After missing Wednesday’s practice, center David Andrews returned to the field Thursday, but with his thumb heavily taped, per reports from the scene.
The media only sees the first few minutes of practice, so it’s unclear how much Andrews will actually participate. And just because he’s on the field, it doesn’t mean he’s doing everything and it doesn’t guarantee he will be able to play Sunday against the Raiders.
If he cannot go, the Patriots will need to do some major reshuffling along their offensive line.
The team does not have a backup center like did in the past in Ted Karras so it would be someone playing out of position. The most likely candidate is Joe Thuney sliding to center and then Jermaine Eluemunor playing left guard and Michael Onwenu playing right tackle.
Clearly, not ideal for anyone.
Andrews has been arguably the Patriots’ best lineman so far this season.
“David is a very experienced player,” Bill Belichick said last week. “I mean, he's really played center his whole life, all the way back to before high school, so he's almost got 20 years of playing center. That's a lot of football at that position. He's very good at it. He's very experienced, has good quickness, has a lot of savvy and can just read and pick up things that are second-nature to him that a less-experienced guy might have trouble with.
“But he is athletic, he's smart, he's got good quickness, he's got very good technique, he really understands where the problems are and kind of what he needs to do to help handle those problems, whether that's line calls or technique and so forth. But, he does a great job for us.”
The second injury report is due out later on Thursday and then the team will practice one more time on Friday.
