Injury Update
Posted: September 12th, 2017 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 41 Comments »Sunday provided great results on the field for the Eagles, but the win over Washington came at a cost. Ronald Darby, Caleb Sturgis and Jason Peters were all injured in the game.
There are optimistic reports on Darby.
#Eagles CB Ronald Darby is out 4-6 weeks with an dislocated ankle, sources say. No major ligament damage. Surprisingly good news.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 11, 2017
If true, that’s great. Doug Pederson wasn’t so optimistic. He didn’t offer any bad news, but would not concur with this report. Dave Spadaro said this in a piece.
Just how serious, and how long Darby will be out, is not yet known for sure. The defense would love to get him back at some point in this 2017 season. There is the matter of the possibility of surgery. No doubt the rehabilitation would be arduous. An ankle injury for a player who plays a position that requires so much quick-twitch movements makes for an even more difficult rehab.
The Eagles seem to be pumping the brakes on the idea of Darby definitely being back in 4 to 6 weeks. Is that cause for concern? The Eagles might just be playing this conservatively. If they push the 4 to 6 week narrative, that puts pressure on them and Darby to make that schedule. If they leave things open-ended, there isn’t as much pressure.
Pederson surprised me when he talked at his press conference about wanting to leave Patrick Robinson in the slot. I thought for sure Robinson would move outside, with Dexter McDougle taking over in the slot. The Eagles can leave Robinson inside and use either Jaylen Watkins or rookie Rasul Douglas outside. Neither is an optimal move. We’ll have to wait and see how the team wants to play this.
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It sounds like Sturgis will miss a few weeks with a leg injury. The good news…it is his plant leg. The Eagles will work out kickers, probably on Tuesday. They’ll have to make a quick decision on what to do. Do they cut a position player and give that spot to the new kicker? Do they put Sturgis on IR?
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Peters insists he will play Sunday. He probably will, but the Eagles will talk to him to make sure that’s the smart move. They don’t want him to do anything that could lead to the injury getting worse and causing Peters to miss an extended period. We’ll just have to wait and see how Peters responds to the treatment he’s getting this week.
I haven’t studied all the tape, but Big V did some good things on Sunday. If needed, he could be a functional LT for the Eagles. He played LT as a Senior at TCU and had a terrific season. You don’t want him playing there the whole year, but he could be solid for a game or two.
Long term, Vaitai has shown starter potential. The Eagles are lucky to have Peters and Lane Johnson for now. That let’s Big V continue to develop so that when he does hit the field, he’ll have a better chance to succeed.
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Hope Peters can be a full go. We need someone to help contain Justin Houston. Dude is a destroyer off the edge.
That’s really weird about Darby. Is there something else to the injury we don’t know? Even if we get him back say after the bye, that’s way better than the whole season.
A dislocated ankle can give tendon and ligament damage. The report right now is that there is none and the ankle only need to stabilize, but that normally take 4-6 weeks and then he needs to get up to football speed again
I thought the initial report was no tendon damage, but ligament damage was thought to be a given?
Right now, there is none of the above
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e694668f6cfcaa2cb053accd93bffe4b4d9c6a38997bff7da94e5b6e93d7aff0.gif
I wasn’t counting on the eagles winning against KC in any event, but they have no chance without any 2 of these guys, let alone 3.
Why not? If the DL can get after Smith and we are prepared for the option football, we can contain their offense. Their defense without Berry is very suspect outside of Peters and Houston.
Granted, stopping Tyreek and Hunt will be daunting (can we clone Jenkins?) but guys, this is Andy Reid we’re talking about! The King of following a big win with a comically bad clock decision leading to a boneheaded loss in a game that was there for the taking.
Plus Dougie knows all Andy’s secrets.
Yeah what the hell Mike Lombardi?? How can Doug be the least qualified NFL coach, when there is an Andy Reid out there???!
Exactly, I mean Reid only has 18 years and 166 more wins than Pederson at the NFL level
But how many more losses does Reid have?
Solid facts!
Just to be clear I was totally trolling. AR is a HoFer. Negadelphians that think differently bug me.
Disagree, Johnson is a very good LB. Dee Ford is solid and the DL is better with Jenkins/Logan.
