TreVeyon Henderson's Ankle Injury Has the Patriots Playing Week 1 Roulette
"We're all day-to-day" - Mike Vrabel
The NFL season hasn't even officially kicked off yet, and we are already playing the injury guessing game with starting running backs. According to Adam Schefter and ESPN's Mike Reiss, is officially day-to-day with an ankle injury ahead of the ' Wednesday night opener against the .
Head coach Mike Vrabel hit the media with the classic "we're all day-to-day" line when asked about his star back. It is a deeply philosophical quote for a guy just trying to avoid telling the defense how to set their edge, but it does not exactly help anyone trying to read a point spread.
is not just a guy you easily replace on the fly. He racked up 911 rushing yards and nine touchdowns last season while averaging a clean 5.1 yards per carry.
If that minor ankle tweak from late August keeps him in sweatpants on Wednesday, the entire offensive game plan shifts onto the shoulders of . is more than capable, but asking one guy to take the full workload in Week 1 is how you end up punting on fourth-and-short in the fourth quarter because your backfield is gassed.
For anyone looking at the betting markets, this is the exact type of injury news that freezes a line. A dynamic back who can break a 50-yard run at any moment being a true game-time decision means the total and the spread are essentially held hostage by a pregame warmup.
Vrabel hinted might get some practice time in over the weekend, which is the only real breadcrumb we have right now. Until then, Patriots fans are stuck refreshing Twitter and hoping that ankle heals faster than a standard day-to-day timeline.