Team news: New England Patriots | Page 3

The Patriots are placing starting RB Rhamondre Stevenson on Injured Reserve, ending his season.

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris

This clears the way for Elliott to continue taking the majority workload for the last two games of the regular season, making him an RB2 the rest of the way. As for Stevenson's long-term view, we can only hope for some sort of overhaul to the Patriot's pedestrian offense.

The Commanders are making a QB change with two games left. Following his impressive performance on Sunday, Jacoby Brissett will start against the 49ers, coach Ron Rivera is announcing.

Sam Howell to the bench.

Howell offered us a lot of fantasy points with his legs, but in terms of real-life football, his decision-making and processing were lacking, leading to an astronomical 60 sacks taken and 24 turnover-worthy passes that led to 17 interceptions. Brissett offers a Superflex QB2 option against a tough 49ers defense.

Ron Rivera said they're still "working through a couple things" in deciding who will be the Commanders' starting QB going forward.

Related players: Jacoby Brissett, Sam Howell

The post went on to say the players are off today, so an announcement likely will come Wednesday. It will be a tough task no matter who gets the call as they host a 49ers team fresh off a loss to Baltimore. Howell threw two INTs and was just 6 for 22 with 56 yards before Brissett entered and went 10 for 13 for 100 yards and a TD.

Via Alec Lewis of TheAthletic.com, O’Connell also mentioned that receiver Jordan Addison (ankle) and cornerback Mekhi Blackmon (shoulder) are both day-to-day.

Related players: K.J. Osborn, Brandon Powell

Addison left last week's game and didn't return. With T.J. Hockenson lost for the season at TE, the Vikings will need all hands on deck as they sit at 7-8 on the season. There is also a report that any of their three QBs could get the start in Week 17. If Addison can't go, Osborn could be in line for more targets. There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding this offense right now.

The three players the Patriots are listing as out for Sunday night’s game in Denver:

🏈RB Rhamondre Stevenson, Ankle
🏈WR JuJu Smith-Schuster, Ankle
🏈S Jabrill Peppers, Hamstring

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, Kevin Harris

Elliott should once again handle the majority of the workload, though it's on a floundering offense. Consider him an RB2 against the Broncos defense.

Commanders ruled out RB Brian Robinson for Sunday’s game vs. the Jets.

Related Players: Antonio Gibson, Chris Rodriguez

Chris Rodriguez took a surprising amount of early-down work last week, and should have a decent RB3 role, particularly in Standard or point-per-carry leagues. Gibson should maintain the pass-catching role and be an asset in half-PPR leagues as an RB3 in his own right.

The Commanders benched quarterback Sam Howell for veteran Jacoby Brissett in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Rams.

But while Brissett provided a clear spark and tossed two touchdown passes to make things interesting, head coach Ron Rivera said after the game that Howell remains Washington’s QB1.

The Rams were up 28-7 when Howell was replaced. He finished the game 11-of-26 for 102 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Brissett came in and went 8-of-10 for 124 yards with two touchdown passes.

Commanders RB Brian Robinson (hamstring) is out Sunday vs. the Rams.

Related Players: Antonio Gibson, Chris Rodriguez

This is shaping up as a good week for Antonio Gibson has an RB2, while Chris Rodriguez can be considered a desperation FLEX play with some touchdown equity in a game that has the potential to be a shootout.

WR/PR Pop Douglas has cleared concussion protocol, per Bill Belichick.

Barring a setback in Friday’s practice, the path is clear for Douglas’ return after missing the last two games.

Related Players: Tyquan Thornton, DeVante Parker

The Patriots had an offensive explosion in Week 14, scoring 21 points. Which is a funny sentence to type in 2023. Douglas could very well return to the WR1 role in New England, but that only makes him a FLEX option in deep leagues.

Patriots injury report:

Did not participate: RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle)

Limited participation: DT Christian Barmore (shoulder), WR Kayshon Boutte (shoulder), OT Trent Brown (ankle/hand), WR Pop Douglas (concussion), WR DeVante Parker (knee), WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (ankle)

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott

It Looks like it's setting up for another Zeke week, after the veteran handled 100% of the RB workload in Week 14. That kind of usage would make him a very solid RB2, regardless of how close his yards per attempt is to 3.0.