By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com Patriots InsiderFollow @tomecurran
FOXBORO -- The season has ended for a couple of the Patriots' trench guys.
Defensive tackle Myron Pryor and center Dan Koppen have both been placed on injured reserve, the team announced Wednesday. Pryor had an injured groin going into the Chargers game last weekend then appeared to aggravate it before halftime and did not return. However, the Patriots list Pryor as having a shoulder injury.
The third-year player was really playing well in the Patriots' defensive line rotation throughout camp and into the first game of the regular season. His ability to bring inside pressure on third downs will be missed, especially since Mike Wright has been down with a concussion. Those two are the team's best young interior rushers. The Patriots re-signed defensive tackle Landon Cohen who they released just before the season to try and mitigate the loss of the interior pass rushers. As for Koppen, we reported that the injury he suffered against Miami was an 8-to-10 week convalesence. The Patriots have decided they couldn't wait, it seems. Especially not with the rampant thumb injuries on their defense. So they cleared a roster spot by IR'ing Koppen and have signed former 49ers defensive back Phillip Adams. He was a seventh-round pick in 2010 out of South Carolina. With both Josh Barrett and Patrick Chung -- the team's starting safeties -- playing with casts on their right arms, Adams has likely been brought in to help lift the special teams load for those players. Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran