Jacoby Brissett Suffers Thumb Injury

2:41pm: Brissett won’t need surgery, tweets Dianna Russini of ESPN. “No tear, it’s fine,” a Patriots source told Russini via text (Twitter link via ESPN’s Adam Schefter).

2:13pm: Brissett’s injury is a sprain – and not a particularly serious one – a source told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter links). Still, he’s likely to miss a few weeks, according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe (Twitter link).

1:29pm: Misfortune continues piling up at quarterback for the Patriots, who have now lost rookie Jacoby Brissett to an injury. Brissett suffered a torn right thumb ligament in the Patriots’ 27-0 win over the Texans on Thursday and will likely need surgery, Mike Petraglia of WEEI reports (via Twitter).

Brissett was only under center for the Patriots because Jimmy Garoppolo succumbed to a shoulder injury in Week 2. And Garoppolo was only starting because of Tom Brady‘s four-game Deflategate suspension. Nevertheless, the Patriots have survived the absence of their future Hall of Fame signal-caller with three straight wins to begin the season.

In their latest victory, Brissett didn’t do much through the air in his first career start, completing 11 of 19 passes for 103 yards, but the third-round pick from North Carolina State amassed 48 rushing yards on eight carries and torched the Texans on a 27-yard touchdown scamper. Between Thursday’s start and his Week 2 work in relief of Garoppolo, Brissett has begun his NFL career 17 of 28 for 195 yards as a passer.

The fact that New England has extra time to prepare for its Week 4 matchup against Buffalo could bode well for a potential Garoppolo return, but the team still might add a free agent signal-caller as insurance. The Patriots elected against that prior to Thursday, instead relying on wide receiver Julian Edelman – a former QB at Kent State – to back up Brissett. They did work out free agents T.J. Yates and Sean Renfree on Tuesday, though.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.