Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Under the Weather: Patriots Illness and Injury Talk with Doc Flynn - 12/3/19

Episode Date: December 3, 2019

With the high-powered offense of the Kansas City Chiefs coming to town on Sunday, the New England Patriots will need as full of an arsenal of healthy players as possible. To discuss some of the Patriots biggest injury and health concerns, host Mike D’Abate welcomes Dr. Jessica Flynn of Lahey Health and Boston Sports Journal. Dr. Flynn provides her insight on the team’s recent bout with the flu, the latest on Ted Karras’ MCL injury, and the health of Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes heading into Sunday’s game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello to all you Foxborough faithful and welcome to your Feeling Under the Weather Tuesday episode of Locked On Patriots, your daily home for news, notes, analysis, and the occasional opinion on your six-time Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots. This episode is brought to you in part by Away. Away creates thoughtful products designed to change how you see the world. For $20 off a suitcase, visit awaytravel.com and use promo code LOCKEDON during checkout. If you're listening on the go and you can't visit away right now,

you can find this and all other offers from LockedOn sponsors at LockedOnPodcast.com My name is Mike DeBate and I am your host of LockedOn Patriots, which of course is a part of the LockedOn Podcast Network, your team every day. Please feel free to reach out to me on Twitter at MDABATEFPC

and be sure to follow Locked On Patriots on Twitter at LO underscore Patriots. You might be curious as to why I introduced today's show as Feeling Under the Weather Tuesday, and there's a good reason for that. Well, there's also a bad reason for that too, and you all know I love a good play on words. And here in the Northeast on Tuesday, we are experiencing a snowstorm, so the weather here in New England isn't exactly ideal, and for anyone that is listening to this show on the go, please be safe on the roads, and I sincerely hope that wherever you're traveling to, you make it safely. And I know that so many of you are not thrilled with the weather here in New England, but it is perfect for some football in Foxborough. And the weather on Sunday doesn't call for snow, but weather like

this is a sign that playoff football isn't too far off. But the real reason I called today's podcast an Under the Weather Tuesday episode is that your New England Patriots, well, they've had some health issues to overcome lately due to injury and illness. And we know what they are. The injury reports come out weekly, and we hear reports about what injury or illness is plaguing the team at a given time. But so few of us, if any, can look at these situations with a trained medical eye. And here on Locked On Patriots, when you need an expert opinion and analysis, well, we seek the very best that you can find.

And my guest today is just that. Sports medicine physician Dr. Jessica Flynn will join me today, and she will talk a little bit about the flu bug that made its way through the Patriots locker room, as well as injuries to some key players on the Pats, including Julian Edelman, Tom Brady, and Ted Karras, who I will address in just a moment. And it is truly an honor to welcome Dr. Flynn to the podcast today. I will definitely be learning a lot, and I know you will too, and I hope that you enjoy today's show. But first, we start with some of the news of the day, and the Patriots did make a couple of roster moves on Monday. They waived veteran kicker

Kai Forbath. According to ESPN Insider Field, the A's who reported that on Monday, New England also claimed defensive tackle Albert Huggins off waivers from the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, Forbath's release is probably not a big shock to everyone. He was signed by the Patriots after their previous kicker, Nick Folk, had underwent an appendectomy on Thanksgiving that was first reported by CLNS Media's Mike Petraglia. It turns out that the Patriots only needed Forbath for their Week 13 matchup with the Houston Texans, a matchup which they lost 28-22. Forbath made the only field goal that he attempted in that game, and he made one of two point

after tries. Now, because Folk was only expected to miss about a week with his recovery, it's likely that he's on his way back to Foxborough, and Forbath's release is probably less of an indictment on him, as much of a feeling as it is that Folk gives them the best chance to win. Looks like Folk should be healthy, but as always, keep a sharp eye on the Patriots roster news. He is expected to rejoin the Pats for this week's game at Gillette, and incidentally,

he still had a locker in Gillette Stadium as of the weekend. So take that for what you will, and we expect Nick Fult to be back in the fold. But as always, anything and everything can happen in Foxborough, so like I said, keep a sharp eye. As for Huggins, well, he originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with the Houston Texans out of Clemson in May of 2019. He's 6'3", 305 pounds, so a decent size. He was released by the Texans on August 31st of this year. Then he was signed to the practice squad on September 2nd. Huggins was then signed by

