The New England Patriots are looking to get back on track as they prepare to host the Indianapolis Colts at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. The Patriots will be getting some extra help in the secondary as veteran Jabrill Peppers, who has been on the Commissioner’s exempt list after he was arrested earlier in the year, will be active. Peppers later pleaded not guilty to charges including strangulation and drug possession. His trail date is set for January 22nd.
Head coach Jerod Mayo spoke on the decision to activate Peppers after conducting an “internal investigation.”
“I would say it’s a combination of things,” Mayo said via Masslive.com. “Again, I’m grateful for how ownership has allowed Eliot [Wolf] and myself to make these types of decisions. We’ll see what this looks like as it continues to play out. Our focus is on the Colts.”
The Patriots listed five players as healthy scratches: S Marte Mapu, WR K.J. Osborn, G Lester Cotton, G Tyrese Robinson, and DE Titus Leo. In addition, NT Jaquelin Roy will be inactive as he’s been dealing with a neck injury.
One of the biggest question marks of the week was whether WR DeMario Douglas (ankle) would be healthy enough to play. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted early Sunday morning, “Douglas would be good to go.” The young receiver currently leads the Patriots in receptions and yards.
Meanwhile, on the offensive line, former 2024 fourth-round draft pick Layden Robinson is slated to start at left guard. Earlier this week, the team waived G Micheal Jordan in a surprising move but re-signed him to the practice squad.
On the defensive side of the football, Deatrich Wise is expected to return to the lineup after missing the last two games with an injury. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, the Patriots will get Jabrill Peppers back. He’ll be active for the first time since Week 4. In a corresponding move, the Patriots chose to list Marte Mapu as a healthy scratch. Although he popped on the injury report earlier in the week with a neck injury, he was removed from the week’s final injury report.
Meanwhile, LBs Anfernee Jennings (knee), Christian Elliss (knee), Sione Takitaki (knee), and S Kyle Dugger (ankle), who were all questionable coming into Sunday’s game, are all active.
The biggest names on the Colts’ inactive list are Josh Downs, Tanor Bortolini, and Braden Smith. The former is the team’s leading wide receiver, while the latter two are center and right tackle starters, respectively.
The Colts listed seven players as inactive, including two receivers: Josh Downs and Ashton Dulin.
The New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts will kick off at 1:00 p.m. ET.
My name is Ben Belford-Peltzman and I am the creator and writer of The Patriots Beat. I am a 17-year kid who is an optimistic pessimist about the City of Champions. I started The Patriots Beat in August of 2022 and never expected to grow so much but here we are. Feel free to email Thepatriotsbeat@gmail.com with any inquires.
