All eight teams have filed their injury reports for the first-round playoff games. All of the notable injuries are in the Cincinnati-Indianapolis game.
A.J. Green is doubtful. He hasn’t practiced all week, and he hasn’t passed the necessary concussion tests. He looks very unlikely to play, and that’s a huge loss for the Bengals.
Compounding Green’s loss, Jermaine Gresham (back) also isn’t certain to play. He’s questionable. Didn’t practice at all on Wednesday or Thursday and put in a limited workout on Friday. Without Green, he’s a guy they’d like to rely on a lot more (he had 9 catches in a game a few weeks back) but that doesn’t look possible. Plus two of their reserve wide receivers are out – Dane Sanzenbacher and James Wright. Wright had been their No. 3 receiver until he got hurt.
Andy Dalton, apparently, will have to throw plenty of passes to Mohamed Sanu and Giovani Bernard. Sanu played well earlier in the year when Green was hurt, but he hasn’t done much recently. Bernard has come on recently as a pass catcher.
With these receiver issues, it looks safe to pencil in the Bengals for a loss in this one – their fourth straight year getting bounced in the first round. They’ll try to run the ball with Jeremy Hill, who’s been hot, but they simply don’t have enough.
Also in this game, Trent Richardson showed up ill on Friday. He’s questionable. That further confirms that Boom Herron, not Richardson, will be the best Indianapolis running back in this game.
No big surprises with the injuries on the other team. Arizona won’t have Drew Stanton and Pittsburgh won’t have LeVeon Bell, but those had been trending that way. Ravens won’t have left tackle Eugene Monroe, but he had a lousy year and they really didn’t miss him last week.
Cowboys and Lions both will be down a starting offensive line. G Larry Warford for Detroit, and tackle Doug Free for the Cowboys.
ARIZONA CARDINALS at CAROLINA PANTHERS on Saturday
ARIZONA CARDINALS
OUT: QB Drew Stanton (knee)
QUESTIONABLE: G Jonathan Cooper (wrist, knee), DT Dan Williams (foot)
PROBABLE: DE Calais Campbell (hip), LB Larry Foote (knee), S Tyrann Mathieu (thumb, hip), DT Frostee Rucker (ankle), C Lyle Sendlein (back) Practice Report
CAROLINA PANTHERS
DOUBTFUL: S Thomas DeCoud (hamstring)
QUESTIONABLE: LB A.J. Klein (ankle)
PROBABLE: QB Derek Anderson (illness), DE Charles Johnson (not injury related), G Fernando Velasco (not injury related), RB DeAngelo Williams (hand) Practice Report
BALTIMORE RAVENS at PITTSBURGH STEELERS on Saturday night
BALTIMORE RAVENS
OUT: LB Arthur Brown (thigh), DT Timmy Jernigan (foot, ankle), T Eugene Monroe (ankle)
PROBABLE: DE Chris Canty (ankle, thigh), TE Owen Daniels (not injury related) Practice Report
PITTSBURGH STEELERS
OUT: RB Le'Veon Bell (knee)
PROBABLE: T Mike Adams (illness), LB James Harrison (illness), QB Landry Jones (illness), DT Steve McLendon (shoulder), TE Heath Miller (not injury related), TE Michael Palmer (groin), S Troy Polamalu (knee), QB Ben Roethlisberger (not injury related), CB Ivan Taylor (shoulder, forearm) Practice Report
CINCINNATI BENGALS at INDIANAPOLIS COLTS on Sunday
CINCINNATI BENGALS
OUT: WR Dane Sanzenbacher (concussion), WR James Wright (knee)
DOUBTFUL: WR A.J. Green (concussion)
QUESTIONABLE: TE Jermaine Gresham (back), RB Cedric Peerman (concussion, shoulder)
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
OUT: G Hugh Thornton (shoulder)
DOUBTFUL: C A.Q. Shipley (ankle)
QUESTIONABLE: RB Trent Richardson (illness)
PROBABLE: TE Dwayne Allen (knee), WR Joshua Cribbs (not injury related), LB Jerrell Freeman (hamstring), G Joe Reitz (ankle), LB Erik Walden (knee), WR Reggie Wayne (groin), LB Bjoern Werner (shoulder) Practice Report
DETROIT LIONS at DALLAS COWBOYS on Sunday
DETROIT LIONS
OUT: G Larry Warford (knee)
DOUBTFUL: DT Nick Fairley (knee)
PROBABLE: DE Ezekiel Ansah (toe), WR Calvin Johnson (ankle), DE Darryl Tapp (not injury related)
DALLAS COWBOYS
DOUBTFUL: T Doug Free (ankle)
QUESTIONABLE: DE Tyrone Crawford (illness), LB Anthony Hitchens (ankle)
PROBABLE: LB Bruce Carter (knee), DT Nick Hayden (shoulder), S Jeff Heath (thumb), G Zack Martin (ankle), LB Rolando McClain (knee, illness), RB DeMarco Murray (hand), DT Josh Brent (calf), QB Tony Romo (back), S C.J. Spillman (groin), LB Dekoda Watson (hamstring)
—Ian Allan
