This development had Patriots fans FIRED up...

It's official. A.J. Brown and Andre Stevenson were just given their game day designations for Sunday in Munich, and it's good news. On Monday, Mike Vrabel said Brown probably won't make it this week to Germany, but on Friday, he says both of them have responded well so far and lists them both as questionable. Meanwhile, Hunter Henry, who was limited with a foot injury on Wednesday, does not have an injury designation and is not on the injury report for Friday at all. So the Patriots look closer to whole than they have the past three days, and Despoit went from a one-and-a-half-point favorite to a three-point favorite anyway. The question now is whether Brown being back even matters, because look at what the offense has done with and without him. Now, A.J. Brown has a stat line in three of the Patriots' nine games this season. And in those three games, he has nine catches for 101 yards and no touchdowns yet. His one real workload was the Jets game in Week 6. Ten targets, and he turned it into three catches for 27 yards and had a couple drops alongside it that, well, frustrated some people. Now, a high ankle sprain in the opener, the knee that flared up, and, of course, he's missed the last two games with those, and injuries have just been a major part of his season. In an opener against Seattle, he played 44% of the snaps, catching three of his four targets for 26 yards before hurting his ankle. The Patriots ended up losing that game 13-10, but a majority of that was on Drake May's interceptions. He came back in week six against the Jets at 76% of the snaps, and the Patriots won that game 26-19. In week seven versus Chicago, he had six targets, three catches, and 48 yards. That was his best game of the year by yards, and the Patriots still lost 30-24. Now, the part that should bother you is that with Brown, the Patriots scored 20 points a game, and without them, they scored 25.2. Now, you can probably push that towards the defenses they were playing, but still, the Jets and the Bears, you'd expect to score more. So what does that say about the offense with Brown? That's a small sample, and the three games with him were Seattle, the Jets, and Chicago, so again, never a clean test. But it tells you the offense already found a way to live without him. Put it together, and the Patriots are 1-2 with Brown in the lineup and 4-2 without him. They also give up fewer points with him, 20.7 a game against 24.2. So the defense, although it's not affected, was better in the games that he played, and of course, that is nothing he did. Now, Pop Douglas leads the Patriots with 434 receiving yards, 46 targets and four touchdowns. And Brown is not in that conversation this year with just over 100 yards. Now, Brown's case is what he does to a defense. And the Lions will have to decide whether to put a cornerback on him, a safety up high. And a lot of decisions on how healthy he is also will kind of determine that. But right now, still on Couch, the Lions are at 57% to beat the Patriots on Sunday morning in Munich. Couch is, of course, today's sponsor. And on Couch, you're turning directly against other users, not the house like a traditional sportsbook. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome of events across sports, politics, or even the weather. Now, for example, I'm turning on the Patriots to win on Sunday. Yes is at $0.43, and an $80 trade pays out $178.90. If you're interested in trying out a presenting sponsor at Couch, use the link in the description or in the pinned comment. And when new users sign up for the code digest, Now, Drake May threw for 258 yards a game without Brown. With him, it's 244.7. His completion rate is higher with Brown at 67.7% against 64.2%, but he throws it deeper without him, 8.80 yards an attempt versus about 7.65. Now he has 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions in the six games without Brown and six touchdowns and four interceptions in the three with them. Of course, three of those interceptions coming against Seattle. So if Brown sits, the Patriots have already shown they can throw it and throw it downfield. He has thrown two or more touchdown passes in six straight games, weeks four to nine. Since 2022, only four quarterbacks have run a shriek that long or longer, and Matthew Stavrid's 11 last year is top of that list, and of course the MVP. A seventh game on Sunday would tie him for third. And this week, the shriek runs into a defense that is last in the NFL against the pass, giving up 260.9 yards a game. The target who has benefited the most without Brown is Hunter Henry, who, like I said, is not on the injury report. Henry has 361 receiving yards this season, second on the team, 36 yards a game and has six games without Brown, and 48.3 a game with the three with Brown. Now, Henry has caught 32 of the 37 targets to him this season, and he's played about 73.5% of the snaps through Week 6. That's the most reliable thing in this offense, and he's the only name the injury report finally left alone. So Henry actually got fewer yards when Brown was on the field, and Pop Douglas took the bigger step, 50.8 yards a game with him, or without him, rather, and 43 yards with him. Now, but quickly, if you want every single Patriots injury update before kickoff and all the moves they make tomorrow leading up to the game, well, hit that subscribe button. Now the other side, because Detroit is not a pushover. The Lions are 6-2, the Patriots are 5-4. The Patriots lead the all-time series 8-5, and that gets them nothing on Sunday. Detroit scores 27.8 points a game, 5th in the NFL, and gets 379.8 yards a game, also 5th. Jared Goff has 2,134 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and only 2 interceptions. Now Jameer Gibbs is the real problem, 847 rushing yards and 9 rushing touchdowns. So that's an offense that makes you chase points, and the Patriots will be chasing without a full backfield. The Lions allow 23.6 points a game, 17th, but their 30th in expected points added