Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills Injury Report: Jonnu Smith, Marcus Jones and Damar Hamlin Update

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

The New England Patriots welcomed back TE Jonnu Smith and CB Marcus Jones from concussion protocol to the practice fields, while the news from the Buffalo Bills provided palpable optimism regarding the condition of safety Damar Hamlin. With Sunday’s Week 18 matchup fast approaching, host Mike D’Abate welcomes Dr. Kyle Trimble of BangedUpBills.com to provide his insight on Hamlin’s condition, as well as the injury status of Jones and Smith. Finally, Dr. Trimble gives his expert hypothesis on why punter Jake Bailey has yet to be activated from injured reserve.Find and follow Locked On Patriots on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-patriots-daily-podcast-on-the-new-england/id1140512627 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1c5ZxFmwg3WbfxAU3tR5Ve?si=k196wH-yRqifUcQQz8SjIQStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-patriots And follow host Mike D’Abate on Twitter, where he’ll be sharing the latest news about the New England Patriots and talking with fans.On Twitter: @mdabateNFLSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONUltimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two key New England Patriots back at practice on Thursday and a very encouraging update on the condition of DeMar Hamlin. Dr. Kyle Trimble is in the house. Stick around. You're about to be locked in to the Locked On Patriots podcast. 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 thank you once again for making Locked on Patriots a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage and also your first listen every day. Remember, Locked on Patriots, free and available on all platforms, including YouTube. So smash that subscribe button, download, subscribe to follow Locked On Patriots wherever you get your podcasts. I'm your host, Mike DeBate. I cover your New England Patriots for Patriots Country of Sports Illustrated. Reach out to me. Let me know what's on your mind on Twitter at MDABATENFL.

While you're out there showing some love to the Twitterverse, please be sure to follow the Locked On Patriots account as well at LO underscore Patriots. Folks, today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, more odds, more lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. Pats fans with all signs pointing to their Week 18 game being played as scheduled with the Buffalo Bills. New England Patriots returned to the practice fields on Thursday afternoon. New England welcomed back two key players from

concussion protocol on Thursday while the news from Buffalo provided palpable optimism regarding the condition of safety DeMar Hamlin and we're going to begin there today and joining us is a gentleman I am extremely happy to have with us today and extremely honored to have with us today. He is a doctor of physical therapy as well as being the publisher of bangedupbills.com, injury analyst extraordinaire for all of the AFC East and probably one of the hardest working men in the industry this week. Dr. Kyle Trimble joins me today. Kyle, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join me on what has really been a startling, a trying week for all football fans, especially in Buffalo. Mike, thanks for having me on again. It has been for the fan base and we're just trying

to get day by day and getting more positive updates. Absolutely. And the positive updates that we received on Thursday, folks, definitely, and I said palpable optimism, probably a little understatement on my part on that one. Definitely encouraging, definitely heartwarming. And although he has a ways to go, as of yet, the fact that DeMar Hamlin is responding and really reacting to a lot of the love and the outpouring of support that he's received is truly remarkable. You know, I said to open the show today that, you know, encouraging news. And I'm trying to be as optimistic, but also trying to be as realistic as possible, Kyle. And I think no one would begrudge us of that. But folks, of course, we're talking about DeMar suffering cardiac arrest following a tackle

the first quarter of Buffalo's game on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals. Regained consciousness, non-verbally interacting with his family and physicians. His doctor, William Knight IV, gave us a little bit of an update on Thursday afternoon, Kyle, saying that it marks a good turning point in his ongoing care. He used the term neurologically intact, that he's corresponding by writing, opening his eyes, and aware of his surroundings. And in fact, he asked his physicians who won the game, ultimate competitor, right down to it. For the benefit of our listeners, my friend, please let us know, what does this information tell you? Is there anything that can be inferred here regarding his potential recovery?

The only thing I can affirm is he's getting the best care right now possible. That's the best thing I can take away from that. The next thing is it appears to be neurologically intact. I want to highlight the word appears, because they can't do all the assessments they need to right now. So he they know that he can interpret information that he can relay information, he can, I almost say talk, because he can't talk as a ventilator. But he can convey his thoughts, and they're coherent. And he's understanding what's going on. And you know, most of the gross motor skills and function are, are, are operating as such.

