Near the end of the 49ers’ 28-24 NFC Championship Game win against the Falcons, 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks hit Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan and left Ryan with a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder.
Brooks can empathize with Ryan’s plight since he wound up with the same injury after the game. Albert Breer of the NFL Network reports that Brooks said Wednesday that he suffered a Grade 1 sprain of the joint, which is why he wasn’t a participant in practice two days last week.
He suffered the injury early in the game against the Falcons, but aggravated it on the fourth quarter hit that left Ryan injured as well. A Grade 1 sprain is the least severe, which explains why Brooks said he would have been able to play if there was a game last weekend and why there’s not much fear that Brooks will miss the Super Bowl.
Brooks is also playing with a dislocated finger that he picked up early in the season, although that didn’t stop him from playing a key role on the San Francisco defense in the regular season. It doesn’t sound like his shoulder sprain is going to stop him from doing so this Sunday either.