Patriots safety Devin McCourty’s abdomen injury reportedly ‘not expected to be a long-term issue’

The New England Patriots had a lot to feel good about after their 54-13 win over the New York Jets in Week 7, but there were some concerns about injuries. Multiple players were banged up, with some of them unable to finish the contest.

Among those was safety Devin McCourty, who suffered an abdominal injury in the second period and did not reenter the game. However, it appears as if the veteran may have dodged a bullet.

According to reports by CLNS Media’s Evan Lazar and the Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian, McCourty’s injury is “not expected to be a long-term issue” and that his status can be described as “week-to-week.”

The 34-year-old left the contest on the same play that saw Jets quarterback Zach Wilson suffer a sprained PCL. Unsuccessfully going for an interception on a play that was eventually overturned by a defensive pass interference penalty, McCourty came down hard and left the game for the blue medical tent. He did remain on the sidelines after emerging again, which was seen as an encouraging sign.

With McCourty out, the Patriots added Myles Bryant to the safety mix also containing Kyle Dugger and Adrian Phillips. Meanwhile, linebacker Kyle Van Noy took over his role as the defensive on-field signal caller.

“When Dev’s not in there, the next guy has got to do it,” Patriots assistant coach Steve Belichick said on Tuesday. “I’ve always told those guys in the back end: ‘We’ve got to make generals out of soldiers.’ We lost our general there for a little bit, but losing your general, you go from being a soldier to a general. It’s been that way for a while with Dev back there. There’s been snaps when he’s not out there. Some of us has to step up, but it’s not like the whole defense is just not going to talk without Devin on the field.”

McCourty has missed only five games over the course of his 12-year career, despite routinely being on the field more than 90 percent of the team’s defensive snaps. The 11-time captain is the most experienced member of the New England defense, having appeared in a combined 201 regular season and playoff games.

The Patriots will release their first injury report of the week on Wednesday, before traveling to Los Angeles to take on the 4-2 Chargers on Sunday.