Defensive look

From time to time, we'll take a look at defensive snaps of Patriots players. Here is how it looked Sunday against the Colts, with the most notable aspect the low number of snaps for Adalius Thomas:

(note: snaps include 2 defensive pass interference penalties; 1 illegal contact penalty; 1 drawn holding penalty)

S/CB Randall Gay -- 65 of 65 snaps
S/LB Rodney Harrison -- 65 of 65
CB Asante Samuel -- 65 of 65
S James Sanders -- 65 of 65
CB Ellis Hobbs -- 61 of 65
OLB Mike Vrabel -- 60 of 65
DE/DT Ty Warren -- 54 of 65
DE/DT Jarvis Green -- 51 of 65
DE/DT Richard Seymour -- 42 of 65
DT Vince Wilfork -- 42 of 65
MLB Junior Seau -- 39 of 65
OLB/DE Rosevelt Colvin -- 35 of 65
MLB Tedy Bruschi -- 26 of 65
OLB/DE Adalius Thomas -- 19 of 65
S Rashad Baker -- 17 of 65
DE/DT Mike Wright -- 9 of 65
S Brandon Meriweather -- 1 of 65

ANALYSIS: Adalius Thomas was on the field for three of the Colts' 10 series -- the final two of the first half and the final series of the game. That meant he was on the sidelines for the first five possessions of the second half. He played once in a 3-3-5 alignment as a defensive end. His final two series came in the team's 1-4-6 dime package. ... As the numbers reflect, it was a monster effort from the team's defensive backs, four of whom went wire to wire -- Randall Gay, Rodney Harrison, Asante Samuel and James Sanders. ... Ellis Hobbs missed a few plays after he was apparently shaken up on a kickoff return. ... Four-year veteran Rashad Baker was the sixth defensive back over rookie first-round pick Brandon Meriweather. ... One factor that might have contributed to some of the strong pass rush the Patriots generated late in the game was how players were conserved along the way. Rosevelt Colvin, in particular, seemed to be fresh and it makes sense -- he played just 11 of 36 snaps in the first half, and only six of the first 12 in the second half -- before his strong finishing kick in playing 18 of the game's final 19 snaps.

WEDNESDAY LOOK-AHEAD: Patriots players are off until Monday, but there should be some official news later today as the team must make a decision on WR Chad Jackson and CB Eddie Jackson, two players who were on the physically unable to perform list and have reached the end of their 21-day window to decide whether they will be on the active roster or season-ending injured reserve. The expectation is that Chad Jackson will be activated. The team has one open roster spot after releasing TE Marcellus Rivers yesterday, and could create another by waiving S Ray Ventrone -- who is practice squad eligible -- if Eddie Jackson is deemed healthy enough to be activated. We'll plan on passing along that news when/if it becomes official.