Every week bones break and muscles rip around the NFL. We’ll take a look at the most significant injuries, and what happens next.
The Arizona Cardinals just lost their first game of the season. While they would still prefer to be undefeated with a shiny zero in the loss column, the effort required to have only that single loss has been quite Herculean given the injuries and departures.
And now it gets worse. With Karlos Dansby, Daryl Washington, John Abraham and Darnell Dockett already gone from a 2013 defense that finished with 47 sacks, there was another blow Sunday.
See you in a month or so, Calais Campbell
Calais Campbell is one of those ho-hum, just doing my job sort of defenders. And he does it really, really well as one of the league’s premier 3-4 defensive ends.
Campbell has 37.5 sacks over 96 career games, and he’s athletic enough to close off passing lanes, recording at least six passes defensed over each of the past three seasons. That awareness resulted in an interception Sunday, the second of his career. With Washington suspended he’s also the team’s best run defender, and has 14 defensive stops already over four games, according to Pro Football Focus.
Simply put, Campbell can do everything defensively, and is really good at a few of those assignments. He’s the sort of all-around defender who’s impossible to replace, especially for the Cardinals with the black holes already elsewhere on their defense.
Which is a problem, because now Campbell has to be replaced.
A lure chop block was executed by Denver Broncos lineman Ryan Clady and tight end Julius Thomas. That means Clady was set to engage Campbell as a pass blocker when Thomas went low at the knees, which is filthy and illegal.
Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians said his best pass rusher (no, his only pass rusher) has a sprained MCL and could miss up to four weeks. He also said the play was the dirtiest he’s seen in 37 years of football, which might be a bit of a reach, but defending players is part of the head coach job description.
If Campbell misses that much time, his absence could be devastating for a team that’s had a promising start despite yesterday’s loss. The pain gets a little worse for the Cards due to their early Week 4 bye that’s already in the rear-view, and Campbell likely missing games against the Eagles and Cowboys, when pass rushing will be paramount.
Oh look, another maybe horrible Cardinals injury
This one might not be quite as serious. But it might be?
Such is the uncertain nature of a concussion. That’s always troubling, especially when the player in question is Cardinals backup quarterback Drew Stanton, and regular starter Carson Palmer is dealing with an uncertain injury of his own (a nerve issue in his shoulder).
Stanton was having a pretty alight game yesterday against the Broncos and had given his team a chance to win. That’s more than sufficient from an inexperienced backup against a rapid fire Peyton Manning offense.
When Stanton left the game his team was trailing but within reach early in the third quarter, down 20-13. He departed following a vicious Von Miller hit after the Broncos outside linebacker clown suited Bobby Massie, and was later diagnosed with a concussion.
Predictably the game then went south when raw but promising project Logan Thomas entered. And f he has to start any more meaningful games, the Cardinals’ season could follow in that same direction.
At this point on a Monday morning patience is required regarding the Cardinals’ Week 6 quarterback. Stanton needs to progress through the league’s concussion protocol, which will likely mean limited practice time this week.
Meanwhile, Palmer remains hopeful of a return soon, a feeling he’s had for a few weeks. He stayed in Denver following the loss to receive treatment, and has improved enough to throw short passes. But a timetable is still unknown.
Let the Logan Thomas era begin?
Don’t leave us Calvin Johnson
Often in this space each week I note that football fans enjoy watching great football players do awesome football things. Seeing one of the best in the world at what he does injured leads to football tears.
But that’s where we’re at with Calvin Johnson, who entered Week 5 clearly hobbled and little more than a decoy. Then on his first target Sunday he was hit awkwardly by Bills cornerback Leodis McKelvin, crumbling to likely not return for up to two more weeks, according to Peter King.
Losing Johnson wouldn’t be enjoyable for any offense, but the Lions are deep enough to easily remain competitive and sustain a brief absence. Over the past two weeks Golden Tate has been targeted 20 times, catching 15 of them for 250 yards.
And more pain…
- Normally anything with Jimmy Graham’s name would be a screaming headline item here. But although the NFL’s best tight end leaving a game as Graham did Sunday is always concerning, this injury doesn’t sound serious. He sprained his shoulder and was able to re-enter the Saints’ overtime win briefly, and he now has a bye week to recover.
- Montee Ball wasn’t quite so lucky. The Broncos running back exited with what sounds like a severe groin injury, and he’ll now be “out for a while” according to the Denver Post. Ronnie Hillman will ascend to become Denver’s lead back, with C.J. Anderson mixing in.
- Elsewhere in running backs breaking, the Giants could be without Rashard Jennings for a few weeks due to an ankle sprain. Lumbering brute Andre Williams will shoulder the load.
- And because they’re the Cardinals and everyone who’s important at all is hurt, Patrick Peterson sprained his ankle too. We’ll see how serious his sprain is as the week progresses.
