Why there's still hope for Patriots after Will Campbell injury

Sunday's good news was that the New England Patriots (10-2) defeated the Cincinnati Bengals (3-8), 26-20. The bad news was that starting rookie tackle Will Campbell suffered an MCL sprain and will likely miss several weeks. 

When a key player goes down, it becomes easy to panic. Patriots fans, however, should not worry about Campbell's absence. Analysis of the situation indicates that things are manageable. Here's why.

Top playoff seeding is still within reach

The Patriots have five more regular-season games. If they take care of the weak teams — Giants, Jets and Dolphins — they will finish with 13 wins and stellar seeding. 

Campbell's presence would be useful, but it is far from necessary to beat those teams. Thus, if Campbell misses the rest of the regular season but returns for the playoffs, the Patriots will be just fine. 

It is highly unlikely Will Campbell misses the playoffs

Per head coach Mike Vrabel, Campbell may be placed on injured reserve. NFL policy states that a player must be on IR for at least four games. Assuming he is fully healed by the end of those four games, Campbell could be back Week 18 against the Miami Dolphins (Jan. 4). For MCL sprains, that is not an unrealistic timeline.

If Campbell has any complications, however, he has another week to be ready for the wild-card round (Jan. 10-12), and until Jan. 17 if the Patriots earn a first-round bye. Suffice it to say that Campbell has plenty of time to recover before New England plays any must-win games.

Replacement tackle Vederian Lowe is solid

The 26-year-old is in his fourth NFL season. He has started in 21 of the 41 games he has played. Lowe may not be as strong or quick as Campbell, but he certainly is more experienced. That's the best-case scenario with a backup. Due to his previous time in the NFL, Lowe is unlikely to panic or falter when thrown into a high-pressure environment.