Not even three weeks after signing a record-setting contract extension with the Patriots, cornerback Christian Gonzalez suffered an injury that’s kept him completely out of football activity for two weeks.
There’s never a good time for a player to get hurt, but certainly, just weeks after signing that mega-extension when the only demerit to his name was a tendency to miss time due to injury, this one sticks out for both the player and the team. That it coincides with injuries that will keep three other cornerbacks out for Sunday’s game vs. the Raiders doesn’t help the short-term window, either.
With Gonzalez now having not participated in six straight practices while missing two straight games, and with an absence of explanations or reporting about the details, it’s worth examining when and how he suffered the injury.
When Gonzalez got injured
On the Jaguars’ second drive against the Patriots in Week 3, they faced a third-and-4 at their own 30-yard line. Trevor Lawrence threw to running back LeQuint Allen Jr., who made the catch a yard shy of the line to gain. Gonzalez came screaming in from behind Allen, getting about 7 full yards of momentum behind him before delivering a hit on the pass catcher.
Gonzalez successfully stopped Allen short but stayed down on the ground for an extra beat while clearly experiencing pain in his left arm. Gonzalez made his way to the sideline with his left arm fully extended, and he received attention from the training staff and team doctor when he got to the bench.
Daelyn Waters-NBC Sports Boston
Daelyn Waters-NBC Sports Boston Christian Gonzalez heads off the field with his left arm extended after hurting his shoulder in Jacksonville.
The infamous Drake Maye bloody fumble followed …
… and when the Patriots’ defense came back onto the field, Gonzalez was out there, lined up on the defensive right side playing Cover 3. He was lined up on the line of scrimmage for the next snap, shedding an attempted block by Parker Washington, appearing unaffected by the shoulder pain he had exhibited after the previous drive.
Gonzalez was on the field for every play on that drive, and he didn’t miss any snaps throughout the game. He recorded his second tackle of the game late in the third quarter. After Jakobi Meyers beat Gonzalez on an in-breaking route for a 14-yard catch, Gonzalez — while keeping himself up with his right arm after slipping — lunged and made a shoestring tackle on Meyers.
Daelyn Waters-NBC Sports Boston
Daelyn Waters-NBC Sports Boston Christian Gonzalez tackles Jakobi Meyers
Though he used his left shoulder to make that tackle, Gonzalez popped up without displaying any obvious pain.
It wasn’t a tremendously impactful game for Gonzalez, who didn’t have a DK Metcalf-type to shadow for the day, but he remained an active participant through three quarters despite that early injury scare.
Gonzalez seemingly pulled from game
One tweet from the game went particularly viral, as it showed Mike Vrabel placing both arms on Drake Maye’s shoulder pads while delivering a direct message to the quarterback.
Shortly thereafter, though, a much less-publicized sideline meeting was shown on the game broadcast, as Vrabel manned up with Gonzalez as the two went back-and-forth, showing at least some disagreement on whatever the topic of conversation might have been.
Reasonable minds can deduce that the head coach was informing Gonzalez that with the score being 28-6 with less than 14 minutes remaining, he was being taken out of the game.
On the ensuing drive, Gonzalez did indeed remain on the sideline, with Charles Woods stepping in to start the drive.
Woods lined up at cornerback on the left side of the defense for six plays. Despite sticking his nose into Bhayshul Tuten at the end of a run, Woods didn’t suffer any injuries on the drive.
Gonzalez remained on the sideline with his helmet on during this drive. From all appearances, he had been removed from the game — presumably as a precaution in a game that had gotten out of reach for the Patriots.
That at least appeared to have been the case.
Gonzalez reenters game for one play
With the Jaguars facing a third-and-4 at the Patriots’ 16-yard line, Gonzalez came back onto the field, replacing Woods. Gonzalez moved over to the right side of the defense, where Carlton Davis had been playing for the duration of that drive, with Davis moving over to the left. Nobody on the Patriots’ defense ran with a receiver in motion, indicating they were playing zone for this snap.
Perhaps the Patriots hoped that just like on the Jaguars’ second drive of the game, Gonzalez could help come up with a third-down stop, thus limiting the damage to a field goal. (A field goal still would have made it a four-possession lead for the Jaguars with just over 8 minutes left in the game, though, so even that reasoning falls a bit short.)
The coverage plan didn’t matter, though, as the Jaguars called a designed run for Lawrence on a QB sweep that was run directly at Gonzalez.
And while Lawrence’s odd decision to kneel at the 1-yard line drew the attention of the football (and fantasy … and gambling) world, Gonzalez got absolutely steamrolled by Jaguars tackle Anton Harrison on the play.
The 6-foot-4, 315-pound Harrison had a full head of steam when he met Gonzalez in the open field, delivering a shot to Gonzalez’s right shoulder that knocked the cornerback to the ground. Gonzalez fell on his right side when he hit the turf.
Still, despite getting popped by an offensive tackle, Gonzalez got to his feet and didn’t show any immediate signs of injury.
Gonzalez did, however, return to the sideline for the following play, with Woods replacing him on the goal line.
The next time the Patriots’ defense took the field, it was a lineup of backups, as the Jaguars owned a 35-6 lead late in the fourth quarter.
Gonzalez has not practiced since
Maye’s turnovers were the main story of the blowout loss, and Gonzalez’s activity after the early injury scare prevented anyone from focusing on the star cornerback after the game.
Gonzalez stepped to the podium postgame and spoke to the media for about three minutes, and he did face one question about his health status.
“Oh yeah, I’m good. I’m good,” he said.
Yet when the Patriots took the practice field three days later, Gonzalez wasn’t there. He was a non-participant for all three sessions during the week and was ruled out on Friday’s injury report ahead of the game in Buffalo.
This week, Gonzalez once again did not participate in any of the three practice sessions and was ruled out on Friday.
“He’s out Sunday. That’s potentially the only thing I can really tell you,” Vrabel said Friday when asked if the injury could land Gonzalez on injured reserve.
At this point, it would appear as though anything is on the table for Gonzalez.
The injury at first seemed to quite clearly have been a left shoulder injury. Yet Gonzalez’s continued participation in the game in Jacksonville indicated that it wasn’t a serious issue. Even the thunderous hit delivered on Gonzalez by Harrison didn’t appear to directly impact Gonzalez’s left shoulder in any way.
Yet whatever might be the case, it’s certainly worth wondering why Gonzalez was put back on the field despite having been replaced by Woods for the duration of that Jaguars drive in a game the Patriots had already lost. The larger question, though, is about the extent and severity of an injury that has already cost Gonzalez two weeks of the season.
