NEW ORLEANS (AP)The New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers
each are getting starting offensive linemen back for their early round playoff
matchup. Saints left tackle Terron Armstead and Carolina guard Trai Turner each
had been listed as questionable for Sunday’s NFC wild-card game after both were
unable to play in their teams’ regular-season finales a week earlier. Armstead
was limited in practice this past week as he worked his way back from a thigh
injury that sidelined him last week at Tampa Bay. Turner is returning from a
concussion that forced him out of three games. Panthers offensive tackle Matt
Kalil also is available to play after being listed as questionable with an
illness Friday. Panthers leading receiver Devin
Funchess
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Metcalf Jersey , too, is active as expected after being listed as
questionable with a sore shoulder. Also returning for New Orleans is rookie
defensive end Trey Hendrickson, who has missed three games with an ankle injury.
Nearly all of the players deactivated were healthy scratches. Among the
Panthers’ inactives are: center Greg Van Roten, defensive end Zach Moor,
offensive tackles Blaine Clausell and Amini Silatolu, cornerback Kevon Seymour,
defensive end Charles Johnson and third-string quarterback Garrett Gilbert.
Inactive for the Saints are: defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, DE Kasim Edebali,
offensive lineman John
Fullington
Cody
Barton Jersey , center Cameron Tom, receiver Austin Carr, running back
Jonathan Williams and tight end John Phillips. — KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs
safety Eric Berry and running back Spencer Ware returned to practice Wednesday,
raising the possibility that both will be available for their AFC championship
showdown with New England.Berry missed most of the season with a heel injury
that developed in training camp, then played parts of two games against the
Chargers and Seahawks. The heel began to bother him again the next week, and he
did not practice last week or play in the divisional round against
Indianapolis.Ware hurt his hamstring in a Week 14 win over the Ravens.Chiefs
coach Andy Reid also said that right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who was
activated off injured reserve on Tuesday, would work into the mix with the
starters. Whether he starts in Sunday’s game against the Patriots will not be
decided until later in the week.“We’re getting our work done starting
today
http://www.cardinalsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-zach-allen-jersey ,”
Reid said, “and we’ll put it in right through Saturday.”The Chiefs have treated
Berry with caution all year after the three-time All-Pro tore his Achilles
tendon in last season’s opener. He remains one of their best playmakers when
he’s on the field, and he’s continued to provide a vocal and emotional lift
while he’s been out.He broke down the pregame huddle before last Saturday’s
31-13 victory over the Colts.One sign that Berry might be available came when
Duvernay-Tardif came off IR. The Chiefs had to cut someone from the 53-man
roster to make space and chose veteran safety Ron Parker.“We’ve had great
communication with him, so we’re going to keep that and just see how he feels as
we go,” Reid said. “Right now he feels pretty good and we’ll see how he feels at
practice, and during practice. We talk to him all the time. Same with Larry and
all the guys.”The only player who didn’t practice Wednesday was linebacker
Dorian O’Daniel, who remains out with a calf injury. O’Daniel plays on four
different special teams units.In other news, the Chiefs began to lay new sod
inside Arrowhead Stadium on Wednesday after much of the field was torn up in the
divisional round. Heavy snow that began last Friday and stopped just before
kickoff left parts of the field mushy, particularly between the hash marks and
along the sidelines.Those areas and the south end zone were getting fresh
sod.Patriots coach Bill
Belichick
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Jennings Jr. Jersey , whose team is accustomed to playing on turf,
acknowledged this week that the playing surface can be important. He also said
that the Patriots generally try to replicate it during practice, but that’s
sometimes difficult to accomplish.“I’d say during the year we’ve practiced in
most every condition we could get,” he said, “and it would be pretty unusual for
something to come up that we haven’t at least approximated in the practice
setting so that we can refer back to, ‘Well, when it’s like this or when this
happens, we need to make this adjustment,’ because we’ve already talked about it
and made
it.“So
Phil
Haynes Jersey , it would have to be something pretty extraordinary to fall
outside of that, out of those experiences that we’ve had over the course of the
year. But if it did, we would just broaden our net.”Another factor to consider
is the weather: The forecast calls for more rain and snow on Saturday, followed
by an arctic blast Sunday that could yield game-time temperatures in the single
digits.“It don’t matter to me on game day,” Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston
said. “I just hate TV timeouts and standing there. Besides that, it doesn’t
matter what the temperature is when we’re playing.”
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