between Hightower and Collins, for which one needed to be the top re-signing priority, it was a no-brainer for Hightower.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Collins and Bennett need the rest more than anyone

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Enough so thst it crossed my mind, watching the game, that if the Pats needed to choose between Hightower and Collins, for which one needed to be the top re-signing priority, it was a no-brainer for Hightower.

Agree. Hightower is by far, the more consistent out the two. But I would certainly hope to have both guys remain on the team

 

[Mack Herron]

injuries are random.....

that said, it's good timing to give bennett, edelman, hightower, and a few others a break....they're in a spot to be 100% healthy with seattle visiting

The rest is welcome, but I don't think we have enough information to speculate about the health of these players and whether they can be 100% with a couple of weeks rest.

Bennett: has been hurt for weeks with an ankle that seems to have been aggravated. Speculation is a "high ankle sprain" of unknown severity that can take >4 weeks of rest. We don't know if he aggravated it by playing on it, but he certainly didn't do it any good. He clearly could have used more time off. At this point, it is unclear how much difference 2 weeks will make. He was hampered yesterday and needs time off. How much time we cannot say.

Edelman: He has been listed as limited every day on the injury report for a couple of weeks. We don't know if this is a new injury or residual problems from his 2 surgeries. Since we don't know anything about the problem, we cannot intelligently speculate about his recovery. Broken feet are notoriously problematic and he has already has 2 fractures with multiple surgeries as I recall. He could get back to 100%, or he could just as easily be limited for the rest of the year for all we know. To several on this site, he looks less than 100% effective, but this could be the new Edelman. Still an important player, but not what he was.

Hightower: was reported to have a torn meniscus and missed a couple of weeks. We don't know if he had surgery or not. He could have had it scoped and trimmed and returned in 2-3 weeks, in which case he should be as good as new. Or, he could be playing with a small tear, in which case it is more a pain management thing with a different prognosis. He seems to have looked better the last couple of weeks, so that is a good sign.

 

[mosslost]

Bennett especially needs the rest. Edelman does too, but not as much. I think everyone is happy to get a bye, probably except Brady, who seems to be in great health (despite taking some big hits against Buffalo) and who is just on an epic roll right now.

Love the idea of everyone back healthy for the Seattle game.

Time off didn't appear to hurt Brady last time at all...

 

[nabwong]

Hightower reminds me so much of Willie.

 

[IllegalContact]

Collins doesnt seem like himself either. I think the hip is limiting him a bit.

I like the fact that they have a home game after the bye.......more often than not, teams travel after a bye week.......even though there's a game the following week, not having to board a plane makes the down time effectively longer

 

[The Gr8est]

Collins and Bennett need the rest more than anyone

Valentine too, and Hamilton to a lesser extent.

Those of you who didn't like the Valentine pick initially, which included me, need to re-think your position and understand he is very important to this team, and him healing up will pay dividends moving forward.

 

[102 Pat]

I'm a big fan of the bye being in the middle of the season. I'd be curious to see when they had their bye during the 4 Superbowl winning seasons.

 

[upstater1]

Last year, as a fan, I felt like I'd been through a 16 weeks season in week 7. I was just drained from all the offseason strife. This year, I feel like we are 2 games in and here is the midseason bye week, like the season is just getting going. Not having Brady for 4 games plus some youth sports duties on Sunday have created this feeling that the season has barely started.

 

[aluminum seats]

Enough so that it crossed my mind, watching the game, that if the Pats needed to choose between Hightower and Collins, for which one needed to be the top re-signing priority, it was a no-brainer for Hightower.

They're going to keep Hightower.

 

[ivanvamp]

Last year, as a fan, I felt like I'd been through a 16 weeks season in week 7. I was just drained from all the offseason strife. This year, I feel like we are 2 games in and here is the midseason bye week, like the season is just getting going. Not having Brady for 4 games plus some youth sports duties on Sunday have created this feeling that the season has barely started.

It is definitely a good thing to have the Brady suspension over and done with and out of the way. It's not hanging over the team or the fanbase anymore. It's gone. And they seem to have survived nicely without the 1st round pick; I doubt the lost 4th round pick will hurt them too much.

In other words, the Patriots took an historically bad shot from the commissioner, and have come out of it better than ever.

It must just absolutely suck for the rest of the league.

 

[IllegalContact]

the pats are healthier now than they were at the start of the season

 

[neuronet]

Last year the early bye really was crap, they shouldn't even have it that early. This is coming at a perfect time.