Patriots Inactives / PreGame Notes
The Patriots released today's inactives, and as expected Patrick Chung is obvioulsy out, as are Fred Taylor, and Jarrad Page - who have both missed the last several games.
The other inactives are OL Rich Ohrnberger, OL Mark LeVoir, WR Taylor Price, OL Ryan Wendell and NT Kyle Love. Wendell had been the backup behind Dan Connolly and had seen some action periodically, but with Logan Mankins back he's been bumped down the depth chart.
It's interesting to note that wide receiver Deion Branch is active for this week. Branch has been battling a hamstring injury this week and some had thought that he may not be able to go, but it appears he'll be part of today's game.
SOME OTHER NOTES: Looking at some of the reports on Twitter this morning, Mike Reiss reports that Brandon Spikes, who was added to the injury report Friday (knee) as probable, was seen loosening up on the field with New England's assistant strength coach....Reiss also points out that when Stephen Gostkowski finished his pre-game warmups, it appears that the kickers will have a cross-wind to deal with today - with the longest kick being about 45 yards on one end....Reiss notes that the Patriots are in their road white uniforms today, with the blue pants, while the Browns are in their brown tops, with white pants.....he also has a great shot of the field....Mike Riley of WEEI pointed out that former Patriot Brian Cox is a coach for Cleveland. Add that to the list of things I was unaware of, and I'm guessing a few other fans may not have known either....Mike Giardi points out that Former Patriots guard Billy Yates will start for the Browns at right guard today....Tom Curran reports that Tom Brady was seen chatting it up with former Patriots coach Brad Seeley, who is now coaching with Eric Mangini in Cleveland....and finally Jeff Howe of NESN reports that footing may be an issue, as the Patriots were told to bring an extra set of sturdier, screwed-in cleats for today's game, which is on a grass field in Cleveland.
Kickoff is just over 30-minutes away, and we'll have more throughout the afternoon.
