Championship Sunday Injury Report
What are the key injuries for the NFC and AFC Championship Games? While the Rams are relatively healthy, the Saints have key injuries that they’ll have to contend with in the NFC title game at 3:05 p.m. ET. The Chiefs have some concerns as well for their matchup with the Patriots at 6:40 p.m. ET.
NFC Championship Game
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Saints are 3-point favorites to beat the Rams. The total, meanwhile, sits at 56.5 points. As of this writing, 54% of the public betting tickets are on the Rams to cover the point spread.
Los Angeles Rams Key Injuries
The Rams enter Championship Sunday the healthiest of the four teams. Todd Gurley (knee) was removed from the team’s injury report and will be a full participant in the NFC title game. C.J. Anderson still figures to mix in plenty but for all intents and purposes, Gurley is healthy after not suffering a setback in the Divisional round win over the Cowboys.
Cooper Kupp is also out for the year with a torn ACL but he suffered the injury in Week 10 so the Rams haven’t had their slot receiver for over two months. Josh Reynolds will once again serve as the No. 3 receiver behind Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods.
New Orleans Saints Key Injuries
The Saints are banged-up, especially compared to their opponent on Sunday. Sheldon Rankins tore his Achilles’ tendon in last Sunday’s Divisional round victory over the Eagles. His injury his a huge loss for New Orleans’ defensive line, as Rankins was the team’s best interior pass-rusher.
Left guard Andrus Peat is also playing through a broken hand that limited him in practice this week. He didn’t play well a week ago versus Philadelphia, which is a bad omen with Ndamukong Suh and Aaron Donald set to terrorize New Orleans offensive line today. Tight end Ben Watson (illness) is also out for today after spending time in the hospital this week with appendicitis.
AFC Championship Game
The Chiefs are a 3-point home favorite versus the Patriots, while the over/under for today’s AFC title game currently sits at 56.5 points, down from the original number of 57. As of this writing, 56% of the betting tickets are on Kansas City to cover as a small home favorite. A lot of sportsbooks have also moved the moneyline odds for the Chiefs to -120, so perhaps we’ll start seeing 3.5 for the point spread soon.
New England Patriots Key Injuries
Like the Rams, the Patriots are the healthier team for their AFC title matchup with the Chiefs. Defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr. is probable with an ankle injury while defensive back Duke Dawson Jr. is questionable with a hamstring injury. Other than that, the Pats are relatively healthy.
Kansas City Chiefs Key Injuries
The Chiefs aren’t as fortunate as the Patriots are in terms of health but they did receive good news this week regarding safety Eric Berry. He wasn’t listed on the Chiefs’ final injury report for Sunday’s game after he missed most of the regular season and last week’s Divisional round matchup with the Colts due to a heel injury. Berry practiced in full this week and will be needed to cover Rob Gronkowski.
Running back Spencer Ware (hamstring) also wasn’t listed on the Chiefs’ final injury report and neither was guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (ankle). Berry, Ware and Duvernay-Tardif aren’t 100-percent but at least they’ll be suited up for Kansas City.