Foxborough, MA – The Patriots are readying for their Wild Card matchup vs. the Chargers on Sunday night, and there's good news on the pre-game injury front for New England.
Following multi-game absences, OLB Harold Landry III (knee) and LB Robert Spillane (ankle) are officially active, as are WR Kayshon Boutte (hamstring) and OT Thayer Munford Jr. (knee) after they carried questionable designations into Sunday night. New England's inactives are NT Khyiris Tonga (foot), G Caedan Wallace, OLB Bradyn Swinson, TE C.J. Dippre, OT Marcus Bryant, WR Jeremiah Webb, and QB Tommy DeVito is the emergency third quarterback.
Starting with the Patriots offense, there was some uncertainty surrounding Boutte's status after the team elevated practice-squad WR Jeremiah Webb. In the postseason, practice squad players have unlimited elevations, so there wasn't any downside to elevating Webb as insurance and then making him inactive if Boutte felt good enough to play. Luckily, Boutte is active. The Patriots available wideouts are Stefon Diggs, Kyle Williams, DeMario Douglas, Efton Chism III, and Boutte – the same group they had in Week 18.
Boutte has become one of the league's most efficient deep threats, catching seven of his 11 deep targets this season. Boutte leads all qualified receivers by adding +1.66 expected points on his deep pass attempts (min. 10 routes). The Chargers defense plays the majority of its coverage snaps in zone coverage. As a result, LA's corners are often 1-on-1 on the outside, meaning there will be downfield opportunities for Boutte and speedy rookie Kyle Williams to win over the top of the Chargers zone schemes.
As for the Patriots offensive line, rookie Jared Wilson is expected to start at left guard after missing the last two games due to a concussion. Backup Ben Brown filled in well, but the third-round rookie will get his starting job back. From this perspective, deciding between Brown and Wilson as the starting left guard was a toss-up. One thought is that standout LT Will Campbell and Wilson are the future of the offensive line, so getting them playoff experience could be important, while Wilson did nothing to lose his starting job performance-wise.
QB Drake Maye's Supporting Cast
OL - LT Campbell, LG Wilson, C Bradbury, RG Onwenu, RT Moses, OT3 Munford
WR - Diggs, Boutte, Williams, Douglas, Chism III
TE - Henry, Hooper, Westover (FB)
RB - Stevenson, Henderson, Johnson
The other unknown was Munford Jr.'s status as the Patriots primary jumbo tight end. In the last month, New England has played 56 snaps with six offensive linemen on the field, third-most in the NFL, and Munford has been the extra lineman. Out of those jumbo packages, New England has averaged 8.3 yards per play and generated 11 explosive plays, so it has been highly productive. Since he's officially active, the assumption is that Munford will continue in his role as the sixth offensive lineman. If he's limited due to his knee injury, backup tackle Vederian Lowe or Brown could step into that role.
Moving over to the defense, the Patriots will hopefully get a big boost from Landry and Spillane's return a week after standout DT Milton Williams returned to the lineup. The trio were full-time starters before suffering injuries that caused them to miss multiple games, so getting them back in the fold should pay huge dividends for the Patriots front seven. Although the Patriots still are down run-stuffing NT Khyiris Tonga, the Pats defense is nearly at full strength for the playoffs.
After sitting out the last four games of the regular season, Spillane's goal was to be back for the postseason. The Pats starting MIKE linebacker leads the team with 18 run stops on the season and is usually the primary signal-caller when he's on the field. New England has relied more on LB Jack Gibbens in Spillane's absence, and Gibbens has played mostly well, but Spillane is ranked 12th in Pro Football grade among linebackers, so the Pats captain will be welcomed back with open arms this week.
Along with Spillane's return, the Patriots are hoping that a two-week rest does Landry some good. The veteran edge rusher had been playing through a knee injury that was affecting his production. Before the injury, Landry had a 2.7% sack rate and pressured opposing quarterbacks on 10.7% of his pass rushes. Since the injury, Landry has been registering a sack on 1.8% of his rushes with just a 7.3% pressure rate. After clinching a playoff berth, New England opted to shut Landry down for the final two regular-season games in hopes that the rest would allow him to get his knee in better shape for its playoff run.
With the Patriots down multiple defenders in their front seven, New England's run defense went into a slump. In the season's first 10 weeks, the Pats were fourth in rush EPA allowed, but they dropped to 21st in rush EPA allowed in their final six games. The Patriots getting three key contributors back in their front seven should help shore up their run defense, with Williams' return last week already paying dividends in the regular-season finale vs. the Dolphins, where they held Miami to a season-low -0.42 EPA per rush.
As for Los Angeles, Chargers first-round RB Omarion Hampton is officially active after being listed as questionable with an ankle injury. After missing the first two practices this week, Hampton returned to Chargers practice on Friday in a limited capacity. The rookie will suit up, but his effectiveness will be worth monitoring. The Chargers could turn to RB Kimani Vidal, who has been effective as a spell-back for Hampton.
On Sunday night, the Patriots will host their first home playoff game in six seasons, accomplishing one of Mike Vrabel's goals when he became Patriots head coach. Although a 10-win turnaround and a division title already made this season a success, winning a playoff game would be an extra piece of validation for a great first season of the Vrabel regime.
The Patriots and Chargers will kickoff at Gillette Stadium at 8:15 p.m. ET on Sunday night.
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