It's the calm before the storm as the New England Patriots continue to prepare for their looming Super Bowl 60 clash against the Seattle Seahawks. Considering how the Seahawks own one of the NFL's most dynamic and versatile offenses, it's obvious that the Patriots would rather be at full strength when they duke it out in Santa Clara, CA, in less than two weeks.
Any team that makes it to the Super Bowl is doing so banged-up after a grueling NFL regular season, and the Pats aren't an exception. In fact, injuries held five Patriots out of Wednesday's practice, including linebacker Harold Landry, who's battling through a lingering knee injury.
As one of the team's captains coming off an 8.5-sack season, having Landry available for the Super Bowl would be wonderful. Unfortunately, his suiting up looks more like a pipedream after the Patriots' latest signing.
Patriots' Patrick Johnson Signing Hints Harold Landry Might Miss Super Bowl
On Wednesday, the Patriots announced a pair of practice squad additions, including linebacker Patrick Johnson. The former Philadelphia Eagles defender brings experience to the table in the form of 70 regular-season and five postseason games under his belt, making him an intriguing 'break-glass-in-case-of-emergency' option.
At the same time, it's hard to imagine that the Patriots weren't thinking of Landry potentially missing the biggest game of the season when they put pen to paper with Johnson.
Although he was able to play in the wild-card and divisional rounds, Landry's knee issue held him out of the AFC Championship Game win over the Denver Broncos. He didn't practice at all last week, making it clear that he wouldn't be available for the penultimate showdown as the week progressed. And now that he's missed Wednesday's session, it's shaping up to be the same old song and dance.
The silver lining here is that the Patriots have over a week until the Super Bowl, giving Landry some extra time to recover. At the same time, no progress isn't exactly good progress, meaning Johnson could be forced to make his New England debut with the Lombardi Trophy on the line.
Johnson's experience as an edge defender could help the Patriots fill the potential void of Landry, who's been one of the team's top pass rushers since being reunited with head coach Mike Vrabel this season. He's racked up more pressures (50) than he did in either of the two previous seasons (30 and 47), per Pro Football Focus, highlighting how important he is.
Can Johnson perfectly replace Landry one-for-one? Probably not, but the veteran disruptor did record five pressures with the Eagles this season, despite playing only 49 pass-rushing snaps — a success rate of 10.2%. Having him in the mix could make Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold's life a bit harder.
Ideally, Landry will heal up quickly in the coming days to rejoin his teammates on the field. That isn't guaranteed, though, and having Johnson around will at least help the Patriots breathe easier if, for whatever reason, the ex-Tennessee Titan can't suit up.
Needless to say, it's a situation that will keep Patriots fans paying close attention until the final Super Bowl injury report is released.