Tag: ankle injury

Dave Toub provides latest update on Chiefs K Harrison Butker’s ankle injury

It looks like it’ll be more of Matthew Wright for the #Chiefs in Week 5 as Harrison Butker continues to deal with an ankle sprain.

Kansas City Chiefs K Harrison Butker will miss his second consecutive practice of the week on Friday. Things are shaping up for another week of Matthew Wright as Butker continues to nurse an ankle sprain suffered on a kickoff in Week 1.

Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub spoke about the injury to his kicker on Friday. He explained that the injury was worse than they initially believed and they’re working to get Butker back to 100% before he makes his return.

“He tried to go (last week), but he was working on one-step (kicks), but he wants to have his full approach,” Toub told reporters. “He doesn’t want to use a half approach and I don’t blame him. He still has a lot of pain and he’s got swelling in that ankle. It was, evidently, a little bit worse than what you think. I mean, everybody heals differently and it’s just going to take time to get him back. Obviously, we want a full 100% Butker. Like I said before, we’ve got a long season to go, so we’ll be happy when he’s 100%. We don’t want to try to force him back and then all of the sudden get some regression. We definitely don’t want that. He has a lot of weeks in the bank healing and we’ve just got to get him over the top now.”

Having a backup like Wright, who made all of his seven kicks in Week 4, has Toub feeling comfortable in his decision to not rush Butker back. They want to ensure that Butker is available for the long haul.

“It does, it helps,” Toub said. “We’re not out looking for a kicker right now like we did last week. We like (Matthew Wright) and we like the job he did last week. Now, you’ve got to put it together and do it again. It’s about consistency.”

Toub was impressed with what Wright was able to do with the quick turnaround on a big primetime stage.

“Yeah, we had a little bit more time to work with (Matthew Wright) than we had the first time around with (Matt Ammendola),” Toub said. “I was really pleased with the way he’s handled it.  He’s got a really good mental aspect, I mean that’s what you find out. He kicked well in practice and stuff, but in the game being able to make seven (combined field goals and extra points). . . that was big on a ‘Sunday Night Football’ game.”

It seems the mental aspect is the biggest thing giving Toub confidence in Wright.

“Mental toughness is such a big thing for a kicker, it’s like a golfer making a short putt,” Toub said. “All of a sudden it becomes huge, you know, and he just did a good job in that game for us.”

They’ll look for a repeat performance from Wright against the Raiders on Monday night.

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Cowboys’ OL shuffle continues; Connor McGovern to miss time with high ankle sprain

Connor McGovern lasted 7 snaps on Sunday. Now the Cowboys must go to a list of inexperienced linemen or rush All-Pro Jason Peters to action. | From @ToddBrock24f7

After all the months of hand-wringing over who would play where along the Cowboys’ offensive line in 2022, the team’s regular season starters lasted all of seven snaps.

Left guard Connor McGovern left Sunday’s game during the offense’s first possession with what was later determined to be a high ankle sprain. The third-round pick from 2019 has already been ruled out of Dallas’s Week 2 game versus Cincinnati and is expected to miss two to four weeks as he heals.

The injury- one of several suffered by Cowboys starters in Week 1 against Tampa Bay- leaves the team even thinner on the O-line than they were before kickoff. The club will now be forced to scramble for options moving forward, including possibly accelerating recently signed All-Pro Jason Peters into the lineup.

Matt Farniok, a seventh-round pick last season, came in for McGovern, leaving rookie Tyler Smith at left tackle. Smith had spent training camp at the guard position until a late-August injury to perennial Pro Bowler Tyron Smith forced the Tulsa product to slide over in relief.

The former Cornhusker did not make a strong impression over the course of the game.

The loss of McGovern is a blow to not only the piecemealed Dallas offensive line (where he can play any of the five positions), but also to a handful of gadget-play formations in coordinator Kellen Moore’s playbook. McGovern has lined up previously as blocking fullback, tight end, and even wide receiver.

Josh Ball was the only other tackle on the Cowboys’ active roster; he dressed but did not play Sunday night. There are additional lineman options on the practice squad, though: Aviante Collins, Isaac Alarcón, Dakoda Shepley, Alec Lindstrom (though he is listed as a center), and the aforementioned Peters.

The nine-time Pro Bowler, now 40 years old, was signed as a free agency add just a week ago, following Tyron Smith’s hamstring injury just before the final preseason game. The team had been giving Peters a chance to ramp up on the practice squad before moving him to active duty, but that methodical timeline is a luxury the Cowboys may no longer have.

Head coach Mike McCarthy was quoted Monday as saying the club would “see where he is tomorrow” when asked about Peters’s readiness for action.

Whatever combination of linemen the Cowboys employ, they’ll be charged with protecting someone other than starting quarterback Dak Prescott. Prescott suffered a fracture to the thumb of his throwing hand and will require surgery. He will likely miss six to eight weeks. Cooper Rush finished the season opener; he and Will Grier are the Cowboys’ current backup passers.

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‘Everything’s good’: McCarthy, Jones reassure Cowboys fans after Dak Prescott’s cleat fiasco

The team’s coach and owner both proclaimed Prescott fine, but fans are now concerned that his ankle may be a bigger concern than his shoes. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The Cowboys are doing their best to turn Dak Prescott’s cleats into a non-story.

But when the starting quarterback of America’s Team and $40 million man has to bag practice 72 hours before the opening game of the season because new shoes were aggravating his surgically-repaired ankle, it’s worth a follow-up or two.

