Shane Vereen placed on temporary IR, out eight weeks

Reports earlier today indicated that Shane Vereen - who dislocated a bone in his wrist - would be out for four weeks. It appears it's even more serious than that.

Patriots place RB Shane Vereen (dislocated bone in wrist) on Injured Reserve/designated to return. See him Week 8, at earliest

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 10, 2013

The good news it that Vereen isn't out for the year. The bad news is that he's going to be out a very long time.

Vereen suddenly found himself a key part of the offense. With Aaron Hernandez in jail and Stevan Ridley having fumbling issues, Vereen took over in Week 1 to the tune of over 100 yards on the ground. He was also expected to take on a lot of Hernandez's role as a versatile weapon who could line up anywhere.

As a result of Vereen's injury, the Patriots will just be much more vanilla. The loss of Vereen coupled with Amendola, who's out at least this week, puts the Patriots in a very tough spot the rest of the season.