Patriots-Steelers Inactives Reaction: Obi Melifonwu, Jacob Hollister Out

PITTSBURGH — With Dwayne Allen making his return from a knee injury, the New England Patriots will deactivate another tight end Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Third tight end Jacob Hollister is among the Patriots’ list of Week 15 inactives.

Here’s the entire group:

TE Jacob Hollister
OL James Ferentz
DE Keionta Davis
DE Derek Rivers
S Obi Melifonwu
CB Duke Dawson
DT Danny Shelton

— All seven inactives are healthy scratches.

— Allen and Rob Gronkowski will hold down tight end duties with Hollister a healthy scratch.

— Ted Karras and LaAdrian Waddle will be the Patriots’ backup offensive linemen behind left tackle Trent Brown, left guard Joe Thuney, center David Andrews, right guard Shaq Mason and right tackle Marcus Cannon.

— The Patriots will continue to roll with defensive ends Trey Flowers, Deatrich Wise, John Simon and Adrian Clayborn over Davis and Rivers.

— Melifonwu didn’t play last week despite being active, so it’s unsurprising he’s out this week. The Patriots have Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Patrick Chung and Nate Ebner at safety with Jason McCourty as an emergency option.

— Dawson has yet to play in his rookie season. He started the year on injured reserve and has been a healthy scratch for four straight weeks.

— This is the third straight week Shelton is a healthy scratch. The Patriots’ run defense has struggled without him, allowing 7.3 yards per carry in Week 13 and 9 yards per carry in Week 14.

Here are the Steelers’ Week 15 inactives: