CHICAGO – The Patriots are gearing up for a primetime matchup against the Bears at Soldier Field and there are several pre-game developments on New England's roster for Thursday Night Football.
Earlier in the day, New England placed starting LG Alijah Vera-Tucker (hamstring) on injured reserve and elevated OL Xavier Newman-Johnson and LB Benton Whitley from the practice squad to the active roster. Like all players placed on in-season injured reserve, Vera-Tucker is eligible to return after sitting out at least four games. Despite having an open roster spot, the Patriots did not activate OT Marcus Bryant from injured reserve. The team has until Nov. 4 to activate Bryant or he'll miss the rest of the season.
The good news is the five questionable Patriots are all active: CB Christian Gonzalez (illness), RT Morgan Moses (foot), S Craig Woodson (shoulder), S Kevin Byard III (chest), and LB Christian Elliss (chest). The Patriots inactives are CB Carlton Davis III (neck), RG Ben Brown (knee), CB Karon Prunty (hamstring), CB Channing Canada (hamstring), DT Joshua Farmer, and rookie Behren Morton is the emergency third quarterback.
Starting on offense, the Patriots have now placed both of their top guards, Vera-Tucker and starting RG Mike Onwenu (ankle), on injured reserve this season. The offensive line has had a rash of injuries at guard, with four of the Pats guards unavailable Thursday night. Along with Vera-Tucker and Onwenu, the Patriots have also lost their top two backups to injury, with Ben Brown (knee) and Greg Van Roten (thigh, IR) also unavailable – obviously, that's not ideal for the Patriots.
On Wednesday, head coach Mike Vrabel confirmed the Patriots will roll with the guard tandem that finished last Sunday's win over the Jets. The Pats will start Walter Rouse (LG) and Matt Pryor (RG) on the interior alongside starting C Jared Wilson. At tackle, LT Will Campbell is available and starting RT Morgan Moses is going to play through a foot injury. New England's top backup is first-rounder Caleb Lomu, who has played well at both tackle spots in recent weeks, and Vrabel hinted that Lomu could be a multi-position backup.
Although he's a tackle by trade, Lomu, who has allowed just one pressure at both left and right tackle in recent weeks, might be the next man up across the offensive line. More specifically, Moses is going to give it a go after aggravating a foot injury that caused him to leave last week's win over the Jets early. Given the short week, it's surprising that Moses is even active, so Lomu will need to be ready to step in at right tackle. Vrabel also hinted that Lomu has been taking practice reps at other spots, including center, as Brown was the team's primary backup at center, so that's another layer to the O-Line injuries.
The Patriots will at least start the game with the following offensive line: LT Will Campbell, LG Walter Rouse, C Jared Wilson, RG Matt Pryor, and RT Morgan Moses. Along with Lomu, rookie OT Dametrious Crownover and Newman-Johnson are active as depth along the offensive line. Although it isn't expected to happen on Thursday night, the question is whether the Pats will start preparing Lomu to play left guard now that Vera-Tucker is sidelined. Lomu played some guard in spring practices but has primarily focused on tackle.
"We go through things, different scenarios. We're going to go with where we finished on Sunday (vs. the Jets) and see what that looks like, and then have everybody else ready to go," Vrabel said when asked about Lomu playing guard.
QB Drake Maye's Supporting Cast vs. Bears
OL - LT Campbell, LG Rouse, C Wilson, RG Pryor, RT Moses
WR - Brown, Douglas, Chism III, Williams
TE - Henry, Raridon, Latu, Arkin
RB - Stevenson, Henderson, Kiner
New England's offensive line is banged up, especially on the interior, and they're also down wideouts Romeo Doubs (shoulder, IR) and Mack Hollins (calf, IR). After returning last week, the good news is star WR A.J. Brown's ankle injury was no longer on the team's final injury report. Brown will likely play a significant portion of snaps, with WR Efton Chism III as the "Z" receiver in base packages, WR DeMario Douglas in the slot, and WR Kyle Williams getting opportunities to stretch the field against the Bears defense on Thursday night.
Along with needing a bounce-back performance from Brown, the Patriots can help their undermanned offensive line by exploiting Chicago's poor early-down defense. The Bears rank 29th in expected points added on first and second down, with a 26th-ranked run defense in success rate and a 28th-ranked pass defense in explosive-play rate (18.4%). The key for the Pats offense is to establish the run, sequence play-action passes off it, and stay away from the Bears second-ranked third-down defense (25.8%).
Moving over to the defense, the Patriots continue to manage injuries at cornerback, with starting CB Carlton Davis III (neck) out for the third straight game. Davis returned to practice in a limited capacity this week, but his return to the lineup will need to wait. Without Davis and their two rookie corners, the Patriots have been relying on Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones, Charles Woods, and Kindle Vildor. Gonzalez was a late addition to the injury report due to an illness, but is good to go on Thursday night.
On the defensive line, second-year DT Joshua Farmer is inactive after being listed as a non-participant for a personal reason twice on New England's practice participation report this week. With the team on a short week, Farmer's absence from practice likely didn't give him enough time to integrate into the game plan, so he's inactive Thursday night. The Patriots available defensive linemen are Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, Cory Durden, DaQuan Jones, and Leonard Taylor III.
Schematically, it'll be interesting to see whether the Patriots believe they can hold up against the Bears heavy personnel groupings in three-corner nickel or play more base or three-safety nickel. Defenses also mostly avoid man coverage because QB Caleb Williams can extend plays. New England typically leans on man coverage out of three-corner nickel packages. But with the Bears multi-tight-end sets and Williams's mobility, that might not be the best way to defend Chicago's offense on Thursday night.
From a hype standpoint, Thursday night's tilt in Chicago checks all the boxes, with draft classmates Drake Maye and Caleb Williams facing off while two of the NFL's best coaches, Vrabel and Ben Johnson, meet as well. This should be a great test for the banged-up Patriots on the road in a game that has plenty of juice.
The Patriots and Bears square off at Soldier Field on Thursday night at 8:15 p.m. ET.
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