Almost as troubling to Pats fans than the sight of running back Danny Woodhead stumbling after taking a big hit was the fact that he suffered the blow while covering a fourth-quarter punt in a preseason game.
So why was he out there? Good question. Good luck getting a straight answer.
“When we go into any game, all players are told to be ready to play the entire 60 minutes,” coach Bill Belichick told reporters, via comments distributed by the team. “That’s what a game is. We don’t stop playing. We don’t stop coaching. Everybody’s ready to play the whole time from beginning to end. That’s every player and every coach. That’s part of the game. That’s how we approach them all.”
That’s fine, but with 90 guys on the roster and with the biggest priority during the preseason to emerge from it as healthy as possible, it’s surprising that a key piece of the offense like Woodhead was on the field on a punt play in garbage time of an exhibition game.