Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith has insisted that he will face the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday despite struggling with a knee injury.
Smith was forced to miss the final match of the regular season with the problem and, despite spending the last two weeks recovering, he still played no part in the Panthers' light workout on Monday.
However, the 34-year-old is in no doubt that he will be ready in time for Sunday's playoff match, although he is unsure of how confident he will be about testing his knee too much.
"It's not about, 'Can I go?'. It's how confident do I feel when I am going? I will play Sunday. It's about how much of that do I don't worry about the knee. That's when the confidence increases," Smith told reporters.
"I did a good job today, so we're going to see how tomorrow goes and I'll be practicing on Wednesday. Just got to build up that muscle memory. Had that fluid [in the knee].
"The injury caused some kind of trauma in there, so just trying to work through that. I should be fine for Sunday, though."
The winner of Carolina's match against San Francisco will face either the New Orleans Saints or the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship game.
Barney Corkhill
