The Patriots are headed into Thursday night shorthanded up front, but they already know how they’re going to patch together the line against the Bears.
With both starting guards out, head coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday that Walter Rouse and Matt Pryor will step into the lineup for New England at Chicago.
“We have a lot of consideration. We go through things, different scenarios,” Vrabel explained during a press conference at Gillette Stadium. “We’re going to go with where we finished on Sunday and see what that looks like, and then have everybody else ready to go.”
That approach puts two players back into starting roles after both opened Sunday’s game against the New York Jets on the bench. Injuries quickly changed the plan, and both ended up logging significant snaps.
Pryor was the first to enter, coming in at right guard in the second quarter after Alijah Vera-Tucker went down with a hamstring injury. Ben Brown moved over to Vera-Tucker’s spot, and the 31-year-old Pryor stepped in for his first offensive snaps since joining the Patriots in Foxborough. He played 46 snaps in all.
Rouse followed in the fourth quarter when Brown exited with a knee injury. He finished the game by playing the final 14 offensive snaps. The 25-year-old had already been pressed into major action earlier this season at right guard in the Patriots’ Week 3 loss in Jacksonville, where he was the backup at that spot and had to take over after Greg Van Roten - who had already replaced regular starter Mike Onwenu - was injured.
Against the Bears, Rouse and Pryor will be part of a starting five that also includes left tackle Will Campbell and center Jared Wilson. On the right side, Morgan Moses is officially questionable with a foot injury, and first-round rookie Caleb Lomu is a possibility if Moses can’t go. The Patriots are “ready to go at multiple positions” versus the Bears.
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