Gonzalez Is Questionable, and Buffalo Is Coming

Christian Gonzalez is on the injury report as questionable, which is a bad time for the Patriots' most expensive defensive commitment to be in doubt. Robert Kraft offered Gonzalez a contract this offseason that would make him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history — the franchise's clearest signal yet that it intends to build its defense around him for years. Whatever he plays this week, that investment is now sitting under a question mark with the Bills on the schedule.

The depth chart behind him at corner lists DJ Daniel and Charles Woods. That's the hand New England plays if Gonzalez can't go. The secondary has been bleeding personnel all month — Carlton Davis gone, Brenden Schooler out, Dre'Mont Jones questionable on the edge — and the attrition has been steady enough that I've written some version of this note four times in the last two weeks. Gonzalez being uncertain is the biggest name yet.

Buffalo will test whatever is back there. That's not a prediction, just the nature of the matchup. If Gonzalez is limited or out, the Patriots are asking backup corners to hold up against one of the AFC's better passing attacks, in a game that matters in the division. The next 48 hours on the injury report will tell most of the story.