NFL’s five healthiest, most injured teams; previewing wild-card weekend

Matt Provencher

Athlete Injury and Performance Analyst

That’s a wrap on the 2022-23 NFL regular season. The 14 playoff teams are locked in after an eventful final weekend that saw the Jaguars edge out the Titans for a playoff spot, the Texans surrender the No. 1 overall draft pick to the Bears and numerous mistakes by the Packers that sent the Seahawks into the postseason.

Wild-card weekend is sure to bring us some great football and a few surprises along the way. Health, as it does every postseason, will impact teams and game outcomes, and is a factor that should be watched closely by fans, bettors and organizations alike as one lopsided health matchup could be the difference in game outcomes.

As we move into the playoffs, let’s take a look back at the Banged Up Scores (BUS) provided by ThePredictors.com this past week.

Healthiest Teams Ranked by BUS Score:

1. Green Bay Packers – BUS: 83.9
2. Cincinnati Bengals – BUS: 83.1
3. Kansas City Chiefs – BUS: 80.7
4. Buffalo Bills – BUS: 80.1
5. Pittsburgh Steelers – BUS: 76.8

Least Healthy Teams Ranked by BUS Score:

32. Arizona Cardinals – BUS: 38.3
31. Denver Broncos – BUS: 49.5
30. Tennessee Titans – BUS: 51.9
29. Los Angeles Rams – BUS: 53.9
28. Washington Commanders – BUS: 58.6

Of course, many factors play a part in playoff success, the top 5 and bottom 5 teams in terms of health based on BUS alone show how important health is with three-fifths of the healthiest heading to the playoffs. In the bottom 5, only one team had an opportunity in Week 18 and couldn’t get it done.

As we look ahead to the 14 teams fight for the chance to lift the Lombardi Trophy on Feb. 12th, let’s preview four of them, including the Seattle Seahawks, who face the San Francisco 49ers (Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX) and the New York Giants against the Minnesota Vikings (Sunday at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

The Seahawks and the 49ers have both worked through numerous injuries this season, with San Francisco even being ranked last in the BUS Rankings a few times. Losses to their top two quarterbacks (Jimmy Garoppolo and Trey Lance), Elijah Mitchell landing on IR twice with an MCL sprain, and as well as missing Trent Williams earlier in the season and Deebo Samuel recently. They have been able to add Christian McCaffrey to their offense and have back-ups like Brock Purdy stepping up and playing great football. They face the Seahawks, who have had losses to Rashaad Penny, Kenneth Walker III and multiple injuries to Marquise Goodwin throughout the season. With a little help from the Lions on Sunday night, they managed to lock up the final playoff spot in the NFC. As of last week, San Francisco had a better BUS ranking than Seattle but we will have to see if it remains that way come this upcoming weekend.

The Giants battle the Vikings this weekend for a second time this season. The Giants have been banged up on defense for much of the season, as well as suffering injuries to their wide receiving corps. Defensive starters like Adoree Jackson, Leonard Williams and Xavier McKinney have all graced the injury report as much of their wide receiving corps including Wan’Dale Robinson, Kenny Golladay and Sterling Shepard. Their route to the playoffs has been tough but Brian Daboll’s squad has climbed every mountain to be here. They face the Vikings, who up until the past few weeks had been relatively healthy this year. New injuries to Austin Schlottman and Brian O’Neill have weakened their offensive line even more and an injury to Dalvin Cook this past weekend, even if it was just minor, does make you worry some about their run game against the Giants this weekend.

One thing is for sure, health will play its part in all the games as teams face off. Make sure to check back this weekend for Updated BUS Rankings on ThePredictors.com as well as Twitter on @NFLonFOX and @SportsDocMatt to see the health matchups.

Renowned orthopedist Dr. Matt Provencher and his company, ThePredictors.com, deliver data-driven injury insights to football fans. In this first-of-a-kind role as Athlete Injury and Performance Analyst for FOX Sports’ digital platforms, Provencher provides important predictive player health and recovery information about post-injury performance, the impact of weather, field conditions and more.

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