Tom Brady will play on Thursday night with an ankle injury. And there will be no “unless he won’t” this time.
Via Lee Schechter of ESPNBoston.com, Brady is listed as probable, which means there’s a virtual certainty he’ll be available for normal duty. Which also means that, if he doesn’t face the Jets, the Patriots will have some Spygate-level ‘splaining to do.
Brady was limited in practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, and he was limited on Monday in a practice that didn’t happen. Often, a player who is limited all week gets the 50-50 “questionable” label.
But Brady is probable. Which possibly means that someone from the league office asked just enough questions to persuade the Patriots to abandon the notion that the chance he’d not play equaled the chance he would.
Players falling into the “he’ll play unless he won’t” category include cornerback Brandon Browner, who has an ankle injury. Per Schechter (who’ll need to change his name to something that isn’t so damn close to “Schefter” if he’s going to keep doing work for ESPN), Browner says he’s “good to go.” Unless he isn’t.
Also questionable for the short-week turnaround game are linebacker Jamie Collins (thigh), offensive lineman Dan Connolly (concussion), defensive lineman Dominique Easley (shoulder/knee), linebacker Dont’a Hightower (knee), receiver Matthew Slater (concussion), and center Bryan Stork (concussion).