Analysis of Matthew Slater’s inactivity Not active Trent Brown will play again on Sunday Night Football to Denver.
D Denver, CO Four players on the Patriots’ active roster had to be ruled out because of injuries, so the team only had to name three players inactive for Sunday night’s game against the Broncos.
NYG’s full list of inactive players is TE. WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (ankle), RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle), ST Matthew Slater (hamstring), DE Sam Roberts, and QB Nathan Rourke (emergency third QB) are all out.
Since he started as LT last year, Patriots captain Matthew Slater will be missing his first game in almost seven years. Trent Brown (ankle/hand) is back in the lineup after missing one game.
As of Sunday night, the Patriots had four pass targets available, but second-year quarterback Bailey Zappe will be forced to start without his trusted tight end Hunter Henry. This will be Zappe’s fourth straight start.
New England put practice-squad TE Matt Sokol on the main team on Saturday since they were missing their leader to receptions (42) as well as receiving scores (six).
This week, Sokol will play behind Pharaoh Brown as well as Mike Gesicki, who are expected to be key players.
Brown and Gesicki have each been used in certain ways by Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien this season.
Brown has lined up as a standard in-line tight end for Bill O’Brien. He does this on 89.7% his offensive snaps.
On the other hand, Gesicki has played 334 of his 413 snaps as a detached receiver, either in the middle or out wide (80.9%).
He didn’t go because he hurt his knee during the beginning of the final period of the previous week’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
New England is likely to keep playing Brown along with Gesicki in their normal roles. Brown will likely take over Henry’s early-down snaps, and Gesicki will play in the passing game. Sokol could play as a run blocker.
It’s still not clear if Henry will play tight end, but the Patriots will have DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Reagor, or Kayshon Boutte as wide receivers.
Without Stevenson, the Patriots will rely on Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris, and JaMychal Hasty in the backfield. Boutte is beginning to play again after being out since Week 12.
The Patriots made a number of changes to their offensive line before their game in Denver on Christmas Eve.
In the first fifteen months of the season, Ferentz was on the Patriots’ practice squad and helped out as a teacher.
After putting top swing tackle Conor McDermott (concussion) and starting LG Cole Strange (knee) on injured reserve, New England added veteran G/C James Ferentz to their 53-man roster to improve the strength of its offensive line.
People who don’t know already know that Kirk Ferentz, Ferentz’s father, is the head coordinator at the University in Iowa right now. From 2017 to 2023, Ferentz’s brother Brian was in charge of Iowa’s offense.
As a family member has a history of teaching, the veteran has often been a sounding board for the younger players in the O-Line room.
New guards Atonio Mafi as well as Sidy Sow are expected to start at right and left guard, respectively. He will now play backup.
The great special teams player for the New England Patriots, Matthew Slater, will miss the first game he played in the NFL since 2017.
Since Conor McDermott isn’t playing, Vederian Lowe as well as Tyrone Wheatley Jr. will have to fill in for Brown if he needs a break.
Right before the Christmas Eve game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the Patriots said Slater would not be playing. It’s a big loss for New England because their special teams have been having a hard time this season.
If they want to make up for not having the best defense player in NFL history, Brenden Schooler will have to step up big time.
Hunter Henry, Rhamondre Stevenson, and JuJu Smith-Schuster will all be out for the Patriots. Both are tight ends. So they won’t have enough players to try to pull off an upset at Mile High.
While offensive tackle Trent Brown is back in the lineup, he has been slowly getting better after being hurt, which could affect how many snaps he gets in this game.