From Action Network's
Brandon Anderson:
I’ll be watching injury updates very closely for two position groups over the next two weeks. The right (or wrong) update could swing the Super Bowl.
For Tampa Bay, I’m watching the secondary closely, particularly its safeties. They were a big question mark coming into the season but really settled in, thanks in large part to the addition of stud rookie, Antoine Winfield Jr. He was a late scratch for the NFC Championship and I was quite worried against Aaron Rodgers. But Rodgers does not have the fastest man in football, Tyreek Hill.
Now the Bucs could be missing Jordan Whitehead, too, after he left Sunday’s game injured. You need your safeties to tackle tight end Travis Kelce over the middle against the Chiefs. You need them to cover Hill and Mecole Hardman deep when Patrick Mahomes decides to take the top off.
Andy Reid and Eric Bieniemy will hunt Tampa safeties mercilessly if there’s a hole there.
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On the other side of things, I’ll be watching the updates on Kansas City’s offensive line. It’s not particularly sexy, I know. But as good as Mahomes looked, we know he’s still dealing with that turf toe which limits his mobility some, and we all saw what Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett did to that poor Packers line.
The Chiefs line has not played as well as it did last year, and the team was down a starter heading into the season and then another midseason. Now Kansas City saw injuries to two more linemen in the AFC Championship, including former No. 1 pick Eric Fisher, out with an Achilles with a ton of teammates consoling him.
The Chiefs offense always looks unstoppable but we know everything changes if the quarterback doesn’t have time to throw. Just ask Aaron.
If Tampa is missing safeties, that favors Kansas City and the over. If the Chiefs are missing offensive linemen, that favors the Bucs and the under. In a game with few edges, that could be enough to swing things.