The Patriots are set to finish their 2024 season at Gillette Stadium against a very familiar foe who they just faced two weeks ago, the Bills. Despite being tremendous underdogs in that game in Week 16, the team unexpectedly kept it close and gave Buffalo a run for their money, looking like they could have snuck out a win and shocked the NFL world.
That's not exactly expected during their season finale game, even with Bills' starters only taking the field for a short period of time. The Patriots are currently dealing with a long list of injuries to some of their most important players, with even rookie quarterback Drake Maye popping up on the injury report late in the week, which might ultimately dictate how much he plays on Sunday.
Because of that, a few players have already been ruled out by New England and it's looking like it's going to be a tough outing for them against the reigning AFC East Champions.
A lot about the Patriots future will be determined from this game, with the status of Jerod Mayo and the coaching staff hanging in the balance on top of maintaining the first overall pick or sliding down somewhere in the top-5.
Full inactives list for the New England Patriots
PLAYER NAME | POSITION |
|---|---|
Ben Brown | C |
Christian Gonzalez | CB |
Ja'Lynn Polk | WR |
Jabrill Peppers | S |
JaMycal Hasty | RB |
Hunter Henry | TE |
Sidy Sow | G |
Mitchell Wilcox | TE |
Key absences and their impact
Offensive impact
With Ben Brown and Ja'Lynn Polk sidelined, the main takeaway is the absence of the longtime Patriots starting center. Since David Andrews went down with a season ending injury, the Patriots were fortunate to snag Brown from the Raiders practice squad and have him become one of the best offensive lineman on the team.
So that makes it far from ideal to have him out for the season finale. However, Cole Strange's return makes the loss a little less dire, as he moves from being left guard to taking over in Brown's absence. Filling in for him in his previous role has been rookie Layden Robinson, who has been thriving in the four games since.
The hope is that Brown's loss won't dramatically impact the offensive line's performance, and based on Polk's near invisibility this year, he won't be greatly missed either.
Defensive impact
The Patriots secondary is going to take a big hit in this game with having both Christian Gonzalez and Jabrill Peppers out. The biggest hit will be Gonzalez's absence, as he has become the lockdown cornerback the team has been looking for since Stephon Gilmore was abruptly traded.
It doesn't help that Marcus Jones was placed on injured reserve last week, making Alex Austin and Jonathan Jones the primary cornerbacks on Sunday.
The safeties group will also miss Peppers, especially since Kyle Dugger has struggled to play up to par this year. Fortunately, Marte Mapu has been pretty solid when called upon, and hopefully, that will be the case this week, too.
Full inactives list for the Buffalo Bills
PLAYER NAME | POSITION |
|---|---|
Terrel Bernard | LB |
Amari Cooper | WR |
Christian Benford | CB |
Gregory Rousseau | DE |
Dion Dawkins | T |
Ed Oliver | DT |
Daquan Jones | DT |
Taron Johnson | CB |