FOXBORO -- The emotional of leader of the Patriots, Rodney Harrison, had to be carted off the field at the end of the third quarter with a knee injury, cheers from the Gillette Stadium crowd raining down on him as he was riding off. Harrison gave a brief wave of recognition, appearing as though he was fighting back tears.

Harrison may have been waving goodbye. The 15-year veteran is in the last year of his contract with New England, and at 35 years old, it may be too much for him to come back from another season-ending injury. Harrison missed much of the 2005 season after tearing all three major ligaments in his knee against the Steelers.

"We'll have to see how that is. It doesn't look too good," Bill Belichick said of Harrison's injury after the game.

As he lay on his back on the turf -- there was no contact that led to the injury, Harrison's right leg seemed to give an odd twist and he crumpled -- Tedy Bruschi came running over and held Harrison's head as he spoke to him.

"I'm going to keep that to myself if you don't mind," Bruschi replied when asked what he said to Harrison. "Rodney is one of my favorite teammates of all time and I just went out there to check on him. What I told him and he told me was something between us."

James Sanders said he didn't know the extent of Harrison's injury, but was headed into the training room to speak with his fellow safety, who he said has taught him a great deal, both on and off the field. Brandon Meriweather couldn't think much about the injury in the moments after it happened, saying his immediate thought was that he now had to step up.