Philadelphia to the 53-man roster from Houston's practice squad on October 21st. So a little bit of bouncing around for Huggins. He appeared in four games for the Eagles as a reserve and made three tackles. Now, it's reported that the Patriots may have had interest in bringing in Huggins during the draft or maybe as an undrafted free agent. That didn't end up materializing, but he's with the team now. He was released by Philadelphia on November 30th, so this is a solid depth move, probably not an immediate impact move,

but the Patriots have a way of making under-the-radar signings count, especially deep into the season. So it'll be interesting to see what type of impact Huggins has, but ultimately, he right now is a New England Patriot. But the biggest news coming out of Foxborough on Monday surrounded the health of center Ted Karras. Now, we all know that Teddy exited Sunday's game against the Texans. He did

not return. He was seen after the game wearing a brace. On Monday, Ian Rappaport of the NFL Network reported that Karras had indeed suffered a sprained MCL. Rappaport went on to say that Karras would be undergoing an MRI on Monday, and that would determine the length of his absence. If Karras is out for an extended period of time, reserve offensive lineman James Ferentz, who filled in for Karras on Sunday night when Karras was unable to return to the game, will likely be the Patriots' starting center this Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. In fact, as early as this morning, Bill Belichick, when speaking to the media, said that having someone like James Ferentz as a depth piece on the offensive line is great insurance. You hope you never have to use it, but if you do, at least

you know it's there and it's capable. And Ferentz is a solid player, no one's questioning that, but losing Karras would definitely not be ideal for this team. Teddy has done a more than admirable job filling in for David Andrews, which are big shoes to fill, literally and figuratively. David is one of the team captains, and the center position is such a vital part of the offensive line. Having to move to their third center in 2019 is probably not a position the Patriots want to be in, even if they have the personnel to be able to do it. And of course, putting football aside, we all hope that Ted makes a speedy recovery

and that he's back out on the field as soon as possible. And Ted's health status is just one of the questions I will be asking my guest today, Dr. Jessica Flynn. But before I welcome her to Locked On Patriots today, I wanted to tell all of you that I'm concerned about you. After all, you invite me in your lives each and every day. The least I can do is make sure that you're taking care of yourself. And that includes having a good meal each and every day, just like listening to Locked

On Patriots. Maybe you've had a long day at work, a tough day at school, or maybe you're stuck in the office at this very moment. Well, treat yourself to the meal you deserve and have your favorite restaurants come to you with DoorDash. Ordering is easy. Open the DoorDash app, choose what you want to eat, and your food will be delivered to you wherever you are.

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and enter promo code LOCKEDON. That's $5 off your first order when you download the DoorDash app from the App Store and enter promo code LOCKEDON. Don't forget, that's promo code LOCKEDON for $5 off your first order from DoorDash. My guest today is among the nation's leading experts in the field of sports medicine.

She is a sports medicine physician at Leahy Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. In addition, she provides sports injury analysis for Boston Sports Journal and sports injury commentary for NBC Sports Boston. It is my honor to welcome Dr. Jessica Flynn to Locked On Patriots. Dr. Flynn, thank you for joining me today. Thanks for having me. Oh, my pleasure. Absolutely. Dr. Flynn, the New England Patriots have had their share of injuries this year, and they are certainly not unique in that regard.

Each and every NFL team suffers its share of injuries. But this past week, the Patriots were subject to a flu bug that swept through the Gillette Stadium locker room, and it affected a significant number of Patriots players. And for a team that prides itself on conditioning, the Patriots seem to show additional signs of fatigue on Sunday night as they battle the Texans. As you were watching the game, did you notice anything from a medical standpoint that would indicate that some of these Patriots players might still be feeling the effects of this illness? Oh, for sure. saying that patient zero and patient zero is sort of the first patient to get the illness who this whole time has seemed to be Marcus Cannon was actually the one that seemed to be

feeling it the most and had to leave the field during halftime and grab a quick IV. So clearly, I mean, it's been over a week for him. Clearly, it's something that has been persisting more than just a week. I could tell coming into the game, just knowing how sick the players were, I mean, they had to be quite sick to take two planes down there. So, you know, I had warned during the first half, this might be the best the defense is going to look all game, so it was going to be problematic if they got into a hole. And unfortunately, they did.

