Analyzing the Patriots’ injury situation after their 41-21 loss to the Texans in Week 6.
The New England Patriots offensive line just cannot catch a break.
Besides losing their Week 6 game against the Houston Texans with a final score of 41-21 — dropping to 1-5 on the year in the process — the Patriots saw another starting member of their O-line go down. After starting six different lineups in the first six weeks of the season, the turnover might just continue heading into the seventh.
With that said, let’s take a look at the damage sustained versus Houston after re-watching the contest.
Injury analysis
LT Vederian Lowe: The Patriots’ starting left tackle was unable to finish the game after suffering an ankle injury with 12:10 left in the second quarter. On what was just his 11th snap of the day, Lowe was rolled up on from behind by quarterback Drake Maye while he was being sacked from the other side. Lowe limped off the field and into the medical tent, and headed to the locker room a short time later. After initially being announced as questionable to return, he was ruled out at the half.
S Marte Mapu: Mapu was announced as questionable to return by the team in the second quarter, after having suffered an apparent neck injury. When exactly he was banged up is unclear but the Marcus Jones interception he had an active hand in — Mapu broke up the pass intended for tight end Dalton Schultz that bounced into Jones’ hands — was his last play before the announcement (10:37); the sophomore did not show any obvious injury signs after that particular play. He eventually returned following the two-minute warning, and ended up playing 68 total snaps between defense and special teams.
QB Drake Maye: Playing behind a makeshift offensive line, the first-time starting quarterback was pressured on 14 of his dropbacks — included a combined nine he was either sacked (4) or hit (5) on. The most notable of those collisions happened with 14:18 left in the third quarter: Maye was slow to get up after a strip sack, with Texans edge rusher Danielle Hunter putting his entire 263 pounds into him. Maye appeared to hurt his left non-throwing arm or shoulder, but no injury was announced. He was back on the field for the next play and ended up not missing any of the Patriots’ 66 offensive snaps.
LG Michael Jordan: The second starting offensive lineman to get injured, Jordan remained down after a short run in the early fourth quarter (13:14). He was part of a double-team block, but seemingly got his right foot or ankle tangled up in a tackle from behind. He did walk off under his own power and missed the remainder of that particular drive, but eventually returned to the lineup for the final 15 offensive snaps of the game.
What this means for the Patriots
Starting with the good news, it seems that neither Drake Maye nor Marte Mapu or Michael Jordan were seriously injured despite some initial worry. While that perspective might not turn out to be accurate — see: Rhamondre Stevenson last week — we are taking the “glass half full” approach at the moment.
The same cannot be done when it comes to Vederian Lowe. The starting left tackle was unable to finish the game, with his departure a concern for two primary reasons.
First, the nature of the ailment itself plus him already having missed practice and game time because of separate abdomen and knee injuries early in the season. Second, his importance to the operation as the starting left tackle and a player who — despite his general ups and downs since joining the Patriots in 2023 — is a superior option than replacement Zachary Thomas.
If Lowe is unable to make the trip to London this week, however, Thomas is the likely candidate to replace him in the lineup. He would be the Patriots’ fifth starting left tackle in seven weeks.
The Patriots will play the Jacksonville Jaguars this coming Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET. The first injury report leading up to that game will be released on Wednesday.