Patriots Get Great Injury News on Defender Hurt During Week 2 Game

The New England Patriots dropped their home opener on Sunday, losing 23-20 to the Seattle Seahawks. It wasn’t the result the Patriots were looking for after picking up a hard-fought Week 1 road win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

In addition to the loss, the Patriots saw one of their starting linebackers leave Sunday’s game with an injury. However, New England received tremendous news on Monday about the injured defender.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Pats are optimistic about Ja’Whaun Bentley returning for Thursday’s game against the New York Jets. 

The veteran linebacker reportedly hurt his shoulder on Sunday against Seattle, but the injury doesn’t appear serious.

Bentley went down with the injury in the second quarter and never returned after only playing 10 snaps. In the Pats’ Week 1 win over the Bengals, the 28-year-old linebacker had 12 combined tackles and a quarterback hit. 

Without Bentley on the field on Sunday, the Patriots turned to veteran Raekwon McMillan, who played 41 defensive and 24 special teams snaps. McMillan had seven combined tackles and a quarterback hit.

Bentley played all 51 snaps in the regular season opener and has been one of the Patriots’ best linebackers over the last few seasons. The 6-foot-2 linebacker produced 114 combined tackles, 12 quarterback hits, five tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and three pass deflections in 16 starts last season. 

The Patriots will need Bentley holding court in the middle of the linebacker unit as they are six-point underdogs on DraftKings Sportsbook against the Jets.

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