Belichick mum on Ryan Allen’s status

Posted by Mike Florio on January 14, 2014, 3:04 PM EST
AP

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.

There’s an injured Patriots player.  And coach Bill Belichick isn’t saying anything more about the situation than he absolutely has to.

Punter Ryan Allen suffered a shoulder injury on Saturday against the Colts.  And Belichick would give no update on Allen during a Tuesday conference call with the media, explaining (via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com) that the team will issue its injury report on Wednesday, when required.

At that point, the only information provided will be whether Allen practiced, whether he was limited, and the specific body part that is injured.  We won’t get any more than that until Friday, when a label is applied to describe Allen’s availability for the game.

Belichick also was mum about alternatives.  He didn’t rule out signing a free-agent as late as Friday or asking Stephen Gostkowski to continue kicking and punting.

The failure to have an early-week Gong Show tryout for punters suggests that optimism currently exists that Allen will be able to play.

Some have suggested that the Patriots could bring back former New England punter Zoltan Mesko.  However, he currently is a member of the Bengals.  Even if the Bengals would be inclined to release his rights, rosters lock upon conclusion of each team’s season, preventing any player from being released until the day after the Super Bowl.

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6 responses to “Belichick mum on Ryan Allen’s status”

  1. The last report said no broken bones. It will be a pain shot, and then check his flexibility. If he has no problem fielding the snaps, he’ll be fine, unless he gets targeted for cheap shots. Not predicting, just saying. It happens. If the pain med is narcotic, then maybe consider a replacement kicker. If it’s a local anesthetic, should be no problem. Expect Denver to put the punt block call on early to test him.

  2. You have to be careful asking place kickers and punters to switch rolls, the kicks are totally different. I remember one year when The Greatest Show on Turf had the place kicker go down and the punter hurt himself trying to make those kicks so they had no kicker s at all. In the rare event of a fourth down they went for it and always went for the two point conversion. Idiots whined that the Rams were “running up the score” but they really had no kickers at all so they had to go for it. Doubt BB has those kind of rocks though.

  4. Wouldn’t it be pure Belichickian to just have Gostkowski handle punting duties this week? He did well in the Foxboro rain last week, who’s to say he can’t do just as well, or better, in the thin Denver air this Sunday?

    DL/FB Richard Seymour
    LB/TE Mike Vrabel
    WR/CB Troy Brown
    WR/DB Julian Edelman

    and now…

    K/P Steven Gostkowski

  5. Why is it that media always gets mad when BB doesn’t give them the info they want, WHEN they want it. You’d think BB was working for them and not the Pats. But why would that shock anyone when it comes to light that the mediot pukes think its “all about THEM”.

    You’ll get the injury report when it comes out on Wednesday. And when it comes out, it will contain the MINIMUM amount of information. Just enough to cover the required rules.

    Its ludicrous that teams now are required to name injured players AND tell the opponent where it hurts. And at the same time they’d like to believe that the NFL has nothing to do with betting. What a joke

  6. Chris Kluwe is: a) a solid punter; b) hilarious, and c) on the right side of history. I would have jumped at the chance for a Patriots #4 Kluwe jersey, but I gather that Allen is going to be okay.

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