Since injuring his ankle during the Patriots’ Week 7 victory against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in London, Warren has missed six full practices and been limited in 13 more. He hasn’t participated in a full practice since the week leading up to the Bucs game, yet Warren has only been held out of one game in that stretch, Week 10 against the Indianapolis Colts.
Warren hurt his ankle again on Sunday against Carolina, and he was asked how he was feeling Wednesday morning after team meetings.
“I’m feeling how I’m feeling,” said Warren, who later missed the entirety of Wednesday’s practice.
Warren then relented when asked if he could predict his status for Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Bills.
“I’m not making any predictions,” Warren said with a smirk. “I’m handling my situation with treatment and rehabilitation as we all do when we’re injured. I’m not trying to give anyone the cold shoulder here or anything like that, but I never give up any information that will help out another team. I’ll just leave it at that.”
Warren proceeded to check credentials to make sure the media weren’t infiltrating the locker room from an out-of-town organization. Granted, no one in the small group of reporters had a background in water-torture tactics, nor was Jack Bauer on hand to provide additional help, but Warren wouldn’t tip his hand. It’s not to be rude or evasive — Warren is one of the most polite athletes in town — but he’d prefer not to spotlight his status when other players are suffering from their own injuries.
“Everybody gets injured,” Warren said. “I kind of shy away from the injury stuff — not because Bill [Belichick] wants you to, not because the organization wants you to. I do it out of respect for the game and the fact that everybody has something, so I don’t ever want to make my situation or anybody else’s situation bigger than the next man. That’s the way I look at it. If you can respect that, I respect your question. But that’s just the way I look at it. No matter how bad it is, that’s just how I look at it.”
While fighting through injuries, Warren is sixth on the team with 57 total tackles and seventh with 37 solo tackles — both are second to Vince Wilfork among the Patriots’ defensive linemen. Warren also has one sack, four quarterback hits and one pass defense this season.
Warren is on pace to finish the season with 71 total tackles and 46 solo stops, which would fall a little shy of his career-year numbers in 2007 (83 and 47, respectively). Warren’s sack numbers are hurting compared to his career high of 7.5 in 2006, but that likely has more to do with the defensive system than anything he is or isn’t doing, as well as the departure of the oft-double-teamed Richard Seymour.
Warren, like every defensive lineman, has been adjusting to new responsibilities this season. The changes have added versatility to each lineman’s game, and they’ve also increased the value of the players on the back end of the depth chart. Therefore, when someone like Warren goes down for a few series or an entire game, the Patriots are equipped to provide an adequate replacement.
“That’s the name of the game,” Warren said. “Guys go down. Other guys have got to come in. That’s why everybody has to know every position out there on the field.”
