It’s Tuesday and the New England Patriots play the Kansas City Chiefs in five days. Right now, they don’t have a kicker on the roster.

So, uh, what’s the team going to do?

“We have a few days to work that out,” Coach Bill Belichick said Tuesday. “So we’ll look at our options and see what’s best for the team.”

The Patriots’ situation at placekicker has been a whirlwind all season. That’s been especially true this past week after the team lost Nick Folk to appendicitis, cut him, signed Kai Forbath and then waived Forbath on Monday.

The move to drop Forbath was a curious one. The team opted to add a rookie defensive lineman with their open roster spot rather than a replacement kicker. As a result, the team is currently without a kicker on the roster.

Belichick was asked specifically if the team planned to bring back Nick Folk on Tuesday. However, the Patriots coach deflected, stating that they had multiple options. However, it should be noted that Folk still had his name above a locker in the Patriots locker room as of Friday.

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The Patriots are currently in their fourth kicker search of the season after losing Stephen Gostkowski to injury and parting ways with Mike Nugent.

The most reasonable outcome here is for the Patriots to bring back Folks, taking advantage of an extra roster spot for most of the week before bringing him back before Sunday. However, given Belichick’s response (and his history of unconventional roster moves), anything is on the table at this point.

THE PATRIOTS can ill afford to lose another member of their offensive line, but it looks like they’ll be without center Ted Karras for at least some time.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, it’s believed that Karras suffered an MCL sprain in the Patriots’ 28-22 loss to the Texans on Sunday night, and the hope is that he can return at some point this season.

Karras injured his knee in the third quarter of Sunday’s loss and needed some assistance to get off the field. He was quickly ruled out of the game after, and was replaced by backup James Ferentz.

Karras was slated to be the backup at center this season before David Andrews was ruled out for the season with blood clots in his lungs, thrusting Karras into the starting role. He’s played admirably in Andrews’ absence, playing in every snap on offense this season before Sunday’s injury.

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JONATHAN JONES ultimately gave up the touchdown, but Belichick still liked what he saw from the Patriots cornerback.

The Texans led 14-3 late in the third quarter Sunday when Deshaun Watson appeared to throw a deep touchdown pass to Will Fuller on a perfectly placed ball in the end zone. But Jones never gave up on the play, and knocked the ball out of Fuller’s hands before he could complete the play. It was initially ruled a touchdown but was overturned via review.

Jones wasn’t as fortunate on the very next play, though. Watson found Kenny Stills deep in the end zone on a similar looking play, beating Jones this time even though the cornerback played great coverage, according to Belichick.

“I thought his coverage was good, really good, as good as it could be,” Belichick said. “It was a good throw, a good catch. We could have executed the blitz better, but I thought Jon did an outstanding job on both plays.”

Jones has developed a bit of a reputation of not giving up on plays. He forced a fumble on Nick Chubb earlier this season after the Browns running back had rushed for a big gain to save a touchdown, and then later this year nearly stole an interception from Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert in the end zone, though that was ruled a touchdown after a review.

“He’s a good finisher, he has good ball awareness,” Belichick said. “He’s broken up a lot of passes like that.”

THE PATRIOTS lost possession of the top seed in the AFC with Sunday’s loss to the Texans. At 10-2, they’re tied atop the conference with the Ravens, but Baltimore has the edge after beating the Pats in Week 9.

But with four games left in the regular season – including a big game this Sunday at home against the Chiefs – the Patriots aren’t thinking about where they are in the standings.

“I think that’s the furthest thing from my mind, anything like that,” Brady said. “I don’t care about any of those things. I care about winning the game that’s coming up.”

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