Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Banged-Up Bills and Patriots? Injury Talk Heading into Week Thirteen — 12/5/21

Episode Date: December 6, 2021

The New England Patriots are set for a pivotal matchup on Monday night, with several playoff implications. Joining host Mike D’Abate is Kyle Trimble, doctor of physical therapy and manager of the site Banged Up Bills.com. The duo discuss Buffalo’s injuries to linebacker Matt Milano, the health of defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and the season-ending ACL tear of cornerback Tre-Davious White. They also discuss the calf injury of Patriots offensive tackle Trent Brown.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/LOCKEDON and use promo code LOCKEDON for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello to all of you, Foxborough faithful. You are now locked into the Lockdown Patriots podcast. The weekend is here, and even though we have to wait until Monday for all of your Patriots action, we are bringing you a special weekend episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast, Patriots Bills Injury Report, as we break down some of the more prominent members of the Bills and the Pats that are heading into

this one banged up. My name is Mike DeBate and I thank you all for joining me here on today's episode of the pod and most of all I thank you for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is free and available on all platforms.

Pats fans, late season football doesn't get much bigger than what we're going to see on Monday night. Your New England Patriots continue to make their climb in the standings. And as of right now, the Pats sit at 8-4. First place in the AFC East and second place in the AFC overall. Simply an amazing stretch for the Patriots. Six wins in a row and now they have a chance to go into Orchard Park and take it to the defending AFC East champion Buffalo Bills and take a stranglehold on the division. But the Bills are definitely not going to make it easy. This is one of the best teams in the conference, one of the best teams in the league, solid in all three levels on defense, an offense that is versatile and capable of beating you

in so many ways, very well coached, great special teams. Buffalo Bills are for real, folks, and they are formidable. But as all teams are this time of year, Buffalo's heading into this one a little bit banged up, and so are the Patriots. Overall, both teams enjoying pretty good health I'll be honest but there's always some minor injuries to talk about and that's exactly what we will talk about here today on Locked On Patriots as I have the esteemed honor of being joined by doctor of physical therapy Kyle Trimble the man in charge at bangedupbills.com and first

and foremost Kyle will give us a breakdown on the season-ending injury to Bills cornerback Tredavious White. What does it mean for his immediate recovery, and what does it mean for him going forward? I think I join all Patriots fans with Bills fans in saying that we hope Tredavious makes a speedy and complete recovery, and we look forward to seeing him back in a Bills uniform as soon as possible and helping to fuel this great rivalry. But we're also going to focus on the players that will be on the field on Monday, or at least expected to be on the field. For the Bills, that means nose tackle star Latula A and linebacker Matt Milano, who have both been placed on the Bills

injury report this week. Latulae recovering from COVID-19. He's been removed from the list. And though he's fully expected to play on Monday night, will it slow him at all? We're going to ask Kyle that question. We'll also talk about Matt Milano's shoulder injury. Will that be a problem for the Bills? Not just for Monday night, but down the line.

And last but certainly not least, this is locked on Patriots. And the Patriots have their share of walking wounded as well. One of the more prominent injuries that the Patriots have had to deal with this year is to offensive tackle Trent Brown. Will Trent be able to suit up on Monday? And if so, how effective will he be? And just how much is that calf bothering him? We will ask these questions and more to Kyle Trimble of bangedupbills.com

when this special edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Locked On listeners, you listen to podcasts for the power of the inside track, but you switch to Boost Mobile for the power of saving money, because with Boost, you get the power of a free 5G phone

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Additional restrictions apply. Offers and coverage not available everywhere or for all phones or networks. See BoostMobile.com for details. This call is being recorded. New England Patriots fans, we are less than 24 hours removed from the Patriots visiting the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, New York, a pivotal divisional matchup this Monday night at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. And right now, the New England Patriots are sort of banged up a little bit. They're not extremely banged up, but they're always dealing

with injuries at this point in Buffalo bills looking rel one major injury may cast performance monday night break down all of the Pat injury information you wi this pivotal match up is extremely excited and ex to welcome today. He is a

therapy running the websi dot today. He is a doctor of physical therapy running the website bangedupbills.com, which is a website devoted to Buffalo Bills injuries. I can't stress more than I can already have that this man is definitely someone you want to follow when it comes to injuries, not just with the Bills, which obviously is his expertise, but also all over the NFL. Kyle Trimble today joins me. Kyle, thank you so much for joining me.

