Patriots' LaFell Says 'No Need To Worry' About Ailing Toe
BOSTON (CBS) -- When Brandon LaFell hobbled off the field in Week 17 with a toe injury, there was some concern that the receiver might not be ready for New England's playoff game two weeks later.
LaFell was held out of the Patriots' two bye-week practices last week, and has been limited this week leading up to Saturday afternoon's AFC Divisional Round matchup with the Baltimore Ravens.
But if you're concerned about LaFell, who developed a great rapport with Tom Brady in his first season as a member of the Patriots, he says have no worries.
"I'm doing great, man," LaFell said from the New England locker room on Thursday. "Rested my body up a little bit, and now it's game week I'm ready to get out there and play and make plays."
LaFell has been making plays all season, hauling in 74 receptions for 953 yards and seven touchdowns -- second on the team behind Rob Gronkowski. His healthy self-prognosis is good news, especially coming a day after Julian Edelman also said he was good to go after battling a concussion the last few weeks.
While he's ready to hit the field on Saturday, LaFell is also plenty confident in the other receivers on the roster to get the job done.
"They don't need to hold their breath on me, I'm fine. But also, we have guys like Brian Tyms, Josh Boyce, Els [Edelman] and D.A. [Danny Amendola] -- guys that have played ball around here for a long time and guys that can make plays. So there's no need to worry about anything," said LaFell.
Saturday's tilt against the Ravens will be just the second playoff game of LaFell's career. Last season, his Carolina Panthers lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional Round, so he's itching to get another taste of the NFL postseason.
"Man, I'm really excited. We had the bye week last week, got a couple of guys back on the field, did a lot of good work, worked on ourselves last week but now it's go-time now," he said. "You've got to approach this week like we approached the last 16 weeks of the season, and go out here and do our job like we've been doing all year."
Tune in to Saturday's Patriots-Ravens AFC Divisional Round playoff game on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage begins at 1:30pm with Patriots Preview, and stay tuned for three full hours of postgame coverage following the game.
Tune in to a special edition of Patriots GameDay on WBZ-TV at 11:30am on Saturday, with Patriots 5th Quarter on myTV38 immediately following the game.
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