Patriots' 'Next Man Up' Philosophy Faces Tough Challenge with Injuries Piling Up

The New England Patriots managed to grind out a 20-13 win over the Buffalo Bills on Monday night at home in Foxborough to stay undefeated with a record of 10-0. 

However, the team that started Monday looked a lot different than the Patriots team that opened the 2015 season and will probably look different than the Patriots team that is on the field at season's end. This is because injuries to key personnel have been a season-long issue for New England, and they continue to mount.

Dion Lewis, the electric running back who took the league by total surprise at the beginning of the season? He's out for the year with a torn ACL. Julian Edelman, the college quarterback turned Super Bowl hero and fantasy superstar? He's out for an extended period with a broken foot. 

Center Bryan Stork didn't make his debut until Week 9 because of a neck injury. Starting left tackle Nate Solder has been out since Week 5 with a torn biceps, and other injuries along the offensive line have caused constant reshuffling in the lineup.

During Monday's game, wide receiver Aaron Dobson was carted off the field with an ankle injury. Fellow receiver Danny Amendola left with a knee injury and did not return. This left the Patriots with Brandon LaFell and Chris Harper as the only remaining wideouts.

Now, we all know that Bill Belichick's Patriots are as good at utilizing the "next man up" philosophy as perhaps any team in NFL history, but the remainder of this season is going to be a serious challenge, even for this team.

New England's immediate issue is the team's difficulty in finding the right offensive line combination. According to Mike Sando of ESPN.com, the team used 20 different offensive line combinations before Monday night. 

The Patriots did get Sebastian Vollmer and Marcus Cannon back for the Bills game, but some more shuffling occurred on Monday, and pass-protection remains a problem.

New England is rated just 22nd in pass protection by Pro Football Focus. Brady has taken 11 of his 22 sacks since the game in which Solder was injured. Brady took five sacks in that game.

Though Brady was only sacked once by the Bills defense, he was hit often and was pressured even more. Several times he simply threw the ball out of bounds or into the turf in order to avoid a negative play. As a result, the Patriots punted seven times, and Brady completed just 50 percent of his passes (20-of-39 with an interception).

The offensive line was also a problem in New England's narrow 27-26 win over the New York Giants last week. Brady was sacked three times in that game, threw a pick and was consistently under pressure.

In Monday's game, Brady even showed his frustration by verbally undressing the line, as independent reporter Dov Kleiman pointed out:

If the Patriots cannot find an answer in front of Brady, teams with strong defenses like the Denver Broncos (who the Patriots will see next week) and the Cincinnati Bengals could be real trouble in the postseason.

The other major issue for New England is the rapidly dwindling group of skill-position players. Losing Lewis and Amendola was bad enough, because the pair accounted for 34 percent of the team's scrimmage yardage coming into Week 11, per ESPN Stats & Info:

If Amendola and Dobson miss an extended period, the offense will be in an even worse situation. These two were a huge part of Monday night's game plan, as PFF's Nathan Jahnke noted:

At running back, the Patriots might be all right. The trio of James White, Brandon Bolden and LeGarrette Blount are more than serviceable. However, the receiver group without Amendola and Dobson would consist of LaFell, Harper, Matthew Slater and Keshawn Martin.

LaFell is a former third-round pick whom the Carolina Panthers decided not to retain after his rookie deal expired. Martin, who was inactive on Monday, per Ryan Hannable of WEEI, is a former fourth-round pick of the Houston Texans. Slater is a core special teamer, while Harper is an undrafted rookie.

None of these players reek of elite production. 

Brady is a Hall of Fame quarterback. Belichick is a Hall of Fame head coach. Both are among the best at their respective jobs in league history. However, taking away their offensive weapons and their pass protection is going to put a serious damper on New England's Super Bowl aspirations.

Injuries are taking their toll—no matter what Brady has to say publicly.

“I don’t think that’s an excuse,” Brady said of the team's injuries on Monday, via the Boston Herald. “We just have to play better if we want to score more points.”

Brady, though, did admit that "you get pretty limited quickly in things you can do.”

For the Patriots, who rely on creativity, week-to-week adjustments and mismatches to gain offensive advantages, being limited could be a season-breaker.

The fact of the matter is that the Patriots remain undefeated, but have looked merely average over the past two weeks against fairly average teams. Calling the next man up is good enough to keep the team afloat, but it might not be good enough to deliver a second consecutive Super Bowl.

Plus, at this rate, there's the possibility that the Patriots are simply going to run out of serviceable players to call.