A.J. Brown returned to the New England Patriots on Sunday after suffering a high-ankle sprain in Week 1, though it was a bit of a rocky Gillette Stadium debut against the New York Jets.
On Saturday, the Patriots made A.J. Brown's return from injured reserve official as they added the star wide receiver to their 53-man roster. Brown then took the field Sunday against the Jets.
The star receiver had three catches for 27 yards as the Patriots went on to win, 26-19. But Brown also dropped multiple passes, including a deep ball from quarterback Drake Maye. Brown was out on the hands team in the closing seconds as the Patriots needed to recover the onside kick to ice the game, and the ball bounced off his hands and helmet. New England was still able to recover and hold on for the win.
"I think he could probably have made a few more plays, come down with a few more plays. Been out for a while, I know he wanted to do well for his football team. Unfortunately, it wasn't his best effort. I know that, he knows that. And we have all the confidence in the world in A.J. to just be able to finish those plays," head coach Mike Vrabel said after the game.
Brown had not played since Week 1 when he suffered a high-ankle sprain against the Seattle Seahawks.
He began practicing this week, logged limited participation sessions, and was officially listed as questionable for the game on Friday.
"I'm all good. No matter what question you guys ask, I'm going to tell you guys there's no excuses. I stacked my guy, should have made the play. I beat my guy on third down, should have made the play. Ankle or not, I've got to make all those plays," Brown told reporters after the game. "Put this to bed really fast. I'm going to watch the tape. It's over, I'm going to flush it."
The Patriots traded for Brown in the offseason, reuniting the wide receiver with Mike Vrabel, who coached him with the Tennessee Titans.
Brown has gone over 1,000 yards receiving six of his seven seasons with the Titans and Eagles.
New England got some other positive injury news heading into Sunday's game.
When the final injury report of the week was released Friday, cornerback Christian Gonzalez had no injury designation. Gonzalez had missed the last two games with a shoulder injury, but practiced in full all week and played Sunday.
Last week, running back TreVeyon Henderson suffered a high-ankle sprain and left tackle Will Campbell injured the same knee that caused him to miss time last year.
After the game, reports were that both players would miss game action in the coming weeks. But that was not the case. Henderson and Campbell were both active against the Jets.
It was not all good news for the Patriots. Romeo Doubs hauled in the first touchdown of the day, a 42-yard strike from Maye. But on the diving touchdown, Doubs suffered a shoulder injury and did not return.
Offensive linemen Alijah Vera-Tucker, Morgan Moses and Ben Brown also departed with injuries.
