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In a little more than an hour, the New England Patriots will play their 15th regular season game of the year when they kick off against the visiting Buffalo Bills. Both teams are relatively healthy at this point of the year as a look at today’s inactives lists shows:
Patriots inactives
DE Keionta Davis
DB Duke Dawson
OL James Ferentz
DB Brandon King
SS Obi Melifonwu
DE Derek Rivers
DE Adrian Clayborn
Of the Patriots’ seven inactives, only one was listed on the injury report earlier this year: special teams ace Brandon King was limited all week with a knee issue as was officially questionable. He will miss today’s contests, which in turn will put more pressure on New England’s other core kicking game players like Nate Ebner and Matthew Slater, and potentially Rex Burkhead as well.
The rest of New England’s inactives are all healthy, with the biggest name being Adrian Clayborn. The reason for that is no surprising one, however: the Patriots will likely try to take away Buffalo’s running game and the scrambling abilities of quarterback Josh Allen. Having an extra big body available — Danny Shelton, who himself was a healthy scratch the last three games — is apparently the preferred course of action for the coaching staff.
Also active is defensive edge Ufomba Kamalu, who was activated off the team’s practice squad earlier this week. He gets the edge over primary pass rushers Adrian Clayborn, Derek Rivers and Keionta Davis.
Bills inactives
CB Ryan Lewis
RB Chris Ivory
TE Charles Clay
WR Ray-Ray McCloud
DB Dean Marlowe
OL Vladimir Ducasse
QB Derek Anderson
While ex-Patriots cornerback Ryan Lewis was already declared out on Friday, Chris Ivory was listed as questionable on the final injury report of the week. He too, however, will miss the game which means that the Bills will use rookie Keith Ford — he of 14 carries this season — as the number two back behind starter LeSean McCoy.