Patriots news: Tom Brady hand injury actually 'worse' than reported

The New England Patriots may be in a bit of trouble with a report surfacing that Tom Brady's right-hand injury might be worse than the team is letting on.

Heading into the AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and Jacksonville Jaguars, there has been much made about the status of Tom Brady's right hand.

It had been reported that he had suffered the injury early this week in practice that led to him donning a glove to protect his hand while sitting out Thursday's practice. Since then, both Brady and head coach Bill Belichick have chosen to deflect any questions concerning the situation.

However, it appears that there is more to it as RJ Bell, who is founder/CEO of Pregame is reporting that Brady's hand injury is actually in worse condition than what's being widely led on to believe.

Multiple private sources telling me …
Tom Brady's hand injury is WORSE than the mainstream thinks.

(I would not be surprised if #Patriots drop to -7 in the near-term.)

— RJ Bell (@RJinVegas) January 19, 2018

The manner in which that the Patriots are handling this situation should raise some concern given that they have yet to talk about it at any length. The secretive nature of the situation that included Brady even wearing gloves to his first media session on Friday does continue to raise eyebrows on the extent of the injury.

There could be something more to it than what's being let on or nothing at all. However, the fact that there isn't any more information about it could lend to the belief that Brady is covering up something more significant than what is known.

At this point, Brady is expected to play in Sunday's game despite him being vague about his status on Friday afternoon. The 40-year-old is set to play in his 12th AFC Championship Game with an opportunity to reach the Super Bowl for the eighth time in his career.

Brady has a difficult challenge ahead of him facing arguably the best defense in the league that finished first against the pass. They also possess a dominant pass rush that finished second in sacks that could also factor greatly into Sunday's game. Nonetheless, this whole ordeal only draws more attention and scrutiny to what should be a highly intriguing AFC Championship Game.