Jake Bailey spotted at Patriots practice, opening up window for punter to come off IR
FOXBORO -- Jake Bailey was on the practice field for the New England Patriots on Wednesday, which opens the team's 21-day window to activate the punter off IR.
Bailey has been on Injured Reserve since Nov. 19 with a back injury. He was having a down year before landing on IR, but a fully healthy Bailey could give New England a boost in its kicking game -- especially on kickoffs.
Veteran Nick Folk has been handling the majority of the kickoff duties for the Patriots since Bailey went down, and has only one touchback in his 19 kickoffs. The Vikings returned one of Folk's kickoffs for a touchdown on Thanksgiving night, when Kene Nwangwu tied the game right after the Patriots scored a touchdown with a 97-yard kickoff return for a score.
Practice-squad kicker Tristan Vizcaino got a couple kickoffs in Week 13 against the Bills, but wasn't able to force a touchback on either of his attempts.
For a team that doesn't have much of a margin for error, every yard counts for the New England Patriots. And while Bailey was struggling with his punts before getting hurt, he was doing well on kickoffs. Bailey forced touchbacks on 28 of his 44 kickoffs this season. Plus, getting Bailey back on kickoffs will keep Folk from wasting any of his energy on kickoffs.
And perhaps Bailey, when healthy, will regain his form as an All-Pro punter. He was averaging a net of just 35.2 yards on his 37 punts prior to landing on IR, which was a career-low for the 25-year-old. Michael Palardy has done the punting in Bailey's absence, averaging 43.3 yards per punt and a net of just 38.9 yards.
Time may be running out for New England to get Bailey back in some game action. The 7-7 Patriots, who are currently out of the playoff picture, host the 10-4 Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday to kick off the final three weeks of the regular season.
Tune in to Patriots-Bengals on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots. Coverage begins Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. on TV38 with Patriots 1st Down, and continues Friday night on WBZ-TV at 7 p.m. with Patriots All Access. Coverage kicks off Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay, the Pats host the Bengals at 1 p.m., and after the game stay tuned for Patriots 5th Quarter -- all on WBZ-TV!
