Milton Williams wanted to play because of an ankle injury

If it was up to Milton Williamshe would play the whole New England Patriots win 27-14 over the New York Jets on Thursday night.

The Outstanding defensive effort by the Patriots wanted to stay in the game after suffering an ankle injury on the Jets’ first offensive drive, head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters after Thursday’s win. However, the team decided to rest him as a precaution, but Williams will undergo further testing on his ankle on Friday.

“Maybe,” Vrabel told reporters when asked if Williams might have returned to the game if the Patriots had been in second place Thursday. “I made a decision that we felt like we should probably start treating that thing and take it and see where he’s at here tomorrow, the next couple of days, and try to gauge — again, he wanted to try to go. He’s here and he’s standing with me when the guys come in, and he’s excited for them, so I appreciate his decision like he made the best decision on the team, but I felt like his team was the best.

Williams suffered an ankle injury when he collided with teammate Christian Barmore as they attempted to tackle Jets quarterback Justin Fields. Williams immediately left the field and was clearly in pain as he entered the blue medical tent.

Christian Barmore appeared to be blocked in the lower body by Milton Williams on Fields’ third down. pic.twitter.com/RVfC9Cvv7V

— Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) November 14, 2025

Soon after, Williams returned to the Patriots locker room before walking to the sideline again. He briefly returned to action in the first half, but was ruled out for the remainder of the second half.

Milton Williams tweeted his support for Christian Barmore in the Patriots’ win over the Jets

With Williams sidelined in the second half of Thursday’s game, he decided to play the way many of us do by watching and tweeting at the same time.

“Yeah Bmo,” Williams wrote in a post to X with several exclamation point emojis after Barmore sacked Fields in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s win.

Yes Bmo ‼‼

— Milton Williams (@miltonv_12) November 14, 2025

While the Patriots didn’t need Williams in Thursday’s game, they could use his inside presence. Barmore’s sack was the Patriots’ first sack of the day, which came on the Jets’ final possession. Fellow defensive end Elijah Ponder added a touchdown later in that drive, but the Patriots struggled to get Fields home much of the day. New York’s dual-threat quarterback didn’t have a productive day throwing the ball (116 passing yards), but he did rush for 67 yards and a touchdown in the Jets’ loss to the Patriots.

Still, the Patriots will almost certainly need Williams. He has 27 total tackles and 3.5 sacks this season, the third-highest pass completion rate among defensive tackles (14 percent) entering Thursday’s game. He also had 35 carries before Thursday, ranks second among defensive tacklesaccording to Pro Football Focus.

Fortunately for Williams and the Patriots, Williams will get some extra time to recover before his next appearance on the field. They don’t play again until Sunday, Nov. 23, when they travel to play the Cincinnati Bengals.