Christian Barmore and Kyle Dugger return to the Patriots defense in Sunday’s game against the Rams

The inactive Patriots are WR KJ Osborn, S Marte Mapu (neck), OLB Ochaun Mathis, G Tyrese Robinson, DL Deatrich Wise (foot), DT Jaquelin Roy (neck), and rookie Joe Milton is the third emergency quarterback. Los Anegles’ inactives are QB Stetson Bennett, CB Charles Woods, RB Cody Schrader, OL Dylan Mcmahon, OL Joe Noteboom, OL Rob Havenstein and NT Neville Gallimore.

Starting with the defense, stud DT Christian Barmore is officially active after being taken off the non-football illness list on Saturday. The Patriots also get back captain Kyle Dugger this week, two impact defenders the team planned to play big roles this season. Six of the 10 players listed as questionable on the Patriots’ final injury report are active: Barmore, Dugger, Takitaki, Elliss, Ekuale and Lowe.

Barmore will make his season debut with just one practice under his belt. The Pats defensive tackle returned to practice for the first time since being diagnosed with blood clots this past week. They took part in Thursday’s session before sitting out Friday’s practice as part of a ramp-up process. According to reports, the 25-year-old was diagnosed with blood clots in his calf in July. Team doctors noticed the clot early and kept the door open for Barmore to return this season.

While he is active, it is unrealistic for Barmore to play a significant number of snaps in his first game since last January. Really, his first full-back football activity since the end of the 2023 season. Instead, the expectation is that Barmroe will play sparingly on Sunday to get his feet wet. On Friday, head coach Jerod Mayo set the bar low for Barmore’s playing time.

“For someone who hasn’t done that yet and hasn’t really put on pads since January, it’s tough. You never want to just throw someone out there coming off an injury, no matter what the injury is, and play him out there 50 times.” That’s unrealistic, I think we’ll see what he can handle and go from there,” coach Mayo told Patriots.com.

While his role will be limited, Barmore could immediately improve the Patriots’ pass rush. According to NextGen Stats, New England ranks last in pressure created by a four-man pass rush (24.8%) this season. The Pats also have the second-largest difference between their pressure rate while blitzing (45.1%) and without a blitz (24%), meaning they have to bring extra rushers to put pressure on the quarterback.

Last season, Barmore led the team with 8.5 sacks and 49 pressures, while the Patriots’ four-man rush pressure improved from 24.8% to 31% with Barmore in 2023. From this perspective, Barmore worked in their third- down-pass-rush package, where he would play about 10-15 snaps, seems like a good way to get him into the action.

The other angle for Barmore’s return is that veteran DE Deathrich Wise (foot) and DT Jaquelin Roy (neck) will miss Sunday’s game. Wise and Roy did not practice this week, so their absence is not surprising. Now it’s all about how the Pats replace his 46.9% snap rate. In Week 10, Wise recorded two sacks, a batted pass and two stops in 28 snaps. The nine-year veteran filled the stat sheet in his rotation role, meaning someone else will have to step up.

In theory, Barmore could eat up some of the snaps left behind by Wise, who played 26 of his 28 snaps against the pass against the Bears. New England is also expected to expand DT Jeremiah Pharms’ role after his monstrous performance last week. In Chicago, Pharms recorded one sack, two hurries and four stops with three tackles for loss in his best game as a pro. After a full week of practice with his new team, newcomer Yannick Ngakoue also makes his Patriots debut on Sunday.

A potential pass rush with Barmore, Ngakoue, Pharms and hybrid DE Keion White is exciting. The Patriots defensive line will also rely on NT Davon Godchaux and DT Daniel Ekuale, with Wise and Roy unavailable. On the other hand, Los Angeles is expected to host RT Warren McClendon Jr. starting, while Rams head coach Sean McVay has kept his cards close to the vest in center, where it’s a battle between vet Jonah Jackson and rookie Beaux Limmer. While the Rams O-Line isn’t as depleted as the Bears were last week, New England should still have its chances.

Along with Barmore’s return, the Patriots defense will bring back captain Kyle Dugger to the secondary. Dugger has missed the last three games due to a nagging ankle injury, but the Pats safety is officially active on Sunday. The absence of Dugger and fellow starter Jabrill Peppers (exempt list) has opened the door for undrafted rookie Dell Pettus to take on a bigger role. You would expect Dugger to return to his usual role in place of Mapu, who is inactive due to a neck injury, while Pettus and Hawkins fill the other safety spot.

Finally, on defense, the Patriots signed linebackers Joe Giles-Harris and Keshawn Banks from the practice squad this week, indicating that the statuses of Sione Takitaki (knee) and Christian Elliss (abdomen) were up in the air; both Pats linebackers were listed as questionable on the team’s final injury report. Officially, Takitaki and Elliss are both active. Expect the two practice squad raises to mainly contribute on special teams.

The Patriots defense is looking to build on a stellar nine-sack performance in last week’s win in Chicago. So far, the defense is underperforming, ranking 30th in DVOA through 10 weeks. With Barmore and Dugger returning, the Pats can turn a corner defensively.

New England turns to offense and is healthy for this time of year on the offensive side of the ball. Additionally, coach Mayo told reporters on Friday that he felt Thursday’s practice was the best the offense has had all season. The only uncertainty was the start of LT Vederian Lowe, who was among the ten questionable players due to a shoulder injury.

The good news is that Lowe is active, which likely means the Patriots will start the same offensive line for the second week in a row. New England’s projected starting five are LT Vederian Lowe, LG Michael Jordan, C Ben Brown, RG Mike Onwenu and RT Trey Jacobs. Last week, this group produced a 41.9% rushing success rate with a 37.9% pressure rate versus a decent Bears defensive front. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s functional in a season where that hasn’t always been the case for the offensive line.

That said, the Patriots O-Line may face its toughest test against the Rams. Los Angeles’ defensive front enters the week ranked second in pressure percentage (41%) and seventh in run-stop win percentage (33%). Led by Defensive Rookie of the Year frontrunner Jared Verse, the Rams defensive line has devastating potential. This will take a group effort to keep this LA front from taking over Sunday’s game: offensive line, play-calling and QB Drake Maye being on the same page as his receivers to beat the pressure. If the Pats can’t handle the situation, the Rams exotic scheme and aggressive front will dominate this game.

As for Maye’s pass catchers, the Patriots released third-year WR Tyquan Thornton on Saturday, potentially ending a 2.5-year run for the former New England second-round pick. With Thornton’s release, the Pats’ active receivers are Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas, Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker and Kendrick Bourne. The storyline worth monitoring is the use of Bourne. The veteran didn’t make a single appearance against the Bears last week, which was surprising. On Sunday, Bourne gets the nod over Osborn, who is a healthy scratch this week.

OL – Lowe, Jordan, Brown, Onwenu, Jacobs
WR – Boutte, Douglas, Polk, Baker, Bourne
TE – Henry, Hooper, Bell
RB – Stevenson, Gibson, Hasty

To recap: Above is the Patriots projected supporting cast for rookie QB Drake Maye versus a surging Rams defense.

On Sunday, the Patriots hope to string together their first two-game winning streak since winning three in a row in Weeks 8-11 during the 2022 season — nearly two years ago. New England picked up a big win in Chicago last week, but all that matters is whether head coach Jerod Mayo’s team can pile up multiple wins to get things moving in the right direction.

The Patriots host the Rams on Sunday with kickoff at 1:00 PM ET at Gillette Stadium.