Welcome to Locked On Patriots. Mike, it is a pleasure to talk to you today. My pleasure as always. And, you know, it's always fun when these two teams are able to hook up and get together for late season divisional matchups. And the scheduling was actually, I think, to the advantage of all fans this year. These two games definitely mean a lot, and they're coming at crunch time. Both teams right now in the thick of things, trying to jockey for position in the AFC East.

And who would have thought that after a 2-4 start from the New England Patriots? Buffalo Bills starting the season, they look formidable from the get-go. But yet here we are, and these two teams right now facing a close to a must-win on Monday. It'll definitely be a must-win at the end of the month, but right now, I think you can make the argument that this win is definitely needed by both sides. From an injury standpoint, it's actually been a very quiet week, Kyle, for both teams. No injury report really glaring or anything that is of a major concern right now for both teams. Obviously, the New England Patriots are wondering about the status of Kyle Duggar. Kyle continues to be absent from the injury report. He's on COVID reserve.

Pretty much know the background and what is responsible there. Not looking good for him to be able to suit up. But other than that, the Patriots are listing mostly usual suspects when it comes to their injury report. Obviously, the Buffalo Bills are coming into this one minus one of their most electrifying players. Cornerback Tredavious White out with a torn ACL. Definitely casting a little bit of a paw on this matchup from a Buffalo Bills standpoint, and even from a Patriots standpoint. Tredavious is someone that obviously causes the Patriots fans a lot of headaches, but he's someone that I love covering and I love to be able to watch in action. Kyle, you're close to the situation. You've seen what the type of injury that he's had to endure. Take us through a little bit about what Tredavious' recovery is going to look like and what's the long-term prognosis on him? So real quick to go over what the injury happened. This

happened in the second quarter with 621 left. He was trying to cover Marquez Calloway. Calloway turns to the right. Tredavious tries to go to the right as well. And so White plants his foot into the ground and his foot sticks. Hip goes into internal rotation. AB induction puts a lot of stress through the knee. We see that classic valgus form in the knee where it kind of bent inward. And that's where we saw the ACL and meniscus tear. So as soon as you saw it on film, you kind of knew what was going on. Dravius White and the training staff knew pretty quickly right after it happened with on-field testing.

And the next day that they showed that, that was indeed the case with MRI findings. So he's looking at a 9 to 12 month recovery. That's average for ACL tears. With more complex tears, you see longer durations in terms of getting back. He had just torn his ACL and a little bit of his meniscus. So it should be a relatively minor recovery, not minor recovery, but a minor issue in terms of there's PCL, MCL, other things that could have complicated the recovery.

So you look at nine and 12 months and he might be ready for training camp. He might be on POP, but he's going to take some time to ramp back up because even though they can come back in nine to 12 months, you're not seeing guys come fully back where they're like back to what they were prior until about 18 months. So you're looking 2023 season where he's going to say,

hey, I'm back to potentially all pro status. So he might be a step slower, but there is some precedent that guys who do come back from these injuries can come back and play at an all-pro level. I did an article on my website that showed some guys that had torn ACL came back in all-pro status. Guys such as Rod Woodson, Darrell Revis, Chris Harris Jr., and then safeties, Eric Berry and Tyran Mathau. They were able to come back and play play an all-pro level later on. So there's a chance that he might not regain that form,

but there's also good sample size to show that he can. So it might be a down 20-22 season for him, but he's still going to be out there playing and still giving you guys some headaches. Yeah, absolutely. And you know what? And we actually look forward to those headaches. I mean, regardless of the rivalry, again, Tredavious is someone that I've enjoyed being

able to watch covering him twice a year when the Patriots play the Buffalo Bills. But all kidding aside, I mean, anyone that suffers an injury like that, you always root for their optimal recovery and see them come back as strong or even stronger if possible. It sounds like there is precedent for that. Patriots fans definitely know that from Darrell Rivas very well. Came up here after that major injury that he suffered and was able to play and help the Patriots to a Super Bowl title that year. I know that's something the Buffalo Bills fans would love to see. But just because Tredavious is out of the lineup does not mean that the Bills have given

up their Super Bowl hopes, folks. They want to take it to the New England Patriots on Monday night, and their roster from top to bottom does allow them to do that. But Tredavious is not the only player in Buffalo right now that is nursing an injury. There are two marquee names that pop up on the injury report day after day this week, and I wanted to pick your brain a little bit about that, Kyle, because you'd be the best person to ask on this. The first is Starla Tule, who continues to be listed with an illness.

