Injury Roundup: Week 13
There weren’t any calamitous injuries to the precious fake football elite this week, but there were some close calls and other bits and pieces of injury news to digest from Sunday’s slate of games and here they are!
Brandon Weeden was diagnosed with a concussion following Sunday's loss to the Jaguars. He went 24-of-40 for 370 yards with three touchdowns; two interceptions and a lost fumble in the game, helping Josh Gordon to a huge 10/261/2 line. Backup quarterback Jason Campbell is also dealing with a concussion, which would leave recent signee Alex Tanney as the only healthy quarterback going into Week 14 against the Patriots.
Kenbrell Thompkins left the Houston game after going up high to make a catch and landing hard on his hip. Thompkins played another down, but was in noticeable pain and came off the field. Aaron Dobson (foot) was inactive and Josh Boyce received most of the snaps in Thompkins’ absence, but not the targets.
Editor's Note: Rotoworld's partner FanDuel is hosting a one-week $300,000 Fantasy Football league for Week 14. It's $25 to join and first prize is $25,000. Starts Sunday at 1pm ET. Here's the FanDuel link.
Christian Ponder exited Sunday's game against the Bears with a concussion. Ponder's injury occurred toward the end of the second quarter. He was a pitiful 3-of-8 passing for 40 yards before he left. Matt Cassel started the second half and finished the day 20-of-33 for 243 yards, one touchdown and one interception along with the overtime win. Neither is a NFL caliber starting quarterback, but Cassel may have won the job for another week.
Delanie Walker suffered a concussion in the first quarter against Indianapolis. This came on the heels of a nice stretch of games for Walker and at an inopportune time for the Titans who were actually in the wildcard race.
C.J. Spiller tweaked his left ankle late in the first half and was a little gimpy as he came back onto the field. He still managed to run for a 36-yard touchdown after his ankle re-tweaking and looked great doing so. It seems like his ankles just aren’t going to be 100%, but as long as he’s able to run he’s still going to do Spilleresque things.
Darrelle Revis was forced from Sunday's game against the Panthers with a shoulder/chest injury. He took a hard fall in the third quarter and never returned to the game. His removal may have just been due to caution in a game in which the Bucs were being blown out, but we’ll know more later.
Rob Gronkowski came up limping after being tackled in Sunday's game against the Texans, but finished the game and all reports seem to be favorable that he didn't do any long term damage.
The initial diagnosis on 49ers left tackle Joe Staley is a sprained MCL in his right knee. The Sacramento Bee reports Staley will miss the Week 14 game against the Seahawks. He will receive a MRI on Monday and we’ll know more about the severity after. The loss of Staley for any amount of time is a concern for the 49ers offense as he's been Pro Football Focus' best tackle this season.
Branden Albert went down with a knee injury against the Broncos and had to leave on a cart. He will receive a MRI on Monday, which will give us a timetable, but a source tells ProFootballTalk.com that the "current thinking" is that he dodged a serious injury.
Strong safety Reed Doughty suffered a concussion in Sunday night's game against the Giants. It's the second concussion Doughty has suffered this season, so he could have trouble getting cleared for Week 14.
Josh Gordon exited Sunday's game against the Jaguars with a head injury in the third quarter after taking an illegal hit on the sideline. It looked like his day might have been done after going into the locker room for concussion tests, but he passed and came back to dominate even more, so should be good to go.
The NFL Network reported Sunday morning that Aaron Rodgers is no lock to return this this season, and ESPN's Chris Mortensen confirms that report, saying, "it will take a strong consensus from doctors and the team's hierarchy to return him to the playing field next Sunday." Mortensen goes on to say the Packers' brass are "conflicted" because Rodgers wants to play but their 5-6-1 team doesn't control their playoff hopes at the moment.
Jordan Reed was expected to play Sunday night, but the Redskins scratched him after he suffered a pre-game headache. The fact that the concussion is lingering makes his status for next week somewhat in doubt, but we’ll learn more during the week.
Cardinals coach Bruce Arians acknowledged following Sunday's loss that Andre Ellington was "never close" to playing after hurting his knee during practice. The team hadn’t given that impression heading into the game against Philadelphia so this injury could leave him questionable for next week.
Other Injury Notes:
Josh Cribbs will undergo a Monday MRI after exiting Sunday's game with shoulder and chest pain. . . . Santonio Holmes (hamstring) lasted only three snaps before leaving Sunday's Week 13 loss to Miami. . . . Demaryius Thomas exited Sunday's Chiefs-Broncos game with a shoulder injury, but returned in the second quarter. . . . Panthers' defensive tackle Dwan Edwards was forced from Sunday's game against the Bucs with a leg injury. . . . Panthers' linebacker and special teams leader Jordan Senn was forced from the game with a hamstring injury. . . . Rams left tackle Jake Long was forced from Sunday's game against the 49ers with a head injury. . . .
