As the Falcons wrapped up their pre-Super Bowl practices before heading to Houston, not a single player received a label of questionable or worse on the final bye week injury report.
That said, receiver Julio Jones was limited in Friday’s practice with his lingering toe issue after missing Wednesday and Thursday. Likewise, center Alex Mack didn’t practice all week. Still, the absence of a label clearly implies both will be good to go.
In contrast, the Patriots listed nine players as questionable, nine days before the Super Bowl. They are receiver Danny Amendola (ankle), tight end Martellus Bennett (knee), running back Brandon Bolden (knee), safety Nate Ebner (concussion), kicker Stephen Gostkowski (illness), linebacker Dont’a Hightower (shoulder), receiver Chris Hogan (thigh), receiver Malcolm Mitchell (knee), and defensive end Jabaal Sheard (knee).
The only New England players to miss practice were Ebner (all week) and Gostkowski (Thursday and Friday). The others were limited Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
And so the takeaways are this: (1) all Falcons will be available for the Super Bowl, barring a setback during practice or a hotel-room mishap; and (2) the Patriots have loaded up the report with so many guys that we won’t know which injured players will actually miss the game until 90 minutes before kickoff. As usual.