Now, we know that he was in COVID protocols. He was cleared earlier this week. That means a big boost for the Buffalo Bills run defense. He is their number one run stopper. That forced in the middle and his presence is definitely going to help them. But again, he's limited in practice the last few days with an illness. What can you tell us about Starla Tulae? Is he going to be a step slower, or is this just a matter of him getting back into form

after having been on COVID protocol? I think it's a little bit of both. Now, he tested positive hours before the Jets game in Week 10, so then he missed the Jets game, the Colts game, and then the Saints game. Horrible stretch to be missing one of your top defensive tackles. So he's been out for the better part of two weeks. And I think he's getting back up to speed. And from the reports up here, he was pretty symptomatic.

He was saying he's on chest pains. There was likely some shortness of breath, obviously fatigue and just that fever along with the other symptoms that we see with COVID. So he definitely was symptomatic. I'm sure it kicked his butt. We got confirmation from Steve Tasker on One Bills Live that he was unvaccinated. There was some issue why he couldn't take the vaccine, but that's a whole other discussion for another time. So we know that this kicked his butt a little bit more than had he been vaccinated.

So he's coming back up. He's looked pretty good on the sleds from what I've seen from the beat reporters, but I still expect him to be a step slower coming out, playing Monday night. You're in the cold hitting your lungs. You're not going to be playing for the better part of two weeks. And he doesn't play a lot in terms of the staff counts. His season high is 59% against Jacksonville, but he's in the mid f50s to high 40s.

So I do expect them to see this step slower. I do expect them to see that they bring up another defensive tackle because they have Tommy Doyle also on COVID reserve list, so they could bring up a COVID replacement player. They've brought up Brandon Bryant in the past for star, but they could bring up somebody else to help them out with a snap count. I can see him maybe in the 30% range where they get him out there for key moments, but then try to give him his rest as he kind of reacclimates to the game. Very good information.

And again, it does sound like a difficult battle that Star had with the illness. And again, everyone reacts to it differently. If you're extremely symptomatic, and it sounds like he was at that point and had some difficulties dealing with it, with chest pains and whatnot, that can definitely slow you. But I can guarantee you that the New England Patriots are planning to have Starr at his best. Simply the way Bill Belichick game plans for the Buffalo Bills or any NFL team, you always plan on the player coming out and giving you their best shot. And it's still going to be a very, very tough challenge for the New England Patriots to run

on the Bills, even though they've had some difficulty the last couple of games. Star Latula A being out of the lineup was a big reason why so many teams were able to find success in the run game, not expecting the same type of success for the Patriots on Monday night. But Latula A was not the only player in the run defense that can cause difficulty. There is a middle linebacker on the Buffalo Bills that I advocated at one point for wanting to see in a New England Patriots uniform. That is middle linebacker Matt Milano. Matt's been on the injury report with a shoulder injury.

In just a moment, Kyle Trimble, director of, excuse me, doctor of physical therapy for and runner of the website Banged Up Bills, will go over Matt's injury and let us know exactly what to expect. And also as a special treat for us Patriots fans, he'll enlighten us on the calf injury of one Trent Brown. This and more when this game day episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. Patriots fans Kyle Trimble, doctor of physical therapy and the runner of the banged up bills website will be joins me here today on the pod and Kyle in the previous segment we talked a little

bit about the injury to Tredavious White and the unfortunate injury to Tredavious White, and he gave us a little background on his information. Starla Tulae, especially with the illness, he's been limited in practice coming off of COVID, gave us a pretty good handle as to what to expect from him on Monday night. But a player that I've advocated for quite a while to be in a Patriots uniform, and unfortunately it doesn't look like that's going to happen for me. Matt Milano, I think, is one of the Bills' key defenders,

both in the middle part of the linebacking core and especially in the run game. His presence not only allows the players that are on the edge to be able to utilize the edge to get after the passer, but he's also a fairly good run stuffer. I liken him to what Dante Hightower and Juwan Bentley mean to the New England Patriots in the middle part of that linebacking core. Matt's been listed as a limited participant the last couple of days with a shoulder injury. What can you tell us about Matt's injury, and is this something that the Buffalo

