Patriots rule defensive tackle Byron Cowart out against the Bengals; center Ted Karras makes trip to Cincinnati

When the New England Patriots traveled to Ohio on Saturday for their Week 15 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, only 52 members of their active roster were on the plane: defensive tackle Byron Cowart, who was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report because of a concussion, did not make the trip and will officially miss the game — the third time in a row that the fifth-round draft selection will be out due to the injury.

Cowart being the lone member of the team to be declared out against the Bengals, however, means that there is a realistic chance that the other six questionables play on Sunday: wide receivers Julian Edelman (knee/shoulder) and Mohamed Sanu (ankle), center Ted Karras (knee), defensive tackle Danny Shelton (shoulder), linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (knee), and cornerback Jason McCourty (groin) are all game-day decisions.

While the others all played last week against the Kansas City Chiefs — even though Sanu and McCourty were both limited — Ted Karras missed the contest: the Patriots’ starting center was declared out after hurting his knee in Week 13 and was subsequently replaced by James Ferentz versus the Chiefs. While there is no guarantee he will return to the lineup against the Bengals, seeing him make the trip is obviously good news for his return.

The Patriots will officially announce their inactives 90 minutes before today’s kickoff: at 12:30 pm, six more players will join Cowart on the list of players who will sit the game out.