National Football League

NFL's five healthiest, most injured teams; previewing Patriots-Raiders

Updated Dec. 14, 2022 4:54 p.m. ET

A wild weekend in the NFL saw the Eagles become the first team to secure a playoff berth, while the Lions kept their dreams alive and in the process forced the Vikings to continue to wait to secure their playoff spot. The Cowboys needed a late drive to overcome a Texans upset, while the 49ers, despite injuries to two starting quarterbacks, were still able to win big against the Buccaneers with Brock Purdy rising to the occasion.

With the regular season winding down, health will play a bigger part in wins and losses, especially in the playoffs. Teams who are healthy tend to go further, and healthy teams win championships. This past week, there were some high-value injuries that could have a major impact on future BUS Rankings.

As we normally do each week, we look at the health of teams to see who has their back against the wall while trying to battle adversity and who is moving forward with a healthier team in hopes of increasing their postseason chances. Below are the health rankings of the top 5 and bottom 5 NFL teams based off of ThePredictors.com Banged Up Score Rankings going into last weekend's games.

Healthiest Teams Ranked by BUS Score:

1. Cincinnati Bengals: BUS – 85.8
2. Jacksonville Jaguars: BUS – 82.9
3. Kansas City Chiefs: BUS – 81.9
4. Green Bay Packers: BUS – 79.7
5. Philadelphia Eagles: BUS – 78.7

Least Healthy Teams Ranked by BUS Score:

32. Los Angeles Chargers: BUS – 51.2
31. Los Angeles Rams: BUS – 55.3
30. Denver Broncos: BUS – 56.8
29. Baltimore Ravens: BUS – 61.9
28. Tennessee Titans: BUS – 63.9

As we turn to week 15, a preview of two loitering teams doing their best to stay in the playoff hunt are the New England Patriots and the Las Vegas Raiders, who face off Sunday at 4:05 p.m. on FOX. The Patriots currently sit in the No. 7 spot in the AFC, while the Raiders are in the No. 11 position, three games back of the final playoff spot but still with an outside chance to make it.

The Patriots enter following a Monday night matchup that saw Cardinals star QB Kyler Murray suffer a season-ending ACL tear, while New England saw injuries to RB Rhamondre Stevenson (ankle), WR Devante Parker (concussion) and DB Jack Jones (knee). The Patriots had a 64.6 Banged Up Score heading into the game, ranking them as the sixth-most banged-up team out of 32. New England will be hopeful that the injuries are not too serious, but it isn't great for an already injured squad.

The Raiders have also been dealing with their own injuries. Ranked just above the Patriots as the No. 7 most unhealthy team with a 64.8 BUS ranking. They are working through injuries to impact players such as Hunter Renfrow, Darren Waller and Josh Jacobs. Remember, even as guys play through injuries and make it onto the field, they can have diminished performance based on how their health affects them.

Both teams desperately need a win in this matchup for playoff implications. Whoever comes out on top will be relieved to have the win, but being so low in the BUS rankings will likely have further performance consequences down the line. Remember to check @SportsDocMatt and @NFLonFOX and thepredictors.com for updated Banged Up Scores on Sunday.

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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