Patriots dealing with more injuries on their banged-up offensive line entering a short week

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The Patriots are testing the boundaries of the “next man up” mentality that is preached across a league in which injuries are guaranteed every week.

New England has just three days to recover coming off a 26-19 win over the New York Jets during which it lost three offensive linemen to injuries.

Right tackle Morgan Moses (ankle) and left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (hamstring) were Week 1 starters, while Ben Brown (knee) was starting at right guard for the second straight week. Brown was in the lineup after Mike Onwenu (ankle) was placed on injured reserve after two games and Greg Van Roten, his original replacement, went on IR the following week.

“As bad as it is and as unfortunate as it is, that’s just the way this game goes,” left tackle Will Campbell said. “I feel like some guys stepped up big for us.”

The Patriots, who play at Chicago on Thursday night, are banged up at other spots. Wide receiver Romeo Doubs exiting in the first quarter with a shoulder issue following his touchdown catch and was placed on injured reserve on Monday. Coach Mike Vrabel acknowledged the injuries will require everyone to remain fluid this week.

“We’ll just have to figure out who we have available and find 48 to put out there,” Vrabel said.

Rookie Caleb Lomu, a week after coming in for Campbell, jumped in at right tackle for Moses, with Walter Rouse subbing in at right tackle and Matt Pryor at left guard.

Lomu, Rouse and Pryor helped open lanes that allowed the Patriots to eventually run out the clock in the fourth quarter.

“Everybody prepares as a starter. I can’t wait to watch those guys that prepare all week without knowing whether they’re going to get an opportunity to play,” Vrabel said. “And then when they do, take advantage of it, and that’s a testament to those players.”

Despite the offensive line injuries, the group kept Drake Maye off the turf. The quarterback wasn’t sacked Sunday, the first time that has happened this season. He has been sacked only twice over the past three games after being taken down nine times in the first three.

Ball security. The Patriots are second in the NFL this season with 13 turnovers (six lost fumbles, seven interceptions), behind only the Los Angeles Chargers with 15 (seven fumbles, eight INTs).

Fixing that is a top priority.

“We’ll rep it more. We’ll put more time into it, I guess. I don’t know how you can put any more time into the amount of ball security drills we do,” Vrabel said. “I’m certainly cognizant. You can put it on me. That’s probably the easiest thing.”

Lomu and Pryor. They allowed zero pressures on Maye during their combined 106 snaps.

WR DeMario Douglas. He caught a 9-yard touchdown in the second quarter, but also had a 39-yard catch that ended with him getting the ball ball punched out from behind by Jamien Sherwood. The fumble led to a Jets field goal.

The Patriots have moved quickly to replenish the backup depth on the O-line, adding Andrew Rupcich and Jacob Rizy to the practice squad.

2 — The number of games in a row that Maye has gone without a turnover.

The Patriots have a short turnaround before heading to Chicago for Thursday’s primetime matchup.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game New York Jets in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye responds to a question during news conference after an NFL football game against the New York Jets in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, right, helps center Ben Brown, center, up from the field during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

New England Patriots wide receiver Romeo Doubs, center, on ground, is tended to after a possible injury during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, right, checks on offensive tackle Morgan Moses as he lies on the field during the first half of an NFL football game New York Jets in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Stockwell)

MIAMI (AP) — More than 100,000 people from Ukraine and Sudan can stay in the United States without immediate risk of deportation, the Department of Homeland Security said, in what amounts to a temporary reprieve after their right to stay in the country was set to expire Monday.

Temporary Protected Status was set to end Oct. 19 for about 101,000 Ukrainians and 1,800 Sudanese. But DHS said an announcement “will be made at the appropriate time.” Until then, the department said in a written statement, Ukrainians and Sudanese in the U.S. covered by those temporary measures “retain protection.” The Department did not indicate how long they could stay or when a final announcement would be made on their status.

DHS did not respond to a question about whether they can keep their work permits, but TPS generally allows people to work while their protections remain in effect.

The decision Monday marks another incident where the Trump administration, which has previously sought to end these temporary protections from deportation and send people back to their home countries, has allowed people covered by the temporary status to stay in the country but without giving any guidance as to how long.

Yuriy Boyechko, CEO of Hope For Ukraine, a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid in Ukraine and helps resettle newcomers in the U.S., described the government’s announcement as “last-minute patches.”

It is a “bandage that has been placed on a wound that does not solve the real issue,” he said. “It’s time for U.S. to come up with some normal path to permanent residency for all these people,” Boyechko noted. He emphasized that they cannot safely return to Ukraine.

Andrew Arthur, a national-security and immigration expert at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think tank that favors lower immigration, said the government will eventually decide but faces no deadline. Until then, nothing changes, he said.

“It’s simply going to be an extension until it is a termination,” he said. “It’s beyond cavil that both Sudan and Ukraine are experiencing ongoing armed conflict, and therefore the secretary is well within his authority to continue TPS for each of them."

The Trump administration has already terminated TPS for more than 1 million people from 13 countries, including Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Syria.

But in a change in practice roughly a month ago, the administration kept protections in place for nearly 200,000 Salvadorans whose TPS was set to expire Sept. 9. In that case they also said that they were going to make a decision at the appropriate time and that in the meantime, people from El Salvador could continue to work and live in the U.S.

Activists and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have been raising the alarm over the upcoming deadline for TPS to expire for Ukrainians, arguing that conditions remain unsafe for them to return home amid the war with Russia.

Ukraine was first designated for TPS in April 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion two months earlier. The Biden administration subsequently extended the designation, most recently in January 2025, when DHS authorized an additional 18 months of protection through October 2026.

The TPS program for Sudan was established in 1997, and since then, successive U.S. administrations have extended it due to the armed conflict and political instability that have plagued the African nation.

The decision Monday comes two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, when Trump’s hard line immigration policies will face a test at the ballot box.

The U.S. Congress created TPS in 1990 to prevent deportations to countries suffering from natural disasters or civil strife.

It allows people already in the country to remain and work, for renewable periods if the homeland security secretary determines conditions are unsafe for their return. But it doesn't give them a pathway to permanent residency.

Supporters say that using this tool protects people from being returned to dangerous situations and that uprooting people covered by TPS after years of living in the U.S. is cruel. Critics, especially in the Trump administration, say successive administrations have extended these protections for years regardless of what has happened in the home countries.

Federal rules say TPS is automatically extended for six months if the secretary doesn’t make a determination at least 60 days before the designation expires.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Global Refuge, noted Ukraine and Sudan meet the legal conditions for TPS to be extended.

“It is not safe for these families to go home,” Vignarajah said.

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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Santana contributed from Washington.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security sign, is seen during a news conference at ICE Headquarters, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)