Key Patriots defenders missing from practice, offensive line gets a boost

If the Patriots are going to beat the Bears this upcoming Sunday, they are going to need to bother quarterback Jay Cutler. That means both pressuring him into bad decisions and taking away his big threats in the passing game.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, their two biggest weapons in those areas are apparently hobbled.

No sign of Darrelle Revis or Chandler Jones at today's Patriots practice. Ebner, Connolly, Stork and Fleming have returned.
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) October 21, 2014

Chandler Jones has been battling injuries for the past few weeks and Revis did leave last Thursday's game momentarily though it was unclear if it was due to injury. However, both Pats finished the game and played the last snap.

Their status, of course, bears monitoring.

There is some good news with Bryan Stork and Dan Connolly returning on the offensive line. The line has been shaky the past couple of weeks without the two stalwarts that seemed to have finally solidified a shaky front in the team's Week 5 win over the Bengals.