Patriots quarterback Tom Brady expected to play against Cowboys despite popping up on Friday injury report

The New England Patriots ended the week with a long list of players on their final injury report. While nobody was ruled out for Sunday’s game against the visiting Dallas Cowboys by the team just yet, a total of 12 men found themselves tagged as questionable heading into the weekend — among them the Patriots’ most important player: quarterback Tom Brady popped up on the report on Friday because of an elbow injury.

Given Brady’s role and the fact that he is one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, his status is one worth closely monitoring over the next few hours. However, it appears as if there is little actual cause for concern: while the Patriots will closely watch the 42-year-old’s elbow today and reassess his outlook, the expectation is that the injury will not keep him out of this week’s contest as first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Brady, of course, has not missed a game because of injury since 2008 when he tore his ACL in the first quarter of New England’s regular season opener. Since then, the future Hall of Famer has appeared in 189 regular season and playoff games for the Patriots with his only absence being a four-game stretch to open 2016 when he was suspended for his alleged involvement in the “Deflategate” scandal.