Panthers Steve Smith says sixty percent chance he plays vs. 49ers

Dealing with a sprained PCL, suffered in Week 16, Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith said there is a 60 percent chance he will play in Sunday’s Divisional Round playoff matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.

"Steve Smith says feeling stronger. Says there’s a 60 percent chance he plays Sunday."

Of course, this comes on the heels of head coach Ron Rivera suggested Smith could have played in Carolina’s season finale he he needed to, so it’s a bit difficult to speculate on what exactly is going on.

One would presume that Smith, who will have had essentially three weeks to recover would have better odds of playing than 60 percent, so is it possible the wide receiver is trying to pull out the dramatics for a late week return? Throw the 49ers off with his injury report? Or is he still really hurting and isn’t completely sure he’ll play?

It seems pretty crazy to think Smith would sit on the sidelines, even hurt given the magnitude of the game and how desperately Carolina will need him in the passing game.