And I'm sure they're assessing the sensation is legs and hands and, you know, all the other body parts there with that. So I know that there was a point where they said they couldn't assess whether it was concussion or not. Cause that's, that's just part of everything right now. Um, that's kind of a secondary injury and worry at this point. Um, anyway, but I would still be concerned about, you know, his speech and fine motor skills and, you know, some of the other

things and, you know, decision-making processing, those are the kinds of stuff that they're waiting to see how he responds as he gets off the ventilator. And I just talk about this from a rehab standpoint, just how people respond from a neurological area, if they're coming off a stroke, things like that. So those are some of the things you'd be looking for in an assessment. And they're going to get to that as he gets better and he's able to tolerate more assessments and he's about to move around and in the unit and it kind of gets weaned down to more of a stable unit. So it's very promising to hear that that stuff is, is kind of, he's not out of the woods yet, but it's promising to hear that he has kind of of – he's not out of the woods yet, but it's promising to hear

that he has kind of gotten some of the big concerns out of the way. But he still has a ton of ways to go. He still has a ton of rehab. The whole idea if he could play football again in normal life, that all remains to be seen. But it's promising that it sounds like he's going to make it to the point where he can at least continue living some quality of life and that's all you can ask after you know hearing that somebody had to get cpr on a football

field that's probably the scariest thing i've encountered doing this or just as a healthcare professional in general i mean that's not something you want to encounter hey i gotta do cpr on somebody or you heard that that happened it's kudos to the medical staff for jumping in and doing their job as they were trained to i get goosebumps thinking about how awesome they were at their job on monday night they absolutely were i completely agree with you and uh actually that kind of leads me nicely into my next question for you in terms of the care that he received on the field. We know that we've been hearing so much about the trauma units that are in place during a football game, the responders that were able to get to Damar in time, get him to the hospital. You hear about all these stories about leading in, the ambulance having difficulty getting in, things of that nature. It just seemed that the people

that were on the field really deserve so much of the credit for Damar being here today. In your experience in dealing with, you know, sports injuries and being a, you know, sports, you know, physician when it comes to physical therapy, have you had any contact with, you know, the members of, you know, in general, not this specific unit, but how essentially does that work on the field where having these, you know, physician units in place to deal with things of this nature? Have you had any personal experience with them prior to obviously seeing them in action on Monday night? Not too much from a professional standpoint. That's not really my

area. I deal with kind of the after effects. I know that Jordan Rodrigue of the athletics, she covers, I believe the Rams. Um, but she had a great article about the emergency action plan as worth reading. And it's not too long if you're not much of a reader, but it really detailed out everything went into that. But there's a process for all that stuff. Um, I know from sports injuries of myself injuries of myself, when I was in high school, I blew up my knee playing soccer and I just came in shoulder wrestling. And I remember my athletic trainer having that process of assessment, looking at what's going on. And that next step was like, he knew what he wanted to do in that moment. There wasn't that panic. I never felt panic, like there was in pain and stuff stuff but like those guys train and they know what to look for and know how to react to it so like they're not panicking when you are so like these guys they have everything they they planned out like they go over these meetings before i remember reading that like they they plan out they know where the aed is they have who they're

going to call they have all this stuff planned out so god forbid this stuff does happen it just goes off without a hitch so it's i don't deal with it too much from a professional standpoint i've had to deal with emergency situations in my professional uh workplace um and that's you have an idea of how to manage it but still it's kind of they do have a down to a science and it's well that they will get off of that hitch and said that those quick moments led to him likely, you know, saving his life. Yeah. Thankfully the team was in place, um, an incredible team and I'm at a loss for words to describe what they were able

to do, uh, in saving a young man's life. And that's not an exaggeration folks. That's not for dramatic effect. That's exactly what happened. You know, DeMar Hamlin required CPR and an AED device and treatment of that type on the field because of the traumatic situation that was unfolding. It was, you know, as difficult of circumstances as you can imagine, and for them to be able to respond in the fashion that they responded in is truly remarkable. And know we'll we'll take it uh it sounds very basic to say that but uh very encouraging news uh out of Cincinnati today and hopefully those trends will continue into the weekend and Kyle as I said it does appear right now that one o'clock Sunday Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park New York these two teams are going

to line up against one another and they will take the field. There was some question about that earlier on in the week, folks, but with the positive news surrounding DeMar Hamlin, you have to think that both teams are ready to get out there and showcase and show what they can do. Who will be out there for the given teams, the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots? Dr. Kyle Trimble and I are about to dissect the Patriots and Bills injury reports, and we're going to get into a little bit of how this team may look, and both teams, I should say, may look when this episode of the Locked On Patriots podcast continues. But first, folks, I want to talk to you a little bit about our good friends, our sponsors

over at PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy, and I'll tell you a little bit about how they work. You pick two to five players. If they score more or less than their PrizePix projection, you can win up to 10 times your money on your entry. No competing against other people. It's just you versus the projections available. The entries can be made in 60 seconds or less.

