Since the 49ers don’t play the Cardinals until Monday, there have been some adjustments to the practice schedule. Normally Friday is a day when we get the final injury report for the week. For this week’s game, Friday provides a practice participation report, with the final injury report coming out tomorrow.
Practice participation reports are certainly useful to see who is banged up during the week, but the final injury report is a much better judge of who will play. A lot of teams give certain veterans a bit of a preference to take part in practice early in the week. There are even some veteran who basically just suit up for the game without really practicing and are good to go. However, multiple DNPs can be an indicator a guy is unlikely to play.
The biggest examples on each team this week would be 49ers safety Dashon Goldson and Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell. Goldson has sat out the two days of practice with an ankle injury. Defensive coordinator Greg Manusky indicated he would still play on Monday, and having that extra day could prove the difference. Campbell injured his left leg last week and had to leave, so it’s possible he might not be available on Monday.
Whereas Goldson has been dealing with some injuries throughout the season, this is the first significant injury I’ve heard about from Campbell. He started the season as the Cardinals starting left defensive end, but at times he’s been losing playing time to Alan Branch. He’d still be missed if he can’t go for Arizona.