Report: Patriot Taylor sidelined after undergoing ankle surgery

NEW YORK (SI.com) -- Patriots running back Fred Taylor underwent surgery Thursday to repair severe ligament damage in his right ankle and could miss the rest of the season, according to the Boston Globe, which cited a league source.

Taylor, in his first season with New England after spending 11 with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was hurt on his final carry of Sunday's 27-21 win over the Baltimore Ravens, a 3-yard run with 5:09 left in the game. He limped off the field.

According to the Globe, Taylor's ankle surgery was done by Dr. George Theodore, the same surgeon who reconstructed the ruptured peroneal tendon sheath of former Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling in 2004.

Taylor leads the team with 201 yards on 45 carries as part of a four-man backfield rotation with Sammy Morris, Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk. Another running back, BenJarvus Green-Ellis, has been inactive for three of the Patriots' four games but could play Sunday.

The Patriots signed Taylor in the offseason as a free agent after he and Maurice Jones-Drew shared time with Jacksonville. On the first day of training camp July 30, Taylor discussed his past injuries.

"I really never worried about the naysayers," he said. "I used it as motivation. When I would go behind closed doors, I'd work a little harder, thinking that they called me Fragile Fred. I knew I was never fragile. I had a little bit of misfortune, that's about it."

Taylor, 33, missed one game as a rookie in 1998 with a shoulder injury. Then he missed six in 1999 (hamstring), three in 2000 (knee), the last 14 in 2001 (groin), the last two in 2004 (knee), five in 2005 (ankle), one in 2006 (hamstring) and the last three in 2008 (thumb).

Still, he rushed for more than 1,100 yards in seven of his 11 seasons and is 15th in NFL history with 11,472 yards.