The New England Patriots are one win away from Super Bowl 60, but first, they have to get past the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship game on Sunday afternoon.
The Patriots enter this weekend’s contest fairly healthy on both sides of the ball, which is great at this point in the season. However, New England will likely not have one of its key veterans on the defense, Harold Landry III, for Sunday’s title game.
According to Doug Kyed of the Boston Herald, Landry was absent from Friday’s practice. This was not good news, as he was already a DNP to start the week and on Friday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters that Landry has been ruled out with a knee injury, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
The veteran linebacker has been dealing with a lingering knee injury that allowed him to play 11 defensive snaps in the divisional round and 26 in the wildcard round. With Landry sidelined after not practicing this week, it creates a golden opportunity for Anfernee Jennings, who will step into the starting lineup.
Latest Harold Landry III Injury Update Opens Door for Anfernee Jennings
The 28-year-old Jennings is coming off a tremendous game against the Houston Texans, as he played a season-high 42 defensive snaps in a 12-point win. The veteran linebacker racked up five combined tackles, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit, and a sack.
According to Pro Football Focus (h/t Reddit), Jennings had three pressures, along with a 68.5 run defense grade and a 75.2 tackling grade. His pass rush grade was only 60.6, which was lower than what he did in the wild card round (72.4).
However, if you’re the Patriots, you can’t ask for much more from Jennings, who was viewed as a trade candidate ahead of the deadline in November and Patriots fans are likely happy to see the veteran defender still on the roster in the aftermath of Landry's injury.
Jennings has been great in the postseason thus far, which is what you need to make a deep run and win a Super Bowl. The Denver Broncos will likely try to neutralize K’Lavon Chaisson off the edge and the duo of Christian Barmore and Milton Williams in the middle of the Patriots’ defensive line.
If the case, as Denver’s o-line has been one of the better units this season, it means that Jennings and rookie pass rusher Elijah Ponder will have to be the X-factors.
Jennings showed against the Texans and in the wildcard against the Chargers that he can be a playmaker with two combined tackles, a tackle for loss, and a sack in the win over Los Angeles. He’ll be asked to do it again in a starting role, which could be one of his biggest tests of the season.