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Patriots defensive standout avoids serious knee injury
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- Patriots defensive standout avoids serious knee injury
FOXBOROUGH – Khyiris Tonga has been one of the Patriots ' biggest surprises this season.
When the veteran defensive tackle was signed, he was viewed as a player who would provide depth and eat up space as a big-bodied nose tackle. Instead, Tonga has been a force alongside defensive tackles Milton Williams and Christian Barmore .
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On Sunday, Tonga gave everyone a scare when he left the Patriots win over Cleveland due to a knee injury. However, it looks like he avoided a serious injury. On Monday, Tonga said he was OK after falling awkwardly against the Cleveland Browns .
“Everything is good,” Tonga said. “I just fell on it wrong, and it just felt a little weird. But everything is smooth now.”
The 29-year-old has played in eight games, making two starts, this season. He has 14 tackles, two for loss, to go with a quarterback hit and a pass breakup.
On Sunday, his presence was felt in the Browns’ first play when he dropped running back Quinshon Judkins for a 2-yard loss on a pass play. In the third quarter, before his injury, he tackled Judkins, who gained 2 yards.
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Tonga has been a rotational defensive tackle throughout his five-year NFL career. He’s never played more than 36.3% of a team’s defensive snaps. This season, he’s up to 39% of the Patriots defensive plays - and that’s after playing a season-low 17 snaps due to the knee injury.
“I don’t know if it’s the Patriots, but I really enjoy the coaches and players I’ve been around and surrounded by,” Tonga said. “They’ve really helped me with my game a ton, so being able to learn in the room with a lot of great players makes it fun being here. I’m just here to do my job – whatever they tell me to do. It’s been fun to be with this group.”
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