Devin McCourty and Dwayne Allen miss Patriots practice

FOXBORO – In what was likely their last practice of the playoff bye week, the Patriots were without safety Devin McCourty and tight end Dwayne Allen.

McCourty suffered a head injury against the New York Jets and is likely in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Allen has been nursing a knee injury. He played in the regular-season finale.

The Patriots could afford to be cautious with McCourty, their defensive captain, this week, but it would be alarming if McCourty [...]

FOXBORO – In what was likely their last practice of the playoff bye week, the Patriots were without safety Devin McCourty and tight end Dwayne Allen.

McCourty suffered a head injury against the New York Jets and is likely in the NFL’s concussion protocol. Allen has been nursing a knee injury. He played in the regular-season finale.

The Patriots could afford to be cautious with McCourty, their defensive captain, this week, but it would be alarming if McCourty wasn’t at practice come next week. The NFL’s concussion protocol has five steps so McCourty will need to be clear by an independent doctor before he could suit for the team’s AFC divisional matchup.

 Allen’s situation is a little strange. He wasn’t on the injury report all week until Friday leading up to the Jets game. Allen was limited in that last practice and played. He’s not the only tight end hurting, either. Jacob Hollister was held out of the Jets game due to a hamstring injury.

If injuries keep piling up, the Pats could call up practice squad tight end Stephen Anderson. That’d be an interesting way for a player to make their 2018 season debut – in the playoffs

James Develin returned to practice on Thursday. He misses Wednesday’s session due to the birth of his family’s third child.