Sanu, Dorsett Both Active For Patriots Against Texans
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New England Patriots are a bit under the weather, but there were no surprises on the team's inactive list for Sunday night's game against the Texans.
New England listed 17 players as questionable on Friday, with nine of them listed with an illness. But of that group of sick players, only Byron Coward, Jermaine Eluemunor and Ryan Izzo are inactive for Sunday's game. Cornerback Jason McCourty (groin), running back Damien Harris, quarterback Cody Kessler and defensive lineman Korey Cunningham round out New England's list of inactives against Houston. McCourty was ruled out on Saturday.
That means the New England offense will have receivers Mohamed Sanu (ankle) and Phillip Dorsett (concussion) back in action. Both players missed last week's win over the Dallas Cowboys.
The Pats battled the flu throughout the week, and the team flew to Houston in two separate planes to try and prevent the sickness from spreading. But Bill Belichick was optimistic that the Patriots have recovered from that battle.
"Things came around a little bit at the end of the week," the head coach told 98.5 The Sports Hub ahead of Sunday's game. "I think we'll be ready to go."
We'll see how much those players -- a list that includes defensive stars Jamie Collins, Stephon Gilmore, Dont'a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy -- have recovered come game time. Hydration will be key for the Patriots, but at least they're playing inside a dome.
The 10-1 Patriots need to beat the 7-4 Texans in order to keep their lead over the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC. Baltimore beat the San Francisco 49ers earlier Sunday to improve to 10-2 on the season, and own the tiebreaker over the Patriots thanks to their Week 9 win over New England.
