There was some shocking news out of Foxboro yesterday that Kevin Faulk has been diagnosed with a torn ACL. Faulk appeared to hurt his knee late in Sunday’s game versus the Jets. Based on the amount of pain he appeared to be in following the injury, I expected him to lose some time. I never expected that he would be the third Patriots offensive player in three years to go down with an ACL tear. For starters, Faulk walked off the field under his own power, unlike the limping Brady or carted Wes Welker. The injury itself also didn’t have the same look to it as Brady or Welker’s injury where it was immediately clear that something truly bad had happened.
Regardless, the injury proves to be yet another big blow to the Patriots who have already lost Ty Warren, Leigh Bodden, and Brandon McGowan to season ending IR. Unless Bill Belichick can use his genius powers to clone Wes Welker’s DNA and inject it into Faulk’s knee cap, it’s pretty safe to say that we’ve seen the last of #33 in 2010. Sadly, given his age and contract status, it could very well be the last we’ve seen of Faulk, period.
Faulk’s loss will certainly be felt on the football field, as his third down heroics probably made him responsible for more Patriots scoring drives than any player in team history. He was the longest tenured Patriot on the team, and his absence now leaves Tom Brady as the only remaining player from the 2001 Super Bowl season.
Speaking of that 2001 season, which started with a game against the Bengals, then followed that up with a Week 2 loss to the Jets where the Patriots lost a franchise hero to a season ending injury… Sound familiar?
What can I say? I’m grasping at straws. The loss of Kevin Faulk is a large one and leaves behind a hole that simply cannot be filled. He was undoubtedly one of a kind. If we don’t see him on the field again, we can rest assured we’ll see him enshrined in the Hall at Patriots Place.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