That's right, folks. It's that easy. Withdrawals are safe. They're fast and currently operational in over 30 states and in Canada. So download the PrizePix app or go to prizepix.com to sign up and play daily fantasy sports.

First-time users can receive up to a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with the promo code locked on. So if you deposit $100, PrizePix will give you $100. If you deposit $50, Prize Picks will give you $50. So don't forget to enter the promo code locked on at sign up for an instant deposit match up to $100. PricePicks.com. Patriots fans, Dr. Kyle Trimble, a doctor of physical therapy and the owner and the proprietor of bangedupbills.com

joins me here today. Kyle, thank you so much for lending your insight, especially when it comes to the injury to DeMar Hamlin. I know a lot of our listeners on Locked On Patriots have been very concerned. Oh, you know, an outpouring of support and of just prayers and well wishes have really befallen us all here on the Locked On Podcast Network, especially Locked On Bills and our brethren over there right now. Joe Marino and I had an opportunity to do a crossover.

I know you're a regular on Locked On Bills, truly class act, and the Buffalo fans have really, really been amazing throughout all this, showing poise, class, and a lot of determination and a lot of determination and a lot of solidarity, I think, being shown right now. Surprisingly being shown between Patriots fans and Bills fans, but at Sunday at one o'clock, that may change just a bit because there is a game to be played, and these two teams will go ahead and face off. Playoff implications abound in this one, and both teams are going to want as

many hands on deck as possible. We'll start by keeping our friends close, and we'll start with the Buffalo Bills at this point. Right now, few limited participants on Thursday for the Bills. A couple of non-participants, veteran rest other than Jordan Poyer listed with a knee injury, but mostly veteran rest, I think keeping him out of that matchup. The big name on their limited participation this week, at least according to the buzz in New England, has been Teron Johnson with a concussion. He's been a limited participant, looks like he's out on the field. Tell us what you know about that situation. What are his prospects of suiting up this weekend? So Teron Johnson in what was played on Monday night,

he suffered an incursion when he collided with, I believe, it was Hayden Hurst of the Cincinnati Bengals. And he'd taken in for a head injury evaluation, a blue medical tent, and then taken out. And they never officially announced that he had an incursion. So we didn't know his status until they announced it on Wednesday when they released the report. So he's in concussion protocol. Looking back at my records, because I look back at him in history,

he's going back to college. This is his third publicly documented concussion, I believe third one in the NFL. But everybody responds differently to the concussions. You know, we talked about that with Mitch Moores, you know, this season, Tua Tagovailoa, you know, this season, Tua Tagovailoa. You know, everybody has different responses to how they, you know, come back from these. And I know some of the Patriots players are working through them,

their concussions themselves. So it's promising to see that he's limited on Thursday when they're actually doing activity. But due to just the events of this past week, there wasn't any media availability. So we don't know if he was in a red non-contact jersey or what he's able to do but if he's limited that shows that he's tried to probably some football activities so friday's gonna be a big idea or a big not test but uh indicator where he's going to be at whether he plays or not so we've seen guys where they go

limited in practice and then they're not cleared is Isaiah McKenzie for the Bills had that earlier this year. But it's promising if they're at limited by full practice on Friday. But it just remains to be seen what happens. They have to be cleared. So that's something to watch. And then the other thing I want to note was Jordan Poyer. You mentioned that he was due to participate on Thursday. He's working through a lateral meniscus tear.

I'm not sure if everybody caught that, but he announced that right before the Monday night night game um he talked to i can't remember who it was but he he's been playing through that i don't know when he suffered the injury he did ding it up against the miami dolphins but from what i saw on film there wasn't a mechanism to similar to that the lateral meniscus tear with that shearing whatnot so he's been playing through everything this year so it just adds to the list of injuries but um somebody to watch out for in case he does ding up his knee again or if he tweaks it or something yeah definitely thank you

that's a good piece of information we had heard or at least i had uh about uh jordan but the fact that he did ding it up a little bit against Miami, that is something that is interesting, and we'll continue to monitor that from a Patriots perspective, but as you can tell, the New England Patriots have quite the extensive list of limited participants as well. Devon got Chow out with an illness, not completely