Yeah, and I think that's a very good point because from a logistical standpoint, you saw the Patriots struggle against the pass, I think, for the first time really this year. Yes, they did have the game against the Baltimore Ravens where they were gashed. Most of that was through the ground. Yes, Lamar Jackson utilized his tight ends and whatnot, but in this game, it seemed like they did have a greater amount of difficulty against the pass than they have before, and I think that was linked to a lot of conditioning. You hit the nail on the head when you said about taking two planes down. I remember looking at that report and saying,

this is probably a little bit worse than people are making it out to be. These guys are definitely feeling the effects, and look, I think all of us have either been affected by a flu bug in our lifetime or we're very close to someone that has. So we know the symptoms. We know how devastating that can be on your immune system and just on your demeanor and your well-being in general. It takes a little bit of time to get yourself back to shape, especially when you're an NFL

player and your job is to go out there every Sunday and perform on the field as if nothing is wrong. So I think that's great insight and I think it does help to shed some light on maybe why the defense sputtered a little bit. I know fans up here on Patriots Nation are very concerned about what they saw on Sunday. I think some of the defensive output was a definite side effect of what they endured this week with that flu bug. So hopefully we're wishing good riddance to that without any questions. I know.

It must have been tough for Belichick because, you know, he really prides himself in ending these really, like, deep grind practices with hill sprints, right? And he does that to get the players actually probably ready to play more like 90 minutes than 60 minutes, right? So for that advantage, that competitive advantage should be sort of erased during this game, I think was probably pretty tough to follow. Yeah, I would say so. And hopefully things will start to move in the right direction and the Patriots will get healthy because they're going to need that stamina against the opponent that they're playing this Sunday. And I'll get

into that in just a moment with Dr. Ford as well. But you've been, you know, I just want to switch gears here for just a second. And I wanted to discuss the knee injury to Ted Karras, which we all saw the report yesterday. All indications are that he is suffering from a sprained MCL. And I saw that you indicated on Twitter on Monday that if the MRI does reveal a mild sprain, that he could be back in maybe about a week's time, give or take a little bit. But if other issues are found, it could be a longer absence. And the team is already suffering.

They obviously don't have David Andrews. They haven't had him all season long. But this is a team, especially on the offensive line, that's dealt with some injury with Isaiah Wynn coming back and all of the difficulties they've had there. If there is any type of damage that's found in addition to maybe just a mild sprain of the MCL for Ted Karras, first of all, what other issues could there be medically? And second of all, do you believe that there is a chance that this injury could be season-threatening?

So with an MCL sprain, the knee is bent inward. And when it's bent inward, sometimes you can get injury to other structures, particularly the outer bones of the knee. You can get significant bone bruising. And we saw that with Aaron Rodgers. He sort of took a long, long time to come back because he actually had fractured the bone out there, which is just really a bad bruise in that area. We call it a fracture.

That's something that really needs rest. And the size difference between Ted Karras and Aaron Rodgers is quite significant. So you can imagine having alignment force on a bad bone bruise could be more problematic. So that would be the thing that I think is the most threatening. When you stretch one side, you compress the other side and you get that bad bone bruising. I think is the most threatening. When you stretch one side, you compress the other side and you get that bad bone bruising. Meniscus injuries can happen. A lot of athletes can play through that to the end of the season.

But, you know, I think you really have to pause and consider it just because he did not come back in the game. And I don't know why that decision was made. You saw him walk out of the tent in a brace, but not really, you know, I'm not really sure. It just could indicate that they were a little bit more worried about the knee than typically. Yeah, absolutely. And you know, the Patriots are always tight-lipped. You know better than anybody how tight-lipped they are about injuries up here in Foxborough. You know, it's really like trying

to pry a location out of a star witness that really doesn't want to testify. I think that's really the best way to put it. But eventually they have to cough up the information, but they're not going to do it until their back's up against the wall. Obviously, we definitely want to see Ted Karras. From a personal standpoint, you want to see him be as healthy as he can be. He's given the Patriots all he can this year and done an admirable job filling in for a guy in David Andrews

who's a team captain. He's a stalwart in that locker room, and people really look up to him. I think Teddy has done a very good job of filling those shoes this year. But also, when it comes to an injury, maybe they're erring on the side of caution because of the difficulty that they had. Ultimately, the MRI should bear that out. And thank you for that insight, because I think that gives our listeners a little more of a clue as to what to look for this week when it comes to the health of Ted Karras.

