New England Patriots
Williams returned briefly and wanted to keep going, but Vrabel took a cautious appraoch and kept him out of the game.
FOXBOROUGH – Milton Williams left New England’s win against the Jets on Thursday, but his ankle injury doesn’t appear to be serious.
The injury occurred during the first quarter, and Williams made a brief appearance in the second quarter before Mike Vrabel decided to sit him.
After the game, the coach said he felt the cautious approach was the best thing for the team. There was a chance that Williams “maybe” could have kept playing under different circumstances, Vrabel said.
New England had little trouble handling the Jets after New York marched in for an opening drive score. The Patriots prevailed 27-13 and picked up their eighth straight win with Williams on the sideline for most of it.
“I made a decision that we felt like we should probably just start treating that thing and get ahead of it,” Vrabel said. “See where he’s at here tomorrow, the next couple of days and try to weigh — again, he wanted to try to go.”
“He’s out here standing with me when guys are coming in, and he’s excited for them, so I appreciate his leadership, but I just made a decision that I felt like was best for the team for his instance.”
The 6-foot-3, 290-pound Williams has been an instrumental piece for the Patriots this season, anchoring a defensive front that has been among the best in the league at stopping the run. He also has 3.5 sacks and 27 tackles, including eight tackles for loss.
Acquiring Williams via free-agency during the offseason took a significant investment. He signed a four-year deal with the franchise worth up to $104 million.
The Patriots had trouble containing Justin Fields at first, but ultimately adjusted to the quarterback’s speed.
“The quarterback tonight, I mean, faster than most of the guys we got and didn’t do a good enough job,” Vrabel said. “We recovered a little bit, and we’ll have to try to continue to be better there.
“But, you know, there’s plenty of opportunities in places where we play good defense. I have to remember that. That they can get a first down, and we can still stop them. It doesn’t have to be three and out every time.”
They handled themselves well against the run without Williams, holding Breece Hall to just 67 yards. The pass-rush took a while to get going, but Elijah Ponder and Christian Barmore broke through for sacks late in the game.
The Patriots, who just played three games in 13 days, don’t have another game scheduled until next Sunday, Nov. 23, when they travel to Cincinnati.
New England will evaluate Williams’s status as the week goes along.
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