The Cleveland Browns are expecting to get more bad news coming off of the bad news sandwich of Week 15. The Las Vegas Raiders pulled out a last-minute victory in Cleveland to keep their slim playoff hopes alive while dashing the Browns chances of taking the lead in the AFC North.
While not all is lost for Cleveland, the loss does put a damper on things going into a big matchup with the Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day.
With Jadeveon Clowney missing the game due to symptoms of COVID-19 and backup Ifeadi Odenigbo also out on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team was glad to get Takk McKinley back from the list before the game. McKinley’s presence opposite Myles Garrett was important.
Then McKinley went down and was carted off the field.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, McKinley’s injury is what many speculated when it happened, a torn Achilles:
#Browns pass-rusher Takk McKinley is feared to have suffered a torn Achilles, source said. He’ll have an MRI in the morning to determine if that is the case.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 21, 2021
A devastating blow for McKinley and the Browns. The former first-round pick was playing on a one-year contract and will need about a full calendar year to return from the injury. Olivier Vernon suffered the same injury for Cleveland late last season and has not returned to football this year.
For the Browns moving forward, Clowney’s symptoms could keep him out of Saturday’s matchup leaving very little across from Garrett including Porter Gustin, Joe Jackson and Curtis Weaver.
In a game that is almost must win, against a great quarterback, that may not be enough to get the job done.