The Patriots lose backup Kyle Dugger to an injury in the second quarter against the Titans

The Patriots are in the middle of their game against the Titans and are already struggling as the second quarter has just begun. They haven't had the start many were hoping for, especially against a 1-6 team like the Titans, who have been shut out by their opponents over the last two weeks.

From a poorly thrown interception by Drake Maye to the defense that allowed a weak player and one of the worst-performing offensive players to march down the field and score in under four minutes, the Patriots are not doing their job in Memphis so far.

To make matters worse, they have just announced that the return of one of their starters, Marte Mapu, is questionable due to a neck injury early in the second quarter.

The severity of the injury is unclear, but given that it is to Mapu's neck, it is possible that it won't be long before he is ruled out for the rest of the game.

Hopefully that's not the inevitable future, but we'll have to wait and see.

It's a worrying development as Kyle Dugger isn't playing this week, meaning Mapu is next man up in his absence. While the safeties functioned well last week without Dugger and the continued absence of Jabrill Peppers, that was with Mapu in the lineup, so seeing him off the field isn't promising, even more so with the defense already struggling.

In his place, the Patriots made Christian Elliss the communications man on defense. The linebacker has been moved from a predominantly special teams role to a spot on the defensive line in recent weeks and, fortunately, has performed much better than he did at the start of the year.

Mapu's injury does not appear to be as serious as initially thought as he has now returned just four minutes before half-time.

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