Bills need to be concerned about heading into Monday night? We don't know as much as we want to know about Milano's injury. Of course, we want to know every detail. That's why you come to me for those stuff, but we don't know a whole lot about it. He popped up on the injury report with a shoulder injury back prior to week 11 against the Indianapolis Colts. I had expected him to see him with a brace or some type of kinesio tape on one of the shoulders, but we didn't see that heading into the game. He was limited all week with a red non-contact jersey that week and then went out and played most of the snaps I think the only time he came out was toward the end when the game was out of control wasn't on the injury report last week against the Saints and then was back again on this week

with a red non-contact jersey so it was was important to note that on Saturday, he did not have it on, indicating that he was likely cold during that practice. So we don't know the specifics of it. I had speculated back again in week 11 that he had taken a hard shot to his shoulder. Ryan Griffin of the Jets really gave him a good shot in the fourth quarter, but he bounced right back up.

There's also a few instances where he tackled some people that he might have just jarred it. So we don't know the exact specifics, but he hasn't been hesitating. He hasn't been trying to lead with one shoulder versus the other one. So I don't expect any drop-off in play, and he's going to continue going out there, and he's more than just a tackler. He's great in coverage, so he can really get out there and cause disruptions, and like you mentioned, the run game as well. So don't expect a drop off

from Milano. Yeah. And that's unfortunate news for New England, but very good news for Buffalo. And look, Matt, especially as a guy that I've followed for quite some time and somebody who's, you know, prowess is one that I recognize, especially covering defense and looking at what Bill Belichick likes to do and employ on his own defense. You see similar circumstances and similar patterns in the Buffalo Bills defense. And that's one of the reasons why I think they've been so successful is their ability to be solid in all three levels of the defense in the interior of the defensive line, the

linebacking core, and then, of course, a shutdown secondary. So good news on Milano and, you know, good news news for Patriots fans you always want your opponent at their best it always makes it for a better contest and before I let you go today Kyle and I thank you for all of your candor on the Buffalo Bills injuries and providing us Patriots fans and media with all the information you can but this is locked on Patriots and there is an injury concern that seems to be lingering throughout the New England locker room for pretty much the entire season. Players have popped on and off that injury report, so I'm not saying that it's just been this man,

but Trent Brown has been battling a calf injury since really, I think, a few snaps in to week one against the Miami Dolphins. And earlier this week, he revealed to reporters that were present, myself included, that he was still feeling the effects and that there is still a long way to go for him in terms of recovery from this injury. And he's been on IR. He's been inactive for some games. He's been inactive for some games. He's been inactive for some practices.

Going forward, is this a concern for the New England Patriots? What seems to be taking so long for Trent to come back from this calf injury? So we're going to go back in time a little bit to detail a timeline that I found with Brown. And then I'll go forward and say what my thoughts are with regards to him heading into the rest of the season and likely playoffs for you guys. So you mentioned that he dealt with the first few snaps of the season. He played the first seven snaps of week one against Miami. I went back and looked at the film. It actually looked like he injured it on the fifth or sixth play. He was kind of gingerly moving around and then they got the offense off the field with a punt early on and then he didn't return so by video it looked like he injured possibly possibly his

right calf that would make sense because he plays right tackle he's really trying to push off he was engaged with Miami defensive end Emmanuel Ogba and that quick pushing off that stretch back the eccentric attraction we see the muscle length under tension, can cause calf strains. We see calf strains happen in the medial gastroc, which is part of that bulbous portion of the calf that you see on the inner portion. So not certain that that's where it is, but that's a high likelihood chance where it happened. So looking back at the reports, he had sat out for a few weeks, was trying to push to come back for the Saints game. That didn't happen. And then during the Buccaneers week,

he had had a setback. So we don't know what the severity was at the time of the injury, but it was likely a grade one, maybe minor grade two, had that setback. And usually when I see those setbacks happen, they kind of reset that timeline. We're not certain how severe the first one was, but obviously they said that this thing isn't getting better. You know, every time you push it, it has a setback, and I'm sure they have MRIs to show how severe it was. Shut him down, let him set up the next three games. That was around the time that when he was able to start coming back, that's when you

guys went on that injury, or not the injury, you guys went on that winning streak, and they probably just said, things are working, let's make sure you get all the way back, and that's when you guys want the injury or not the injury uh you guys want that winning streak and they probably just said things are working let's make sure you get all the way back and that's where you're feeling better then they activate them and they slowly ramped them up though the past two weeks he's been playing 97 98 percent of his snaps which is a good sign uh so he's still staying sore that's not surprising. A strain by definition is tearing of the muscle. Now, the different grades is how much percentage of the muscle tears. So grade one, you're looking 10% or less. Grade two is 10 to 50, and then grade three, and then there's ruptures over 50%. So he might have had a more significant tear setback. And then that's where he's looking at the soreness because even though these timelines

