FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — At some point, you have to figure injuries, particularly to the offensive line, will catch up to the New England Patriots.
Right?
Not so fast.
“The next-man-up mentality you gotta be ready to go,” guard Josh Kline said after the line lost another player yet led the offense to 460 yards as the undefeated Patriots cruised to an easy 27-10 victory over the mistake-prone Washington Redskins on Sunday.
“You gotta be ready for anything,” said Kline, who played both guards spots in the game and has also been used at both tackle spots. “When someone goes down, everyone has to step up and step in.”
With left tackle Nate Solder lost for the season with torn biceps, Sebastian Vollmer shifted from right to left tackle last month. Sunday, Vollmer went down with a head injury in the first half. Center Bryan Stork, activated for his first game action as fellow lineman Ryan Wendell went down for the year with a knee injury, replaced Vollmer and played right tackle for the first time in his life. Cameron Fleming moved to left tackle, also for the first time.
All this with linemen Marcus Cannon and Tre’ Jackson also inactive for Sunday’s eighth straight win — Stork becoming the 10th offensive lineman to play this year.
“We went into the game with six offensive linemen — you hope for the best, and with Sea Bass (Vollmer) going down it puts a lot of strain on those guys,” quarterback Tom Brady said after throwing two more touchdown passes and overcoming his first true interception of the year in the win. “A lot of guys kinda scrambled to figure out what we were going to do. They played really hard so I’m proud of them.
“For Bryan to play right tackle, and he hadn’t even played CENTER this year, and he goes in and plays right tackle — unbelievable. And Flem to go to left tackle . . .”
Running back LeGarrette Blount ran for 129 of New England’s 161 rushing yards and a touchdown as the Patriots scored 14 quick points before the Redskins ran their second play.
In addition to Vollmer going down, running back Dion Lewis left with a knee injury.
“It’s tough to lose such a special player — I hope he’s OK,” said Brady, whose team also played without its leading tackler, linebacker Jamie Collins (illness).
Brady was intercepted for the second time this season — the other resulted from a dropped pass by wide receiver Julian Edelman that went into a defender’s arms — but rebounded with TD passes to Edelman and running back Brandon Bolden. Blount ran 5 yards for another score.
Stephen Gostkowski kicked a pair of short field goals for New England — his 27th and 28th in a row without a miss, his 51st straight at Gillette Stadium. He is one field goal shy of tying Adam Vinatieri’s all-time club record of 263.
The Patriots, who were guilty of two turnovers, pulled off an onside kick after their first score and then had an interception after fumbling the ball away the second time they had it, which followed the onside kick.
The overmatched Redskins (3-5) had their first pass of the day go in and out of the hands of wide receiver Pierre Garcon for an interception, fumbled the ball away, and had seven of quarterback Kirk Cousins’ passes dropped.
Wide receiver Ryan Grant couldn’t hold the surprise onside kick, which was recovered by New England linebacker Jonathan Freeny.
Dustin Hopkins kicked a 23-yard second-quarter field goal and Cousins hit tight end Jordan Reed with a 3-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left in the game to account for Washington’s points.
In another impressive outing for the New England defense, the Patriots held Washington to 37 rushing yards on 15 carries and allowed only one play from scrimmage longer than 18 yards.
Brady finished 26 of 39 for 299 yards, with wide receiver Brandon LaFell catching five passes for 102 yards — his fifth career 100-yard game.
Cousins was 22 of 40 for 217 yards.