Bryce Petty is optimistic he'll play Saturday against Northwestern State
Baylor QB Bryce Petty does not want to miss the Bears' next game even if it may not be the most practical thing to do.
Petty cracked two transverse processes in his back on Sunday against SMU. The transverse process is the bony points that stick out on each side of a vertebra. As back injuries, especially ones with the word "cracked" in them, it's not a terrible injury and one that can heal on its own. Petty says he's going to try to play through it Saturday against Northwestern State.
“That’s my goal towards the rest of the week,” Petty said via the Dallas Morning News. You can’t do anything worse to it, so if it’s bearable, I’ll do it.”
Petty compared it to a little finger injury. According to the AP, he said he field "great."
“It’s like a pinkie,” Petty said. “You can’t do much except just brace it up and wait for it to heal. Football is football, you have pain. Might as well get rewarded for it. I’ve watched for too long, put on the headset too many times for me to sit if I can be out there.”
We see Petty's thinking here. It's his senior season and he doesn't want to miss anything. But even if it's not an incredibly serious back injury, it's a back injury. You do not mess with back injuries.
He was in obvious discomfort against SMU and left the game early as it was well in hand. Against Northwestern State and even the rest of Baylor's nonconference slate, there's no sense in Petty risking the chance of delaying the healing prcess. WIth a hit or two the cracks could take much longer to heal. Is risking being less than healthy for conference play more importantant than missing games against weaker opponents?
It shouldn't be. As we said yesterday, here's to hoping pragmatism prevails.
For more Baylor news visit SicEmSports.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
