Even though Tom Brady missed practice Wednesday with a left shoulder injury, there was never much doubt that he would be on the field for the AFC Championship Game.
The Patriots confirmed that Friday when they released their final injury report. Brady is nowhere to be found as the team chose not to even bother listing him as probable. If you want to get all existential about things, even the healthiest of players could be listed as probable, at best, but that’s not really the standard the NFL prefers teams work with when it comes to the injury report.
Fourteen members of the Patriots are listed as questionable, including tight end Aaron Hernandez and wide receiver Wes Welker. The only one of the 14 whose status really seems to be in doubt is tackle Sebastian Vollmer. Vollmer hasn’t played since Week 12 because of back and foot injuries and there’s no sign that his return to the lineup is imminent. The rest of the questionable players should play in a repeat of last week when 12 of the 13 questionable Patriots were active against the Broncos.
While the Patriots put a lot of guys likely to play on their injury report, the Ravens went the other direction. Safety Ed Reed is listed as probable and he makes up a one-man injury report for the AFC North champs.