Prognosis on Jackson's injury
We're getting to that point in training camp when the heat and hitting start to really take a toll, when injuries start to pile up and every player seems to have a nick or a strain. So, here's the big injury news off the day.
Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, in the midst of what everyone from the media to the groundskeepers at Lehigh agree is a stellar training camp, left practice today with what we're told is a hyperextended knee suffered while going against cornerback Asante Samuel in 7-on-7 drills. Jackson limped off to the side after the play and was attended to by a trainer before walking gingerly off the field. He did not return.
Samuel, who has had a friendly head-to-head rivalry with Jackson during camp, could be heard calling after Jackson after the play in an attempt to make sure he was OK.
It's not yet clear how the injury will limit Jackson or if he will miss any time.
Alas, a big name was also added to the MTC injury report today. Philly.com's Sheil Kapadia, blogger extraordinaire and keeper of Moving the Chains, has tweaked an I-need-a-couple-days-away-from-Lehigh muscle and will be sidelined for the weekend. It's a nagging injury that he also battled last year around this time. He's doing some rehab work at a wedding today and is expected to make a full recovery by Monday. Until then, I'll be holding down the fort.
Having said that, we all know Sheil never takes a day completely off, so naturally he called in with a doctor's take on the injury. No word if the doctor was in attendance at the wedding, but here's Sheil's dispatch:
If you're like me, when you heard that DeSean Jackson suffered a hyperextended knee, you had some immediate questions.
How serious is it? How much time could he miss? How concerned should we be?
To answer those questions, I called a Philadelphia-based sports medicine doctor, who took about 15 minutes to explain the nature of the injury over the phone.
He explained that the severity of Jackson's injury depends on the extent of the hyperextension. The major concern would be if there is ligament damage, specifically a torn ACL. He said if the team feared that was the case, they'd have Jackson get an MRI.
The most common result of a hyperextended knee, though, is a bone bruise. If that is the case, Jackson would miss a couple days or a week, depending on how cautious the Eagles wanted to be with the injury. There will be some pain, but in general, it would not be a big deal (easy for me to say, right?). And it would not be something that lingers or is problematic down the road.
To be clear, the doctor was giving general information about the injury. Every case is different, and only the team doctors know the exact nature and severity of Jackson's injury.
Gotta give Sheil props for tracking down expert opinion from a physician even while bearing witness to the bonds of marriage.
--- Mike Potter