I don’t think it’s a runaway. KC exploited NE’s lack of speed at LB. Ours are pretty damn quick. Yeah, Kendricks is gonna miss some tackles, but if he slows him down, that’s better than NE was able to do against Hunt. And they still don’t have the receivers to make good use of Darby being out.
I’m not picking the Eagles in my office pool, but it’s probably gonna be a close game.
I don’t know if there is one thing I’ver learned in my years watching the NFL, it’s that a team that looks unstoppable week 1 always plays just as good every other game all season. Thus, it is clear the Chiefs can’t be beat.
Pats will go 0-16. For sure
It is known.
That will be wonderful.
I 100% agree. Doug should just call Andy today and forfeit to save the team from further injuries.
It’s pretty hard to win a game only having a franchise QB, great receiving corps, the best defensive line in football, a solid linebacking unit, and a pair of excellent safeties. It’s just next to impossible to scheme around your weakness while trying to exploit your opponent’s weaknesses in the NFL…it rarely, if ever, happens.
D-line did pretty good last week. Lets not go anointing them the best in the business. Besides that detracts from the fact that the linebackers were outstanding last week!
Dave, I place your sarcasm in the pantheon of the most prominent tongue-in-cheek takes of all-time. In these times, when humor is sorely needed, you made me laugh. Until I read your post, I was going to cancel next Sunday and shorten my weekend.
I could be a blowout, but if one watched the game against the Pats, there was no front-seven defensive pressure put on Smith. As a result, he picked apart the secondary. Not to minimize what he and his receivers accomplished, but I believe he will be in discomfort mode most of the afternoon facing the Eagles’ rush.
Wow, thanks Rob! I’m an eternal optimist that believes humor can be some of the best medicine in life.
I’m in your camp, Dave. I am too and eternal optimist and love great humor. They both work hand-in-hand.
You’re right, I shouldn’t have said ‘no’ chance… But I’d say their chances are slim. Hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think Eagles are ready to compete with a top tier NFL team, and having a CB and placekicker getting their first NFL experience on Sunday makes the prospect of victory that much less likely, IMO.
Based on the strength of your response, I presume you’d be more than happy to place a small wager. Shame that’s not possible on our little blog here, but in any event I’d happily eat crow in case of an Eagles victory on Sunday.
Maybe it’s because McDougle needs to learn the scheme or maybe they think it’s better to weaken one spot rather than 2. Just trying to think what their reasoning could be.
Maybe Darby will land on IR after all with the option of coming back this season, however not before week 9..
at this point, that may not be a bad idea. Gives us a roster spot, and allows him to get up to full speed with a pretty serious injury
It looks like the Rams are better than everyone thought, and we can no longer assume that our game against them is an easy win. So when you think about it, this week against the Chiefs really is a MUST WIN if we want to make the playoffs.
I’m cool with this train of logic of ending the season now if it means Patriots go winless this year.
Rams beat a .500 team(last year) without their starting QB and ‘Rams are better’? Rams D is always decent – but let’s hold off after 1 game…maybe you’re joking – ‘must win’?
I ain’t sleepin on them. They are always a hard out.
now that they got rid of that joke as a Coach — they have a shot…
Nah, man. Rams are the Truth.
Definitely joking. Just poking a little fun at all the people saying that last week was a must win game.
Don’t see this as must win at all.
Week 3 vs Giants: We generally beat the Giants and their OL will be devoured by our DL
Week 4 vs Chargers: Tough long road trip, but probably a 50/50 game
Week 5 vs Cardinals: Palmer looked old and broken against lions.
Week 6 vs Panthers: Offence and OL really struggled against 49ers. Cam is still a long way off 2015 Cam.
Week 7 vs Washington: got to fancy winning that game.
Week 8 vs 49ers: Score 10 points and you have the 49ers beat. They are awful.
Think there is a good chance Eagles end up 6-2 or 5-3 even if we loose to the Chiefs, which frankly i expect we will.
KC is playing at home which is a big advantage, Arrowhead is very loud.
Eagles definitely have a chance to win the game, but it will not be easy
10 days to prepare as well. It is no easy game.
This is the dagger to the heart for me. Give Andy extra time to prepare and he pretty much always delivers the W.
FYI, new post is up by Tommy.
I sure hope that Ronald Darby is okay. We sure need him this season in our somewhat depleted secondary.