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Amari Gainer of the Las Vegas Raiders
Coming off their first loss since Week 3, falling to the Buffalo Bills 35-31 at Gillette Stadium, the New England Patriots face what promises to be an equally difficult challenge in a primetime game Sunday when they travel to Baltimore to face the 7-7 Ravens.
The Patriots come in at an AFC East-leading 11-3, in the No. 2 seed in the conference and undefeated at 6-0 on the road. And yet, the Ravens, losers in two of their last three games, are favored by three points, per DraftKings odds. On the prediction market Kalshi, 58 percent of users see the Ravens winning this one.
Patriots With Worrying Injuries on Defense
New England faces a variety of challenges in the Sunday Night Football matchup, but injuries may pose the most significant obstacle to the Patriots avoiding a loss in back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Specifically, the Patriots defense looks to be severely weakened by health issues. Wednesday’s official team injury report showed five key defensive players held back from participating in practice.
Perhaps the most worrying absence is linebacker Robert Spillane, who was kept out of practice Wednesday, was seen wearing a walking boot on his left foot in the Patriots’ locker room, and then was not spotted by reporters at Thursday’s practice.
But the Patriots made a signing on Wednesday that appears aimed at providing backup for Spillane, and depth for the linebacker corps, and like Spillane, New England’s newest player is a former Las Vegas Raider.
New Linebacker Was Teammate of Drake Maye
The Patriots signed a former Raiders linebacker, Amari Gainer, assigning the 25-year-old to the team’s practice squad. But Gainer, who signed with Las Vegas in 2024 as an undrafted free agent, played in all 17 games that season.
But the Raiders placed him on waivers toward the end of training camp in August this year. The 6-foot-3, 232-pounder cleared without being claimed by any other team. The Raiders then released Gainer, who remained without a home in the NFL until this week.
With Las Vegas, Gainer was primarily a special teams stalwart, playing 380 snaps there in 2024, while getting just a dozen snaps on defense, as an edge rusher.
Former Tar Heel Was Teammate of NE Quarterback
For the Patriots MVP candidate, quarterback Drake Maye, Gainer represents a familiar face. After five seasons at Florida State, Gainer used his final year of college eligibility to transfer to North Carolina where, in 2023, Maye was in his final season there before being drafted No. 3 overall by the Patriots.
“He’s a great guy in the locker room. He’s good on the edge. He’s fast. He’s played inside a little bit,” Maye said, providing a scouting report on Gainer, as quoted by MassLive. “I think everybody’s just trying to see what they can do just to help us, whether it’s on game day, throughout practice, or whatever he can do. I know he’s going to work hard, and I know he’s got a good work ethic.”
Gainer was signed just two days after the Patriots released practice squad linebacker Caleb Murphy, who was quickly claimed off the waiver wire by the New York Giants.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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