sure what that means for his status. Devon has been a very key member of the interior of that defensive line. Was not on Wednesday's report. At the time, Kyle and I are recording, folks. Obviously, Friday's report is not out yet. So keep a sharp eye on Friday afternoon's report to determine what type of illness or whether that may compromise Devon from coming back and being able to get on the field. But wanted to ask you about a trio that's dealt with their own head injuries kyle for the new england patriots i'm talking about defensive back rookie defensive back marcus jones uh wide

receiver davante parker tight end johnny smith davante had been in concussion protocol for quite some time suffered the uh the injury a couple of weeks ago he was back on the field yesterday he was back on the field this week. It looked very promising for him, looking likely that he might be able to give it a go, although we're not completely sure on that. Marcus and Jono missed Wednesday's practice. They were back on the field on Thursday. From what you're hearing as someone that is very well in tune with all of the AFC East injuries, what are you hearing on them? What can we expect realistically, at least in your expert medical prognosis or hypothesis, I should say, with regard to this trio?

We'll keep it a hypothesis because concussion management is certainly unique. I mean, some guys can do great and have setbacks there, but all look, they could be on track to play. Now, Devontae Parker, he missed the past two games after suffering his head injury against the Arizona Cardinals. guys can do great and have setbacks there but all look they could be on track to play now davante parker he missed the past two games after suffering his head injury against the arizona cardinals that was a whole issue with that trying to play through that and it stopped the game but he wasn't able to even practice the past two weeks like he was dmps for the past two weeks so it's promising

to see limited and you hope that he's continuing to ramp up but um everybody seems like they're limited participants on new england injury uh reports up, but everybody seems like they're limited participants on New England injury reports. But it seems like it's promising that he's ramping up, but we don't know what he's doing out there. But it's reasonable that he could come back. As for Marcus Jones, he played through the game and they must have had symptoms after,

and this was going into not last week, but the week before. Of course, he missed last week. I'm forgetting the week, but the week before. Of course, he missed last week. I'm forgetting the opponent. But anyway, he didn't practice last week. But to see that he's a limited participant is promising. Once again, just if he's going to go through and not have any symptoms as he ramps up his activity to full contact. And then the same with John Smith.

I believe he collided with Hunter Henry, which led to his concussion. And he's in the same boat as Marcus Jones. Now we know when he suffers a concussion or how he did it. But once again, he's due not to participate Wednesday, limited participant Thursday, just whether he can resume full contact with activity and be cleared by that independent neurologist. So they all appear on track to play, but we've seen where they have setbacks.

So Friday's gonna be a big thing for all of them. And I hope for the sake of competitiveness, they all do play because I think that's going to bring out the best in both teams and having the best players out there. Yeah, without question. With regard to Devante, obviously his being out for the last couple of weeks, you're right. That was suffered first play from scrimmage against the Arizona Cardinals. So it's been a long time for Devante to have been on the shelf and to see him back out on the field, definitely encouraging news for the New England Patriots. Marcus Jones,

Jonu Smith, both against the Cincinnati Bengals. Jonu was removed from that game. Marcus played the rest of the game and then reportedly experienced some symptoms after, and that's when they put him into concussion protocol. Neither of them were visible on the field on Wednesday. They did return on Thursday, so you have to wonder if they're just starting to amp this back up. The league and the Patriots and the Bills and every team right now, especially under the microscope when it comes to the head injuries and any injuries, really, you know that they're going to always err on the side of caution, maybe even to the extreme.

But when it comes to head injuries, you can never be too careful. So I encourage Patriots fans to be temperate in their reasonability when it comes to seeing Marcus Jones out there and Jonu Smith. I know the fan base is really excited to see Marcus back out on the field, one of the more electrifying rookies that we've seen this year. But, you know, folks, it's always, always tricky, as Kyle said, when it comes to concussions and when it comes to head injuries, you always have to err on the side of caution. So, Kyle, thank you for giving us some very good information on our list of injuries and the Bills' list of injuries as well.

Almost done with you my friend but not just yet because there is a lingering injury that is causing a lot of question among the fan base and even some beat writers and reporters like myself that is to punter jake bailey his window to return from injured reserve folks has been open since december 21st, yet Bailey is not back out on the field. What could his back injury potentially be keeping him off the field? Kyle's going to give his expert opinion and maybe even throw in a little bit of a reasoning as to why when this episode of the Lockdown Patriots podcast concludes. But first, today's show is sponsored by BetOnline.net. You're a number one source for sports betting information, statistics, news, and analysis.

