Getty Jason McCourty.
The New England Patriots are banged up heading into Sunday night’s contest with the Houston Texans. With several pre-existing injuries to starters coupled will 10 different players battling the flu, it’s likely the Patriots could be piecing things together come Sunday.
New England has taken preventative measures during the week, with players taking precautionary medicine and the team even opting to take both of its planes to Texas in order to keep the sick players quarantined.
Ahead of Sunday’s game, the Patriots already announced three players who would be inactive against the Texans. Tight end Ryan Izzo will be missing his third straight contest after he came down with the flu last week. Izzo, who has been inactive now for five of the Patriots’ last six games, has fallen down the depth chart with the addition of Ben Watson and the return of Matt LaCosse from injury.
Two other players who will be out on Sunday, both on defense, are cornerback Jason McCourty and defensive tackle Byron Cowart. McCourty is set to miss his second straight game with a groin injury while Cowart suffered a head injury late in the week during practice and was not cleared to play on Sunday.
Patriots’ CB Jason McCourty (groin) and backup DT Byron Cowart (head) have been downgraded to out for Sunday’s game at Houston.
Eagles’ RB Jordan Howard (shoulder) has been ruled out for Sunday’s game at Miami.
As for the remaining inactives, the Patriots have chosen to sit a pair of offensive linemen with both Korey Cunningham and Jermaine Eluemunor missing out this week. The latter was one of the ten Patriots to come down sick this week as well. Cody Kessler and Damien Harris round out the inactives.
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Game-Time Decisions
The Patriots will have a few decisions to make as kickoff approaches on Sunday. New England has a couple of players who could play this week based on how they feel in pregame warmups.
One of those players is Mohamed Sanu, the newly-acquired veteran receiver who has been dealing with an ankle injury suffered two weeks ago against Philadelphia. Sanu tried to play last week but was unable to go after going through a pregame warmup routine in the rain. His prognosis continues to improve and he is will play on Sunday.
Kyle Van Noy will also play on Sunday despite missing practice on Friday with an illness. Though he was a full participant on Wednesday and Thursday, coming down sick late in the week is never a good sign for a Sunday game.
But like Marcus Cannon did last week, Van Noy will tough it out despite how he feels as he will feature as a key contributor in the Patriots’ defense. Van Noy has enjoyed one of his best professional seasons in 2019, leading the team in sacks while showing his worth as both a pass rusher and a run stopper in the linebacker corps.
Finally, Patrick Chung, who is dealing with a myriad of issues, will dress on Sunday night as well. In addition to getting the flu this week, Chung has been nursing chest and heel injuries throughout the past few weeks. He aggravated his heel enough last Sunday against Dallas to come out of the game and receive treatment, clearly laboring throughout much of the day.
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