Boldin Headlines Injury Concerns for Divisional Round

Early Wednesday evening, the remaining eight playoff teams were required to release their injury reports based upon participation in Wednesday practice. We all know how big a factor health can be in any football game, and things only get magnified in the playoffs. Let's take a game-by-game look at the players who are banged up right now.

Cardinals at Saints

• Anquan Boldin, as we all know, missed the Cardinals' 51-45 victory over the Packers last Sunday with injuries in both his knee and ankle. On Tuesday, Boldin told the Arizona Republic that he was optimistic he'd be ready to play come this Saturday's game in New Orleans. Wednesday, however, Boldin was held out of practice because he hasn't seen the improvement necessary to get back on the field. With just one full practice remaining, Boldin is taking this thing down to the wire.

Of course, the Cardinals may not miss him much if he can't go. Early Doucet and Steve Breaston stepped up in a big way against the Packers on Sunday -- a team that had a better regular season defense than the Saints. Then again, it couldn't hurt to have a three-time Pro Bowler back in the lineup, especially since the Saints' secondary is as healthy as it has been in quite a while.

• The Cardinals were also missing starting linebacker Gerald Hayes, a solid run-stopper. He's dealing with an ankle injury.

• No one on the Saints missed practice, and only Lance Moore and Malcolm Jenkins were limited. Thus, it appears the NFC's top seed is going to be at full strength heading into Saturday's matchup -- assuming nothing happens in practice.

Ravens at Colts

• Starting left offensive tackle Jared Gaither missed practice for the Ravens with an ankle injury. Other than the fact that he sat out practice, there is little information bouncing around as to the severity of this injury. It could be a huge factor. You don't want to head into Indy with a backup having to deal with Dwight Freeney, who accrued 13 1/2 sacks in 14 regular season games.

• Just as they set out to do by "resting" their players in the final two weeks of the regular season, the Colts are entering their first playoff game almost fully healthy. Not one player was even listed as a limited participant in practice.

Cowboys at Vikings

• Marion Barber sat out practice for Dallas, which isn't much of a surprise. He has a swollen bursa sac in his left knee, but the Cowboys are still holding out hope he'll be able to play Sunday. Not that Barber isn't a good player, because he is, but the Cowboys could afford to take a hit here. Felix Jones and Tashard Choice give them plenty of depth at running back.

• No one for the Vikings missed practice, but they did have a laundry list of guys who were limited. Still, all are expected to play and they should be at full strength come Sunday.

Jets at Chargers

• Thomas Jones was held out of practice with a reported knee injury, but Rex Ryan has stated it was to rest Jones. An interesting note here is Jones lost a lot of work to rookie Shonn Greene last week in Cincy and was badly outperformed by the youngster. Maybe Jones is more banged up or tired than the Jets are leading on, there's a changing of the guard, or it was just a coincidence that Greene had the hot hand and the Jets stuck with him. We'll likely find out more this Sunday.

• Tony Richardson was also held out just for the rest while defensive end Shaun Ellis was limited with a minor knee injury.

• The Chargers actually didn't have practice, but they only have minor concerns and should enter the game as healthy -- if not more -- as the other three teams who had a bye.