Patriots Release Update On Players’ Health Condition After Final Practice

The New England Patriots had their final practice before Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans. The team released an update on the health condition of their players. A nasty flu bug hit the team, and some of the players missed Wednesday’s practice. Just two players missed the final practice.

Left tackle Isaiah Wynn, linebacker Dont’a Hightower and cornerback Joejuan Williams returned to practice Friday after missing two practices due to an illness. As mentioned before, eight players missed Wednesday’s session, with cornerback Stephon Gilmore, linebacker Jamie Collins, safety Patrick Chung and offensive lineman Jermaine Eluemunor returning Thursday.

Only linebacker Kyle Van Noy and tight end Ryan Izzo missed Friday’s practice. Izzo has been dealing with an injury all week, but Van Noy was a full participant Thursday and Friday. He wasn’t added to the injury report.

The health condition will be reevaluated

Head coach Bill Belichick didn’t quite like the situation with his team. He was in a bad mood during the Friday morning news conference. The coach explained that some players missed practice, add that they will be reevaluated after the session.

“We’ve had some guys miss (practice), so we’ll see how they are today,” the Patriots coach said. “We’ll see how they are today and reevaluate it after today. It would have been hard if we had played (Thursday), I’d say that.”

If the flu bug forces keeps players on the sideline on Sunday, New England will rely on their internal reserves. Their depth was good this season: The Patriots went 7-1 during Wynn’s time on injured reserve and are 6-0 in games in which the team was missing at least one defensive starter. Tom Brady’s team also won last week despite not playing their Nos. 2 or 3 wide receivers Mohamed Sanu and Phillip Dorsett were limited participants this week.

“It is what it is,” Belichick said. “We have players on the practice squad. We have players on our roster. So if we need somebody to step into a spot, then hopefully they’re ready to do it. We’ll see.”

It was more than obvious that the flu bug affected coach Belichick, too. He was coughing and sniffing his way through the news conference.

All 14 Patriots who were limited participants in Thursday’s practice were present Friday. The team will release the final injury report Friday.

Kicker Kai Forbath had his debut with the Patriots. He will sport No. 5 and is actually the fourth kicker to play for the Patriots this seaso.