Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon will have surgery to repair a torn biceps on Wednesday, according to a source. Judon was injured in New England’s 38-3 loss to the Cowboys on Sunday. Michael Ainsworth/Associated Press
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Patriots edge rusher Matthew Judon has elected to have surgery to repair a torn biceps, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.
Judon is scheduled to have the procedure on Wednesday and be out indefinitely, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on Tuesday on the condition of anonymity because it has not been announced publicly.
ESPN first reported Judon’s decision.
Judon suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of the Patriots’ 38-3 loss to Dallas last week. His loss is a blow to New England’s defense, which loses its best pass rusher and one of its captains.
Judon leads the team with four sacks. He has 32 sacks since signing with the Patriots in 2021.
He has missed just four out of a possible 118 games during his eight-year NFL career that began with Baltimore in 2016.
Asked on Tuesday about how the team planned to fill Judon’s spot if he was sidelined for an extended period of time, Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo said it would likely be a committee approach.
“We have other players. It’s not going to be just one guy,” Mayo said. “It’s going to be multiple guys trying to fill that role.”
One of those players likely will be rookie second-round pick Keion White out of Georgia Tech. He has appeared in each of the first four games (one start), getting a tackle and pass breakup.
“He’s going to play more, simply said,” Mayo said of White. “And we’ll really need him to show up.”
New England (1-3) hosts New Orleans on Sunday.
BILL O’BRIEN isn’t making excuses. The offensive coordinator admits the New England Patriots have issues to fix. But he’s also looking at the bright side.
On Tuesday, O’Brien gave a firm vote of confidence for Mac Jones after the third-year quarterback’s disastrous outing in Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
“Mac, he’s here today. He’s working very hard to get back on the right track and we have a lot of belief in Mac,” O’Brien said.
The Patriots were blown out 38-3 in Dallas, marking the most lopsided loss of the Bill Belichick era in New England. But for O’Brien, it wasn’t all negative. He noted that there are “glimpses” of what this Patriots offense can be. They just have to see more of it.
O’Brien pointed out that the offense moved the ball well at times in Dallas, but failed at critical moments. In his mind, those aren’t “excuses.” Instead, they’re points where the Patriots can examine what went wrong and how to fix them.
With that said, the Patriots are starting to run out of time.
“I think that’s what coaching’s about,” O’Brien said. “Coaching’s about teaching, motivating and problem-solving. We have to solve problems right now. The clock’s ticking, we realize that. But we think that there’s some things that we can do to improve.”
Jones is coming off one of the worst games of his career – and easily his worst of the season. The Patriots quarterback went 12-of-21 passing for 150 yards, two interceptions and had a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. His rough outing was ended early when Bailey Zappe came off the bench to finish the game.
O’Brien spoke positively of how Jones has looked since the end of Sunday’s game, saying the team captain has been putting in the work.
“Mac’s a battler. He’s a competitor,” O’Brien said. “When you play quarterback in this league, you have to limit the mistakes and you have to limit the bad games that you have, obviously. We’re all in it together. We’ve got to do a better job of coaching up some things with him a little bit better. He’s got to do a better job of making good decisions for us. He knows that. He takes a lot of ownership. You guys saw that after the game. He blames himself. The game wasn’t lost because of one guy. The game was lost on our part because of how poorly we played and coached in the game.”
REGARDLESS OF his performances and any of what the outside noise might say of Mac Jones not having the full support of his team, he feels it’s up to him to make sure he does enough on the field to warrant that support.
“Yeah. I think, for me, I just gotta go out there and win some games. And that’s what it all comes down to is going out there and doing my part,” Jones said on Monday in a radio interview.” “I’m working hard. I know I can do it. I have to believe in myself. And I didn’t really give them a lot to believe in the other night, but I will show that I can do it. And that comes from hard work and trusting myself and trusting them.
“For me, obviously I didn’t play well in that game. Gotta do things better in practice. That’s where it kind of starts. Looking back on it, it’s just things I can do better to not be in that situation. It falls back on the quarterback. Just gotta improve.”
Jones and the rest of the Patriots will have a chance to bounce back and return to the win column in Week 5 against the New Orleans Saints.
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