In not even 90 minutes, the New England Patriots will play their 13th game of this year’s regular season, trying to improve to 7-6: the reigning AFC East champions will square off against a Los Angeles Rams team that is heading into the contest with an 8-4 record. Before getting ahead of ourselves, however, let’s take a look at the players on both sides who have been declared inactive and will therefore not participate in today’s contest:
Patriots inactives
S Terrence Brooks
QB Brian Hoyer
DT Isaiah Mack
RB J.J. Taylor
TE Jordan Thomas
While New England had 14 players listed on its final injury report of the week, released on Wednesday, not a single player was ruled out before the game. And even now, only one of the Patriots’ inactives was actually questionable to enter tonight’s contest: running back J.J. Taylor, who is dealing with a quad injury. The other four inactives, meanwhile, are all healthy scratches.
This means that the rest of New England’s practice list will be good to go despite dealing with injuries recently: quarterback Cam Newton (abdomen), fullback Jakob Johnson (knee), wide receiver Matthew Slater (knee), guard Shaq Mason (calf), defensive tackles Lawrence Guy (shoulder), Adam Butler (shoulder) and Byron Cowart (back), linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (groin), defensive backs J.C. Jackson (hip/knee), Jonathan Jones (neck), and Kyle Dugger (toe), as well as kicker Nick Folk (back).
While there are plenty of big names on the list, Jackson and Jones in particular stand out: the two starting cornerbacks left Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers due to their respective injuries, after all, and were unable to return. Seeing them now back is obviously good news for New England’s defense.
Also active is Devin Asiasi, who was just activated to the 53-man roster off injured reserve. With Ryan Izzo (hamstring/hand/neck) being placed on IR in a follow-up move, and with Jordan Thomas among the inactives, the Patriots will therefore rely on him and fellow third-round rookie Dalton Keene to hold down the fort at tight end.
Rams inactives
C Brian Allen
RB Raymond Calais
WR Trishton Jackson
RB Xavier Jones
LB Terrell Lewis
K Austin McGinnis
The Rams also did not deactivate any players yesterday, with only kicker Matt Gay listed as questionable due to a shoulder injury. He will, as expected, be good to go.