Get the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there, from pro football, the college bowl season, to basketball. They've got it all at BetOnline.net. And if you love sports podcasts, you can even find those on BetOnline as well. The fastest, the easiest way to get your betting info. Head to the website today. Use your mobile device to learn more. BetOnline, where the game starts. Patriots fans, once again, I am joined by Dr. Kyle Trimble, doctor of physical therapy and the publisher and lead writer for bangedupbills.com also handles injury analysis for all of the AFC East.

Kyle, it's been a trying week. There's no question about it. And we thank you once again for taking time out to lend your wisdom and counsel on a subject that I am thoroughly unqualified to speak on. And that's player injury and player health. But one of the questions I keep getting is where is Jake Bailey? Jake Bailey, obviously New England's incumbent starting punter really started a career where everyone looks as if this kid was going to be the punter for years and years and years to come all pro in a couple of years ago. One of the better guys in the league has struggled the last couple of years, including this year. Career lows in yards per attempt, in net yards, and in hang time. Went on injured

reserve after week nine with a back injury, and he's since missed every game since. The Patriots opened his 21-day window to return from injured reserve on Wednesday, December 21st. It still remains open. He still remains on the shelf. So in that regard, I know that the Patriots are very cryptic about sharing information and it's difficult to glean a lot, but if you can walk us through what type of hindrances a back injury can have on a punter, what could possibly, just in your opinion, in your thought process be holding jake off the field this long so when you when you'd ask me about this with jake bailey i had to dig into this a little bit um i know that he's been out since week nine uh if i recall correctly the patriots had a bye week

in week 10 and then they came back in week 11 he was doubtful on the injury report and then i believe he went on to injury reserve shortly thereafter and there wasn't any really information as to what was going on i don't recall him being on the injury report before this other than the doubtful designation and then we don't have any indication of when he would have injured it there so i've seen some of those things where guys are fine going into a bye and then they come out and they have some type of mystery injury, and I've seen that with the Dills at times, and it's been frustrating.

And I'm looking back at the pro football reference, and I don't see anything in there before that. So it really doesn't give us a ton of information what's going on. So I don't know that this was an acute injury that happened in the game because usually we can find that stuff on film or they have some of a record with that but this has been more of a mysterious injury but when you're dealing with punting with the back injuries um you're you're hopping up on the one leg you're um in a sense of applying unequal pressure through the the back just because you're hop on the one leg you're kicking the other one up you're going into

extension in the back you're there's a lot of course stability requires a kick in a football you know even though you're using your legs more so um there's a lot of different factors that could go into the back um complaints which i'm going to go into in a second but it's a lot of jarring motion especially when he's hopping up on the leg like that as he punts the ball away so you know anything that's hurting in the back is just going to be aggravated every time he goes to try punting. And, you know, even that plant leg is just no matter what he does, it's just going to aggravate. So until he gets that pain eliminated, he's going to struggle with it there. So I dig into some of the different things that he could be.

And these are more generalities and I don't have anything to support what's going on but these are just some things that we see here so um some of the thoughts i thought about were uh two conditions called uh excuse my pronunciation i've been off with this since grad school but the spondyl spondylolisis and spondylolisis uh they're two different conditions basically the first one um is where you get stress fracture in the spine and part of the vertebrae that it's kind of part of that circle there and they kind of that cage area there so it's not necessarily the vertebral body but it's more in the outside portion of that but sometimes again a stress fracture and that can cause pain when you're going to extension or rotation there. So stress fractures sometimes don't always appear up on radio, like x-rays and whatnot.

So sometimes they do extra imaging to find out what's going on. And sometimes it's not readily apparent. So that could be a possibility that the progression of that is a spondylolisthesis is basically where there is a fracture in there. And then there's degrees of slippage from one vertebrae over the top of the next one there's like one to four so sometimes you can have a minor slippage and then it can go to more severe slippage and cause other problems with that um i would hope the team would catch something like that if that was the case there but the imaging is pretty

specific for that and there's ways there's a um they look at certain angles for that but that's more for other stuff um that they can get into. But there, that could be something like that there. And sometimes the, um, the slippage or the stress fracture can be more subtle and you don't even really notice it's a problem until you start doing some of the activities like jumping or, um, it can be due to a hit. It can be due to overuse. It can be congenital where you're kind of born with it. And then something kind of pops up as a problem. So those are possibilities of that. and i have no basis other than my background as a physical therapist so don't i don't want to be quoting me kyle said this well i'm just going off what it is it does

affect younger males and it could be that there um there's also possibility of discarnation we see this uh unfortunately common in um nfl football players you know robert kowski had dealt with that several times um and then plenty of other players have dealt with that. So if that's the case, maybe they were letting things kind of calm down in there and see if they can get the disc to kind of go back in its normal area and manage the pain. And once again, speculation with that there. And then the final thing is sacroiliac joint dysfunction.

