New England Patriots

Patriots taking extra time off to get healthy this week

Published Jan. 18, 2016 1:54 p.m. ET

Cameron DaSilva

The New England Patriots are in the AFC Championship for the fifth straight year after beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday. The win didn't come without some pain, however. Three stars on defense left the game and were unable to return: Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins and Jerod Mayo.

All three are key contributors on defense and would be huge losses if they're unable to play on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. Bill Belichick realizes that and understands the need for rest at this point in the year, so the Patriots are taking it easy this week ahead of the AFC title game.

New England is off until Wednesday, which will be the first time the team hits the practice field. Belichick was asked about the team's injuries on Monday, but won't reveal the severity or any players' statuses for Sunday's game just yet.

Via WEEI:

“When we’re required to give them, we’ll make sure you get them right away,” Belichick said. “We didn’t practice [Sunday], we’re not practicing [Monday].

“Until we actually go out there and do those things, I think there’s a lot of players we won’t really know for sure where they’re at until they go out there and try to practice and do things at the level or close to the level we’ll need to do them on Sunday."

The Patriots could certainly use the extra rest as they'll need everyone healthy against the Broncos -- especially Jones, Collins and Mayo. Jones suffered an apparent knee injury, though the severity isn't clear.

It was also hard to tell exactly how Collins hurt his back, but it appeared to occur on a tackle of Chris Conley in the open field. Collins was slow to get up and remained int he game for one more play before coming out.

Mayo's shoulder injury is also somewhat of a mystery, and will likely remain so until mid- to late-week. One thing's for sure, though: Belichick will stay quiet on the injury front leading up to this game.