NFL Injuries
Melvin Gordon is banged up
Melvin Gordon has been fighting through a bunch of leg injuries all year, but this week might be his toughest yet. On 11/25 against the Arizona Cardinals Melvin Gordon suffered a right MCL injury on a tackle by Arizona defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche. This caused Gordon to miss the next 3 weeks. Then, in a week 17 game Gordon appeared to suffer a mild right high ankle sprain. Last week, against the Ravens, Gordon appeared to already be slowed down with his injuries to his right leg and was wearing a right knee brace. Then, during the first quarter CJ Mosley made a tackle that appeared to cause a left MCL sprain. He returned to the game but was not the same Melvin Gordon we have seen earlier in the year. Melvin Gordon is active and will play against the Patriots but expect him to be limited and not nearly 100%. We will likely see more Austin Ekeler than usual.
Patrick Chung of the New England Patriots suffered a forearm fracture during the Super Bowl, and he is set to undergo surgery this week. This will involve placing plates and screws across the bones to allow them to heal in the proper position. This could be something similar to an injury that Rob Gronkowski had several years ago, but all of the details are not available.
A few weeks later he will also have surgery to address a shoulder problem that he had been dealing with throughout the season. This is most likely a partial or complete injury to the labrum in the shoulder or the rotator cuff. These tend to be injuries that athletes can play through with some pain and address in the off season.
Regardless, he is expected to miss the OTAs and be back for training camp.
Reports came out today that Tom Brady suffered a MCL sprain on the trick play against the Titans in week 10. By video, it does not appear that it was injured when Brady unathletically tripped over the 35 yd line, instead it appeared that when Titans LB Wesley Woodyard came in for the tackle he hit Brady’s left knee causing a valgus stress (causing it to bend inward). This is when he suffered his MCL injury. Since his leg was already up in the air, I suspect it was probably a grade I MCL injury. Brady was listed on the injury report following the Pats week 11 bye with a knee injury and was listed with that until week 15. He is now 100% and it should not be a worry heading into the playoff game against the Chargers.