Once again, I am speaking with Dr. Jessica Flynn, and she's been providing her insight and analysis that only she can provide. And I've learned a lot, and I'm sure you have too already, but we're not done yet, folks. In just a moment, I will ask her expertise on a few lingering injuries to key players, including quarterback Tom Brady. And I might just ask her for a little enemy insight on the Kansas City Chiefs star attraction. And again, I am speaking with Dr. Jessica Flynn today. And Dr. Flynn, the Patriots injury, the injury report always has a lot of eyes on it.

There's no question about it. But that's especially true when names like Tom Brady and Julian Edelman appear. We've seen Tom and Julian on the report frequently. And, of course, Julian for the chest injury and now for the shoulder. And Tom has appeared and reappeared for an elbow injury lately as well. Now, even an untrained eye can tell that Julian is playing in some pain. But there's a lot of chatter buzzing about Tom, and a lot of people seem to think that he's being hampered by that elbow. Some have even suggested that that's the reason for his subpar play the

last couple of games. In my opinion, looking at it from a football standpoint, his arm looks to be strong, but then again, I'm watching with an untrained eye. What might we be missing, and is it possible that Tom's performance is being affected by the elbow? What I saw from him is, yes, his arm strength is there. Is it there on every throw? We don't really know, right? We haven't seen sort of long pass after long pass after long pass in a while.

I think you have to tease out strength and accuracy. And I think this week's game or last weekend's game is not a game to judge him on because when you're, you know, when your receivers can't get open, when they can't get any separation, who knows if it's his accuracy that was off or if they ran the wrong route or whatever they sped up when they were supposed to slow down. Who knows, right? Absolutely.

I see a lot of commentators, other football commentators out there saying, see, Tom Brady's arm looks fine. What power problem? And they're very, very vocal about that, but we don't hear them when we see some accuracy issues. And so I think if his receivers can start getting separation, we can start to see a little bit better what his accuracy looks like. I mean, he threads some pretty tight windows on Sunday.

So let's see if he can kind of keep that up. So it's not just power you're looking for. It's also accuracy. And, you know, we're not going to know if the elbow is really the issue, you know, most're not going to know if the elbow is really the issue, you know, most likely at all, because the knee was a huge issue last season. I kept saying it. A couple reporters kept reporting about it,

and they got poo-pooed in the general media. But it was very clear that he had hurt his knee, and eventually it came to light. But it had already been three to four weeks by the time it was on the injury report. So I don't think you can obviously really go by the Patriots injury report to see how much these players are affected. Such good points. And you hit on so many of them, a couple that I just wanted to expound upon a little bit,

just for the sake of our listeners. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I'm glad that you did. No, that was perfect. And, and all in, in, uh, in all fairness, I think that our listeners definitely need to hear upon that. And I think there were so many great points. What I did want to just add to it, and not necessarily expound, but just necessarily add to what you had said, with regard to Brady, this is not a guy that is not used to playing through pain. I mean, he's a guy that wanted to come back and was begging the team to come back with a torn ACL.

Obviously, that wouldn't happen. But, I mean, he wanted to do that. So he's not averse to going in there and playing hurt. It's one thing to be able to dial up some arm strength, like you said, but it's another thing to study his accuracy over and over again. It's such a delicate concept to broach the subject here in New England that Tom Brady is indeed mortal, but he is, and everybody is. And unfortunately, if you're injured, you're going to show some signs.

It doesn't necessarily always mean that he's going to show that on every throw or show that on every play, but it could be a situation where he might be hampered by something. So that's great insight, especially when it comes to Tom Brady, and I think that our listeners can definitely look at that. As we're watching the game this week, keep a sharp eye, folks, on the accuracy. You heard it from Dr. Flynn. She knows what she's talking about much better than I do, so don't listen to me. But listen to her because she does know exactly what to look for.

So that could be telltale, and obviously, you know, they always keep an eye on all of the Patriots' injuries. But, Dr. Flynn, before I let you go today, and lastly, the Patriots welcomed the Kansas City Chiefs to Foxborough on Sunday, and the Chiefs have been playing fairly well as of late, but they haven't been immune from the injury bug either. Most notable of their injuries has been to their quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. Now, he hasn't looked quite as sharp since his return from the injury,

and as we all remember, the injury that he suffered earlier this year was a dislocated kneecap, and he also was dealing with an ankle injury before that. For a mobile quarterback like Mahomes, any injury to the leg has to be a problem. But do you believe that the dislocation could still be bothering Mahomes, and might it be affecting his throwing abilities as well as his running? Because it looks like he's been struggling a little bit with both since the comeback. Absolutely. I mean, he came back earlier than I would ever recommend any of my athletes to come back now.