per play allowed. Their injury list is not empty either. Center Mays is out, cornerback DJ Reed is out with a hip injury, and Amon Ross St. Brown is questionable with the rips. Reed matters because the Patriots' whole path is throwing the ball. May is 5th in the league in adjusted expected points added per play, and 2nd in completion percentage over expected. And the Patriots' own pass defense is 25th, giving up 231.9 passing yards a game, ballooned up after Jordan Love's performance last week. Now, that is why the total on this game is at 49.5, because neither side is expected to get many stops. Now, the Patriots might be fine at receiver with Brown returning, but the backfield is the problem. Stevenson hurt his knee in the third quarter against Green Bay on November 8th and did not return. Vrabel said the team was wearing out the MRI machine, and the next day the report said the Patriots were preparing to be without him for multiple weeks. Now, he has 657 yards from scrimmage this season, 73 yards a game, and his stat lines are in all seven, are in all. Now, he has 657 yards from scrimmage this season, 73 yards a game, and he has a stat line in all nine games. 102 carries for 339 yards and 26 catches for 258 yards. So he is both the runner and a receiver. Now he averages 3.9 yards a carry and has two rushing touchdowns and two receiving touchdowns. Henderson has carried the ball 52 times for 203 yard season. And of course, he is out. And behind him. Now, behind him, Henderson has carried the ball 52 times for 203 yards this season, and he's out, as he is an illness, and then center Ben Brown is out with a knee. And, of course, Henderson being the backup guy, there's not really a second back to get this done, so you look toward Corey Kiner and Drake May as the quote-unquote RB2, if Stevenson can even go. If not, then it's all Corey Kiner and Len Larrison. And May has 11 interceptions through nine games, and the Patriots' turnover margin is minus 11, tied for 31st. Which means the thing that sinks them Sunday isn't Brown missing, it's Stevenson missing. Then, of course, there's the trip. The game being in Munich this Sunday at 9.30 in the morning Eastern at the Allianz Arena. It's the Patriots' sixth international regular season game, and they're 3-2 in their first five. And, of course, you want to forget the last time they played internationally. Detroit is the designated home team, so neither side is going to technically get a home crowd, but the Patriots will get the coin toss pick. Hunter Henry said the travel can mess with you a little bit. Get your clock adjusted and go, though. Pop Douglas said it feels good to have the leader back talking about A.J. Brown. May was a full participant Wednesday with a right shoulder issue that's been nagging him, but ultimately he has said nothing about it. In his first press conference in Germany on Thursday, he said Harry Kane is a Patriots fan, which is obviously super cool. Now, DraftKings has Detroit at minus 155 on their money line to England Patriots at plus 130, and ESPN's predictor gives the Patriots 47% chance. The Patriots are 0-4 against the spread in their last four games, and the over has hit in their last six. They scored 23.4 points a game, 14th in the league, so points are there and they keep giving the ball away. Which brings it back to the same place. This offense can score, and the question is who is on the field and who's holding the ball. The market has moved 1.5 points toward Detroit this week, while the injury status has moved toward the Patriots. So here's the way that Sunday can go. The first version is both of them are playing, both A.J. and, of course, Ramondre. May throws into the worst pass defense in the league, and the Patriots should have the better offense of the two. The second version is Brown sitting and Stevenson playing. That's the one the Patriots have lived in four wins and two losses this season, and they score about 25.2 points a game. The third version is Stevenson sitting, and there's no game this season to learn from because he's been in every single one up until this point. Now, the Patriots can't tell you what the offense looks like without him, and unfortunately, neither can we, which is why, of course, the Friday designation matters less when the Sunday inactive list will come out 90 minutes before kickoff and tell us the real thing of what we're going to get out of Brown and Ramondre. And, of course, with the 9.30 a.m. kickoff in Germany, you'll know before most people have finished breakfast here in the States. Now, of course, we'll be live here on Patriots Digest probably about an hour or so before kickoff, so come join us here bright and early and have breakfast with Patriots Digest. We'll talk about the inactive list, and of course, we'll have the game for you alongside it. Now, here's the call. Brown plays, and he's an add-on, but he's not going to be the main plan. The offense has shown they can work without him, but having him is certainly not a bad thing. Of course, the number backs when he's off the field because the Patriots scored 25.2 a game without him. But you're not going to ask a single Patriots fan that would say that this offense should be better without him. It should be better when he's on the field. And ultimately, against the worst passing defense in the NFL, you want to have what arguably is the best wide receiver you have on the team. If not, I think it's actually not arguable. It is the best wide receiver when he's healthy. However, the risk is Stevenson, who is the main backfield, and if there's nobody behind him besides Corey Kiner, well, then it's going to be emphasized on May's game, and he has 11 interceptions against the Detroit offense that, you know, can score a lot as well, so put the two against each other, and I don't like your chances there. So, of course, the Sunday inactive list is going to be huge, and whether Brown snaps should he play gets past that 44% he had on week one, and if the drops settle from when he played against the Jets.