The hip injury veteran Patriots running back James White suffered last Sunday at Gillette Stadium in the loss to the Saints will reportedly be season-ending.
There is no question losing White is a blow to New England, both on the field and off it. White was off to a good start as a key playmaker on the fledgling Mac Jones-led offense. He’s also as respected a leader as the team has.
During their Thursday afternoon press conferences, fellow team captains David Andrews and Devin McCourty reacted to the news that White would be lost for the year.
“It’s the worst part of this business, for someone especially like James who we all love,” Andrews said. “He’s a great teammate and obviously a great player but just a better person to have in our locker room. It’s terrible. I hate it for him because you know how hard he worked. It’s always frustrating, I’ve kind of been in that position before, and you kind of feel like all your hard work in the offseason was kind of all for nothing to some extent. It’s frustrating. But he’s one of the toughest people we got. So you know he’ll bounce back.
Just how big of a blow is losing White for an offense and a team that still has so many questions to answer early in a new season?
“Huge,” McCourty said. “James is a quiet leader. The guy that, Josh McDaniels used to always say he’s the guy that when I tell him to do something he’s always going to do it right. So I can always point to him and say can we do it like James is doing it? Can we have a bunch of guys doing it like James White does? But I think the key thing with guys like that is they are always around. The lessons that he’s imparted and told to Damien [Harris], to J.J. [Taylor] that’s what…you talk about legacy and different things like that, I think you’ll see pieces of James White and who he is and what he’s done for the organization, you’ll see that all year. You’ll see it this week. You’ll see it next week. Because of who he is carries throughout the whole locker room.”
While White’s leadership impact may remain, his timely plays will be missed. McCourty also knows just how much White invested in his key role in the rebuilt Patriots offense.
“Obviously not having a guy like that out there on the field, it hurts as a team,” McCourty said. “But I’ll always say when a guy gets hurt you feel for the guy because of how much work goes in to being prepared, being ready to go, the expectations of a season. He had gotten off to a great start. I mean he helps us out tremendously on offense.
“You just hate to see the long road to recovery that comes with being injured. But he’s one of the toughest people I’ve ever be around so I know he’ll bounce back and he’ll be good. He’ll be here supporting the team any way he can. He’s the definition of a leader. Unfortunate blow for him, but I know he’ll be OK.”