Most of my athletes do not have professional sports contracts to play through, and careers ahead of them. So, you know, I think he absolutely most likely is feeling pain and discomfort. But, you know, it's hard to know. The ankle injury looked like a high ankle injury, and he didn't just have one. He had multiple high ankle injuries, kind of came back a little too soon, pushed himself a little too hard, got another high ankle injury, and then the knee. High ankle probably should be getting better.

I've seen reports that the knee has been bothering him and that he actually spent a lot of time during his bye week trying to rehab it. He spent a lot of time this past week trying to rehab it. And he says that he's feeling better. I think we see a different Patrick Mahomes on the field. So anytime you have a lower body injury and a mobile quarterback, you're obviously going to see that he's not as able to escape the rush, maybe not able to extend the plays quite as well as he used to,

although he still has that nasty sidearm, so that could get him out of trouble. Yeah, he truly does. And, look, for all of the struggles that Mahomes may have had since coming back from the injury and some of the injuries that still may be hampering him, this is still a Chiefs offense that put up 40 points on the Oakland Raiders. Now, albeit the Patriots defense, I think, is more well equipped to defend a quarterback like Mahomes than Oakland was, but we've seen mobile quarterbacks give the Patriots some difficulty. It's interesting to note that there's still signs, especially from a medical standpoint, which a lot of us, myself included, don't see every week. That could be something that Bill Belichick and his coaching staff might be watching closely, folks. And the reason being is you actually heard Bill Belichick

on the NFL Network talk about how he approaches games, trying to find the weakness of your opponent and attacking. I think the quote that he made in that was, you don't win wars by digging a hole and crawling in. You have to attack. And I think that may be what they're going to do. So it will be interesting to see if they try to force Mahomes from the pocket, force him into running a little bit. I know that sounds crazy, but it might be the most effective way to defend against a guy that might be having some mobility issues. And thank you for that insight, Dr. Flynn, because I think that was excellent and something to watch for this weekend as the Patriots take on the Kansas City Chiefs.

Once again, Dr. Jessica Flynn joined me today on the Locked On Patriots podcast, and it was my honor to share the microphone with her. Her insight, her wisdom, and her medical prowess gives us a new look at a lot of different things, including the health of Tom Brady, the health of Patrick Mahomes, and the overall health of the New England Patriots, which we hope they're putting that flu bug aside. Dr. Flynn, thank you so much for joining me today. Before I let you go, can you please let our listeners know where they can always find your great work that you do in the realm of sports injury information, and also where they can find you on social media.

Sure. So I write for Boston Sports Journal, so you can find me there at bostonsportsjournal.com, and I also am on social media, on Twitter, at JessDede, J-E-S-S-D-E-E-D-E. Excellent. And please, I highly, highly recommend following Jess. She is one of the, again, like I introduced her,

one of the country's leading experts when it comes to sports injury information. Her diagnosis are seldom, seldom anything but 100% accurate, and she's always, always willing to lend insight, especially during the game. I could not recommend a game day follow higher, folks, because if there's ever anything that happens on the field injury-wise, she's on top of it and usually pretty good about doing that. She mentioned the Boston Sports Journal, NBC Sports Boston. Highly recommend that.

A few of her colleagues from Boston Sports Journal, such as Miguel Benzon, Sean Sweeney, have been here on this show. Once again, Jess, thank you very much. Have a very happy holiday season, and thank you again for joining me today on Locked On Patriots. Mike, thanks so much for having me. It was a blast. Absolutely.

Mine as well. Thank you so much. Okay. And as for me, I will be back tomorrow with Crossover Wednesday here on the Locked On Podcast Network with my friends on Locked On Chiefs. And Chris Clark of Locked On Chiefs and I will tell you what to watch for in Sunday's matchup between the Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs in Foxborough. So stay tuned for that.

As always, make sure to join me each and every day on the Locked On Patriots podcast and subscribe to Locked On Patriots via your preferred podcast provider. Once again, I am Mike DeBate. I thank Dr. Jessica Flynn for her time, her insight, and her appearance today. But most of all, I thank you so much for listening and for staying locked in to Locked on Patriots. Stay safe in the winter weather and have a great day, everybody.