The fortunes of most of the teams in this weekend’s NFL divisional playoffs hinge on the health of certain players.
The availability and effectiveness of these eight players could make or break their teams’ Super Bowl hopes.
Julian Edelman
It’s not a coincidence that the Patriots’ 2015 season lost a little, um, air pressure when Julian Edelman broke his foot in Week 10 against the Giants.
The Patriots barely won that game 27-26 and are 3-4 since then. Edelman caught 61 passes in the nine games in which he appeared and provided an intermediate-range target for Tom Brady that replicated a rushing attack that keeps the Patriots defense off the field.