London, UK - Welcome to Wembley Stadium, where the Patriots will take on the Jaguars in the United Kingdom on Sunday.
After spending the last two days across the pond, game day is finally here, as Jacksonville hosts New England in their home market. With kickoff fast approaching, here are the Patriots inactives in this international showdown: T Vederian Lowe (ankle), WR Javon Baker (illness), LB Sione Takitaki (knee), WR Tyquan Thornton, DE Jeremiah Pharms, and rookie Joe Milton is the emergency third quarterback. Jacksonville's inactives are RB Travis Etienne, DE Myles Cole, T Javon Foster, T Cole Van Lane, DE Esezi Otomewo, and DT Maason Smith.
Offensively, rookie QB Drake Maye will get a big boost from lead-back Rhamondre Stevenson returning after a one-game absence. Stevenson missed last week's loss to the Texans due to a foot injury. On Friday, head coach Jerod Mayo labeled Stevenson as a game-time decision. Then, the Pats RB1 was a full participant in New England's practice at the Harrow School before officially being listed as questionable. Now, Rhamondre is a go.
"I'm feeling good right now. I had to take a few days off, but I feel like I should be ready to go on Sunday," Stevenson said Friday.
Last week, the Patriots run game struggled without Stevenson in the lineup. New England's running backs only averaged 2.1 yards per rush with four successful runs compared to six stuffs. Furthermore, the Pats RBs produced just 2.3 yards after contact per attempt in Week 6. With their lead-back in the mix in the previous five weeks, the Patriots ranked third-best in the NFL by averaging 4.1 yards after contact per rush.
Although he has produced this season, Stevenson returning as the lead back allows speed-back Antonio Gibson to assume his usual role. Stevenson excels at creating yards before the tackles and can take on a high volume of touches, while Gibson is at his best in space, where he can get loose in the open field. Hopefully, Stevenson being back in the mix will give Maye a proper rushing attack, so it's not all on the rookie.
As for those blocking for Maye and the running backs, the Patriots will start their seventh different offensive line combination in seven games. Based on practice this week, the Pats starting O-Line could look like this: LT Trey Jacobs, LG Michael Jordan, C Ben Brown, RG Layden Robinson, and RT Mike Onwenu. Jacobs will flip sides after making two straight starts at right tackle, while Onwenu kicks back outside to right tackle.
Earlier this week, Coach Mayo praised rookie guard Layden Robinson. Robinson will get back into the starting lineup after spending time on the bench following some struggles. But he has a bright future with a powerful base and high-end play strength to move bodies in the run game.
"Layden (Robinson) is one of the hardest practicing guys on the team. He always shows tremendous effort, and sometimes you hit a wall. He's gone through that wall, and he'll play on Sunday. He's a tough player, and I look forward to his future," Mayo said.
Lastly, Maye's pass-catchers will stay the same as last week. Fellow rookie Javon Baker popped up on the injury report with an illness on Friday, but Baker has struggled to crack the game-day lineup when healthy, as has third-year WR Tyquan Thornton. Here will be Maye's main supporting cast:
WR - Douglas, Bourne, Polk, Boutte, Osborn
TE - Henry, Hooper, Bell
RB - Stevenson, Gibson, Hasty
OL - Jacobs, Jordan, Brown, Robinson, Onwenu
Moving over to the defense, it's surprising that free-agent addition Sione Takitaki is inactive. Takitaki is still on the injury report as questionable due to his knee injury, so he isn't at 100% yet. Takitaki missed most of training camp after undergoing a knee procedure in the offseason. After being activated off the physically unable to perform list, Takitaki played nine defensive snaps and 13 special teams snaps in his Pats debut last week.
Now, Takitaki is inactive for a linebacker corps that has struggled recently. Since captain Ja'Whaun Bentley was lost for the season, the Patriots are allowing over 166 rushing yards per game, including 190-plus rush yards over the last two weeks. Coach Mayo hinted at some lineup changes, which some expected to signal that Takitaki could have a larger role. Instead, it'll be a similar mix of Jahlani Tavai, Raekwon McMillan, and Christian Elliss.
This week's matchup features two underperforming units in the Patriots defense against the Jaguars offense. Despite having talent and a franchise quarterback, Jacksonville is 20th in offense DVOA this season, while the Pats are 29th on defense. One of these units will have a bounce-back day.
The Patriots hosted a fan party on Saturday evening at the Greenwood Sports Pub in downtown London. The gathering drew thousands of Pats fans from all over Europe, with Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft appearing to pump up the crowd. Despite technically being the road team, the expectation is that there will be plenty of Patriots fans inside Wembley Stadium who are clamoring for a win. It should be a pro-Pats crowd.
New England and Jacksonville square off at Wembley Stadium with kickoff at 9:30 am ET on Sunday in London.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
