The New England Patriots were down five players in their last practice before flying to California for Super Bowl LX, including team captains Robert Spillane and Harold Landry. Speaking to reporters during Monday’s Opening Night at San Jose Convention Center, however, both expressed confidence in their outlook.
“We’re recovering, getting better every day,” said Spillane from the No. 7 riser. “We’re on the right track. We’re where we need to be and the goal is to obviously go out there and be dominant on Sunday.”
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Joining the Patriots via a three-year, $33 million contract, Spillane has been a mainstay on the Patriots’ defense since his arrival last March. As such, he rarely left the field over the first 13 games of the season. However, foot and ankle injuries prevented him from returning to the field until the start of the playoffs in mid-January.
While he did start all three of New England’s postseason contests, he only played a full contingent of snaps in one of them. He briefly left the divisional round game against Houston with a thumb injury, and was unable to finish the AFC Championship Game in Denver after hurting his ankle.
That second injury sidelined him for both practices last week, but Spillane, by his own admission, did some “running around” during Monday’s session at the Patriots’ Super Bowl training ground at Stanford.
“I’m doing what I need to do,” he explained. “We have a plan scheduled for me to return to play. I’m just trying to do everything I can to make sure we’re right on it.”
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Landry was less transparent in his answer, but he too left the door wide open for a return to action by Super Bowl Sunday.
“We’ll see how the week goes,” he said one riser over from Spillane. “But, yeah, I would anticipate that.”
A free agency addition like Spillane, Landry amassed 8.5 sacks over the first 15 games. However, he sustained a knee injury along the way that has been bothering him for much of the second half of the season.
The issue forced him to sit out the final two games of the regular season, and limited him to only 37 snaps over the first two weeks of the playoffs. He subsequently was inactive against the Broncos and also a no-show during last week’s practices.
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The Patriots will not return to Stanford on Tuesday before hitting the practice fields again on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to put the finishing touches on their preparation for Super Bowl LX against the Seattle Seahawks.
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