are established everybody's different he's trying to continue working through so I'm sure he's still dealing with some soreness as he tries to push it to the nth degree in terms of what he can do especially holding off defensive ends so moving forward with this I expect that he'll still be on injury report a little bit longer he'll still probably deal some soreness but I would think that as long as he doesn't have a major setback, which could happen at any play for any person, he should be okay moving forward. It's just going to be something you guys just manage

and make sure that he warms up properly. He continues to do his rehabs, so he doesn't have any further setbacks. Excellent information. Very, very good information, especially on Trent Brown. And look, that's a common question throughout Patriots Nation right now, and he's such a key part of the Patriots resurgence in the offensive line you look at the comfort level that Mac Jones is throwing the football with

it really is correlated to Trent Brown's return to the lineup it really does help when you have that right tackle that's able to block be able to pick up the blitz those are the types of things that Mac has been struggling with. And a lot of fans were a little worried when Trent had said that earlier this week, that maybe some of the difficulty in picking up the blitz the last couple of weeks was maybe because he was starting to feel more effects from this injury. So it's good to know exactly what he's dealing with, how he's dealing with it, and what to expect moving forward. Obviously, science gives you as much exact information as possible.

You always have to play the games, and it'll be dependent upon how he's feeling at the conclusion of Monday's game as to whether or not it would either get worse or get better heading forward into the season. But, Kyle, I want to thank you for taking time out today to join me here on the pod and giving all of our fans some background on some of the Buffalo Bills injuries, as well as a key injury to a pretty prominent Patriot. Before I let you go,

my friend, please let us know where all of our followers can follow you on social media, where they can interact with you, and where they can find your great work. Mike, thanks for letting me come on today. I know that the Patriots are the enemy, but I still think that it's important for both sides to know as much information as possible heading into the game. So I'm glad to share that with Patriots Nation. You can find me on Twitter and on Instagram and Facebook at bangedupbills. I run the site bangedupbills.com.

Give me a follow and you can ask questions. We're going to play each other again later this season. So if you want to know what's going on with Bill's injuries, I'm going to find turnover, every rock, stone, what have you. You're going to know what's going on when you come to find me. So I hope the Bills win. That's my personal take. But thank you for letting me come on, and I expect a great game on Monday night.

Absolutely. And I can't say that I join you in your sentiments. I'm on the other side of the the line on that one but all kidding aside there is a ton of respect between these two franchises even though it's going to be a hard-fought game on monday night we're looking forward to a good one and you've helped to give us some insight as to what we can expect from some of the banged up bills and again a very prominent banged up patriot so we'd love to have you back on here again as the year comes to a close and these two teams get set to do battle again later in the month.

But at the same time, we appreciate you coming on today. Stay safe, stay well. And once again, thank you for lending your wisdom and counsel here on Locked On Patriots. Just like that, Patriots fans, you might think it's time to take you up to kickoff, but not just yet. That's right, folks. It's a Monday night football game, which means a Monday preview show. And if it's Monday, you know exactly who's going to join me. The monster master of disaster, the green king of sting, the count of Murphy Fisto himself,

the legendary Thomas Murphy, joins me on hashtag LockedOnMurphMonday as we turn what has been the last six Mondays of Victory Monday into Preview Monday. And boy, I'll tell you folks, to earn that seventh victory is going to take a Herculean effort for the New England Patriots. Toughest test to date in Buffalo on Monday night. So to ensure that you do not miss a single second of the action, download, subscribe to, and follow the Locked On Patriots podcast

on platforms such as Spotify, the Odyssey app, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts, just make sure that you are staying locked in to Locked On Patriots. Once again, I am Mike DeBate. I thank Dr. Kyle Trimble of bangedupbills.com for joining me here today on the pod and lending his wisdom and counsel. But most of all, I thank you so much for joining me today

and for helping to make Locked On Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. And of course, thank you for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is. And of course, thank you for making Locked On Patriots your first listen every day. Remember, Locked On Patriots is always free and available on all platforms. Until tomorrow, Foxborough faithful, stay safe,

stay well, be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.