Attendance improved on the updated New Orleans Saints injury report for Week 5’s road game with the New England Patriots. Starting right guard Cesar Ruiz returned to practice after being cleared in the NFL concussion protocol, and just three players were not spotted at Thursday’s practice session: starting tight end Juwan Johnson (calf), backup left guard Andrus Peat (concussion), and backup safety Lonnie Johnson Jr. (hamstring). However, backup offensive tackle Landon Young was limited with a new hip injury, so we’ll keep an eye on updates for his status on Friday.
With that said, the Saints are still managing a number of different injury situations, and it remains to be seen who will be available on Sunday (and in what capacity). But that’s also true of the Patriots. New England has been bitten badly by the injury bug with big-time players like rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) and pass-rushing linebacker Matthew Judon (elbow) going on the shelf for the foreseeable future.
This may be a case where the healthiest team is able to pull away just by virtue of having enough warm bodies on the sideline. Here’s what we learned on Thursday’s injury report update from each team, with changes from Wednesday’s first report listed in bold text:
New England Patriots injury report
- CB Christian Gonzalez (shoulder): Did not participate
- LB Matthew Judon (elbow): Did not participate
- DL Christian Barmore (knee): Limited
- DB Cody Davis (knee): Limited
- DL Trey Flowers (foot): Limited
- DL Davon Godchaux (ankle): Limited
- CB Jonathan Jones (ankle): Limited
- RB Ty Montgomery (illness): Limited
- OL Riley Reiff (knee): Limited
- RB Rhamondre Stevenson (thigh): Limited
- OG Cole Strange (knee): Limited
- CB Shaun Wade (shoulder): Limited
New Orleans Saints injury report
- TE Juwan Johnson (calf): Did not participate
- S Lonnie Johnson (hamstring): Did not participate
- TE Jimmy Graham (rest): Did not participate
- LG Andrus Peat (concussion): Did not participate
- RT Ryan Ramczyk (rest/foot): Limited
- DT Bryan Bresee (illness): Full
- CB Paulson Adebo (hamstring): Limited
- QB Derek Carr (right shoulder): Limited
- C Erik McCoy (knee): Full
- TE Foster Moreau (ankle): Full
- S Jordan Howden (finger): Full
- OT Landon Young (hip): Limited
