Injuries may not be an excuse for the team that loses Super Bowl LIII.
Both the Patriots and Rams have issued final injury reports with participation labels applied to any players, meaning that all players on the 53-man roster will be available to play in the NFL’s championship game. Ultimately, 46 players per team will have uniforms hanging in their lockers on Sunday, and the 14 total players who are inactive will be healthy scratches.
The biggest question mark in the days preceding the game had applied to Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein, who had been dealing with a foot injury. Along with the rest of his teammates, Zuerlein is good to go.
That said, injuries can happen during the game -- obviously. Moreover, there continues to be a nagging sense that Rams running back Todd Gurley has a knee issue that is being deliberately downplayed.
Regardless of whether Gurley or anyone else is secretly dinged up, the official statement from both teams is that all of their players are good to go when the game begins in little more than 48 hours.