Patriots Captain’s Status In Doubt For AFC Championship

The New England Patriots have seemingly been preparing for life without linebacker Harold Landry III, and it’s a good thing they have…

Landry, who has seen his snap counts dip each of the last three weeks, missed back-to-back-to-back practices prior to the AFC Championship on Sunday — with his third consecutive absence noted by MassLive’s Mark Daniels on Friday.

It’s now extremely unlikely that he will be available to play against the Denver Broncos.

Landry’s knee injury has become an issue over the last month, as he averaged 46 snaps per game across the first several months of the season before seeing his totals fall to 30 against the Baltimore Ravens, 26 in the wild-card round against the Los Angeles Chargers and 11 in the divisional round against the Houston Texans. Landry also missed his club’s last two regular season games against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

If you’d like a more detailed look at his overall contributions, take a look below:

WEEK	OPPONENT	SNAPS
1	Las Vegas Raiders	48
2	@ Miami Dolphins	52
3	Pittsburgh Steelers	42
4	Carolina Panthers	49
5	@ Buffalo Bills	62
6	@ New Orleans Saints	47
7	@ Tennessee Titans	37
8	Cleveland Browns	38
9	Atlanta Falcons	45
10	@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers	54
11	New York Jets	42
12	@ Cincinnati Bengals	48
13	@ New York Giants	31
15	Buffalo Bills	52
16	@ Baltimore Ravens	30
17	@ New York Jets	Inactive
18	Miami Dolphins	Inactive
Wild Card	Los Angeles Chargers	26
Divisional	Houston Texans	11

New England has leaned heavily on the likes of K’Lavon Chaisson, Elijah Ponder and Anfernee Jennings with the uncertainty surrounding the captains’ availability, with the former two logging season-high snap counts across the last month.

Darrell Taylor, who was signed to the practice squad two weeks ago, could be elevated as potential insurance behind that trio for the AFC Championship.

New England has gotten by playing against two below-average offensive lines thus far in the postseason, but things are changing as it will face one of the very best units in the NFL in the Denver Broncos.