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In not even 90 minutes, the New England Patriots will play their 12th game of this year’s regular season, trying to improve to 6-6: the reigning AFC East champions will square off against a Los Angeles Chargers team that is heading into the contest with a 3-8 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
LB Tashawn Bower
S Terrence Brooks
QB Brian Hoyer
DT Isaiah Mack
RB J.J Taylor
TE Jordan Thomas
New England entered the weekend with 12 players listed on its practice squad, but none of them yet being ruled out. Of that group, only one has indeed joined the inactives now: running back J.J. Taylor will miss another game because of a quad injury. The undrafted rookie has last seen the field in Week 3, missing every game since because of either his spot at the bottom of the depth chart, an illness, or his current quad ailment.
Taylor is joined by a group of healthy scratches — players who are near the bottom of the depth chart as well at their respective positions. The biggest name and thus surprise is safety Terrence Brooks, who served as New England’s number four last season is playing a smaller role thus far this season with Devin McCourty still leading the group and the emergence of free agency acquisition Adrian Phillips and rookie Kyle Dugger.
Only one injured player being deactivated means that the other 11 on the practice report are good to go: quarterback Cam Newton (abdomen), fullback Jakob Johnson (knee), wide receiver Matthew Slater (knee), tight end Ryan Izzo (hamstring/hand), guard Shaq Mason (calf), defensive tackle Adam Butler (shoulder) and Byron Cowart (back), linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley (groin), defensive backs J.C. Jackson (hip) and Kyle Dugger (toe), and kicker Nick Folk (back).
Also active is rookie tight end Dalton Keene, who was just activated off injured reserve on Saturday. Keene is expected to serve as the number two option at the position alongside Ryan Izzo. Today’s game is just the second of his young career that sees him active.
Chargers inactives
LB Denzel Perryman
RB Troymaine Pope
WR Joe Reed
OL Tyree St. Louis
DL Cortez Broughton
QB Easton Stick
OT Sam Tevi
The biggest name on the Chargers’ list of inactives is Sam Tevi, who has played all but six of the team’s offensive snaps so far this season. Tevi was not listed on the final injury report of the week, so his absence certainly qualifies as a surprise.