After a week off, the New England Patriots have landed in Northern California for Super Bowl 60. Sunday’s matchup with the Seattle Seahawks will see the Patriots compete for their first Lombardi Trophy since the 2018 season, yet after a bye week to recover from their first three playoff games, there are a handful of players who are in a race against the clock to take the field.
The Patriots already are sweating out the status of Harold Landry III, who missed the AFC Championship Game due to a recurring knee injury. But the Patriots also have an issue at linebacker, where Robert Spillane was one of nine Patriots listed as questionable on the team’s injury report released on Friday.
If the Super Bowl were last week, Spillane probably wouldn’t have played after missing all three days of practice. But even as the Patriots touched down on Monday, his availability remains a big concern.
Robert Spillane’s Ankle Injury Could Keep Him Out of Super Bowl 60
Spillane has been one of the Patriots’ best free agent signings from this past offseason, making 97 total tackles, four tackles for loss, a sack, two interceptions, and five pass defenses in 13 games. His regular season was cut short due to the ankle injury he aggravated against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, leaving his availability on a game-to-game basis.
When the 30-year-old has been on the field, it’s been a good thing for the Patriots. Spillane notched six total tackles in each of the first two playoff games against the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans and had a pair of tackles before exiting the win over the Broncos. Pro Football Focus also didn’t note a severe dropoff in his play as he logged a 62.3 overall grade, three pressures, and six run stops on 143 snaps.
But the biggest area that Spillane has contributed to is against the run. Spillane’s 85.8 run defense grade was 11th among qualifying linebackers this season. Even better, Spillane rarely missed an opportunity to make a play, ranking 16th among qualifiers with a 4.7% missed tackle rate and tied for 22nd with an 8.1% run stop rate in 293 snaps against the run this season.
Those numbers will be key when facing the Seahawks offense that ranked third with 507 rushing attempts during the regular season. While it only managed 4.1 yards per attempt, the volume helped them become a top-10 rushing offense, with 123.3 yards per game.
The loss of Zach Charbonnet to a torn ACL helps their cause, but Kenneth Walker III has had a successful pre-free agency tour, running 38 times for 178 yards and four touchdowns in playoff wins over the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams.
If Spillane can’t go, that task would get tougher with Jack Gibbens. While Gibbens has a respectable 65.7 grade and a 7.4% run stop rate on 276 run defense snaps, he has nearly double the missed tackle rate, which could have big consequences in a winner-take-all game.
It’s a storyline worth monitoring as the Patriots ramp up practice this week and could leave New England without one of their key defenders in Sunday’s game.