Think about the sacroiliac joint. It doesn't really move too much there, but you have your sacrumrum which is like that triangle shape at the bottom of the spine there and then you have your two iliums which are the flared out hip bones there they connect there and it makes the sacroiliac joint and it's a relatively immobile joint but you can get irritated and it can be aggravated by single leg activities and just that jarring motion there you see with NFL football. And of course, just if he were to get hit or something too. So I'm just throwing out some just generalities, but the Bill's medical staff, they've been great, but the Patriots medical staff has been in place for a long time. They know how to manage these things. I'm surprised

they haven't put them on the shelf, but the fact that they've been kind of well they did put him on the shelf for ir but the fact that they said he hasn't been done totally gives you a reason to believe that they might be trying to bring him back but um the fact that the patriots are still in the playoff hunt makes me think that they they're gonna at least try to make him get out there he doesn't need that ramp up time that you see other guys need so if he were to come off injured reserve get him back out there but um i don't know what's going on i think this might be something we find out more about but it's been interesting because you don't you really see punchers and kickers doing too many injuries so um when it does pop up it's it's interesting and i i want to dig into it but patriots is like you're not gonna find too much

on them that's how i found this season to be. Yeah, it's a pretty impregnable fortress without question. The New England Patriots definitely keep injuries and really most everything close to the vest. But the one thing I can tell you, and they were, you know, very candid and very, very forthcoming with all of the well wishes that they sent to the Bills today regarding DeMar Hamlin. And as for Jake Bailey, folks, we'll continue to keep an eye out. But with only one practice left until Sunday and the window obviously closing on Sunday as well, time is running thin about seeing Jake Bailey.

My gut reaction is that we're going to see Michael Polardi out there again punting. And the next time you'll see Jake Bailey will probably be next year um you know maybe who knows with the New England Patriots personnel is always interesting and it is with every team uh this time of year uh as well as we look forward to not only a postseason but also toward uh 2023 Patriots are still hopeful of that the bill's definitely on their way to the postseason. Kyle, thank you so much for joining me today and for lending all of your wisdom and counsel, especially when it comes to DeMar Hamlin and all of the insight that you're able to provide with some of the great analysis on Patriots injuries. Before I let you go, my friend, please let

everyone know where they can interact with you, where they can catch all of your great work, because you do phenomenal work, not just for the Bills, not just for the bats, but throughout the entire AFC East. So you find my work at bangedupbills.com. I cover the Buffalo Bills and the entire AFC East. You can also find my work over at Cover One and my weekly appearances on Buffalo Late Night on the Buffalo Rumblings Podcast Network and on Locked on Bills every Thursday or Friday with Joe Marino.

Absolutely, folks. Definitely check that out. I'm always intrigued and always appreciative of Kyle's work. I know you will be too when it comes to all the injury work that he does. So Kyle, thank you. Enjoy the game on Sunday. And again, best of, you know, wishes to obviously the Hamlin family and DeMar Hamlin. But thank you guys for all of the work that you do, keeping us updated on everything related to the Buffalo Bills.

And folks, we're not quite done for the week yet. It is our fifth show of the week, but we've got one more in store for you. Another Patriots Bills preview coming at you. That'll drop on Saturday morning, so make sure to check out that bonus episode right here on Locked On Patriots. In the meantime, because you make us your first listen every day, make your second listen. Our good friends over at Locked On Sports Today, all of the news, all of the sports, and they even give you the take of the day. What more can you ask for? Download Locked On Sports Today wherever you get your podcasts, on the Odyssey app, on YouTube, or any other major provider. Once again, I am Mike DeBate.

I thank you very much for joining us here on Locked On Patriots and making us a daily part of your New England Patriots coverage. On behalf of Dr. Kyle Trimble, stay safe, folks. Stay well. Be the change you wish to see in the world. Have a great day, everyone.