Patriots’ Week 1 Outlook Grim After Crushing Injury Updates

If you thought the Patriots’ offensive line was a mess before, it looks even worse now.

New England will be without both of its starting guards for Sunday’s opener against the Eagles, as both Cole Strange and Mike Onwenu were ruled inactive about an hour before kickoff.

Patriots Injury News Week 1

This is brutal news for the Patriots, but not totally surprising given that both were already on the injury report this week.

With Strange and Onwenu both out, Atonio Mafi and Sidy Sow are next in line on the depth chart. They’re both rookies, however, so this would be the first career start for each of them.

Starting your first NFL game is hard enough, but doing it against Philadelphia’s stout defensive line (and in tough weather conditions to boot) is even more challenging. Whoever steps in for Strange and Onwenu will have their hands full, to say the least.

This is also a major blow to the Patriots’ running game, which needs to have an outstanding performance in order for New England to win. With Rhamondre Stevenson coming off an illness and Ezekiel Elliott on the downside of his career, both will struggle to find running room on what is going to be a wet, rainy day at Gillette.

Look for the Patriots’ ground game to struggle and for Mac Jones to be under constant pressure, resulting in a number of bad throws and possibly some turnovers. New England was already facing an uphill battle coming into this game, but now victory appears borderline impossible.

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