Friday morning, after Prescott himself promised that he’d be “good to go” for Sunday night’s showdown with the Buccaneers, both his head coach and owner have confirmed that self-assessment.

“He’s going to be a full participant today, and I anticipate he’ll be the same tomorrow,” McCarthy told reporters in his Friday press conference. “I don’t have any concern about him playing Sunday.”

It was concerning, though, when Prescott left Thursday’s practice early and didn’t return, all because new Jordan 11s he had planned to wear Sunday were causing soreness in his right ankle.

“Switching shoes today probably wasn’t the best idea,” Prescott said after practice. “It’s the bionic ankle, so we’re fine.”

But along with a big sigh of relief, much of Cowboys Nation had a seemingly simple question.

If his shoes were hurting his ankle, why not just put on different shoes? Why did this result in him missing the rest of practice and showing up on the injury report?

On 105.3 The Fan Friday morning, team owner Jerry Jones stated that Prescott “certainly could have returned.”

McCarthy said it was “high caution” that kept Prescott out, allowing Cooper Rush to take the rest of the snaps with the first team.

“We react to everything; that’s just the nature of the game,” the coach said. “It’s really standard procedure to go through that anytime a player has an issue.”

McCarthy declined to say what was included in that procedure.

“I’m not going to get into all the specifics,” he explained. “But we checked him out. We made sure that everything’s good.”

Jones agreed.

“It was checked out thoroughly in every way that you can, and no issues,” he told a radio audience. “We’ve got some really good on-the-spot testing and on-the-spot equipment that we can do out there, not only right there in our practice facility, but also just steps away in our Baylor Medical Center. So we were able to take a good look at it and got completely satisfied and he did, too, that there was nothing to it.”

Earlier on the same airwaves, McCarthy went so far as to say that the team’s offensive game plan remains exactly the same for Week 1, even if his quarterback will have to find a different pair of cleats.

“We haven’t changed one thing,” the coach said. “We had our normal meetings last night. Dak’s a part of that. We’re right on schedule.”

And yet, there’s now a twinge of doubt in the minds of many fans. Is Prescott’s right ankle really fully healthy?

Prescott has worn Jordan 11s before- for a few games last season- but was breaking in a new pair for opening night. He says he’ll now go back to the Jordan 1s he wore during training camp.

The quarterback has an endorsement deal with the Jordan Brand and gifted Jordan 11s to his teammates last December. He surprised Cowboys coaches and sideline staff with Jordan 1s last month.

For the amount of money both the team and the shoe brand have tied up in Prescott, it’s a safe bet that someone somewhere is figuring out how to give the face of the most visible franchise in football a completely customized and spot-on perfect fit for his next pair.

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Harrison Phillips dealing with an injury

Thankfully it appears to be minor

The Minnesota Vikings have gotten lucky so far on the injury front but luck can only take them so far.

In his weekly press conference, head coach Kevin O’Connell gave us some insight on the health of a few players, including one we didn’t expect.

After spending four seasons with the Buffalo Bills, Harrison Phillips decided to come over to Minnesota and be a part of the new culture. Unfortunately, he is a little dinged up at the moment.

After playing only 10 snaps in the first preseason game against the Las Vegas Raiders, Phillips sat out against the San Francisco 49ers like 26 of his teammates did after two days of joint practices.

Thankfully, the injury is minor, which shouldn’t hinder Phillips from missing any time during the regular season.

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OKC Thunder news: Mark Daigneault reveals plan on how to handle Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s ankle injury

SGA has been listed as questionable with right ankle soreness for four consecutive games and has managed to play in three of them.

After being listed as questionable for four consecutive games with right ankle soreness, Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault provided a clearer picture of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s health.

As mentioned, Gilgeous-Alexander has been listed on the injury report for four straight games now with right ankle soreness. Gilgeous-Alexander has been able to play in three of those four games with his only missed time coming against the Orlando Magic this past Sunday.

Daigneault mentioned after Monday’s loss to the Boston Celtics that the right ankle soreness is going to be something the team deals with day to day due to Gilgeous-Alexander’s ankle not responding greatly to treatment after games.

“[Gilgeous-Alexander] is feeling good, but [his ankle] not responding great after every game that’s why he is day by day and questionable on all these reports,” said Daigneault. “We have to see tomorrow morning where he is at.”

Gilgeous-Alexander also expressed a similar sentiment after the game as he said his ankle is sore after games and that he tries to take it day by day.

Daigneault also previously mentioned that the plan is for Gilgeous-Alexander to sit out one of the nights on back-to-backs for the rest of the season, which is a pretty easy decision to make considering there’s only 10 games and only one more back-to-back set left.

Honestly, if I were the Thunder, Gilgeous-Alexander has nothing left to prove in these final 10 games that most don’t already know. Especially in a rebuilding season, there’s no point in risking further injuring your franchise player just to play meaningless NBA games that don’t really matter in the long run. That is especially true in Gilgeous-Alexander’s case where he already has a history of feet/ankle problems as he missed the second half of last season due to plantar fasciitis and missed several games due to an ankle sprain earlier this year.

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Marcus Smart’s dangerous dive on Steph Curry brings up a larger conversation the NBA needs to have about hustle plays

There’s clearly a problem here

Everyone loves a good hustle play. They’re exhilarating. They’re exciting. When players dive into the stands or completely sell out to get a block the crowd goes crazy.

Getting to those 50/50 balls can literally turn the tide of a game. It can shape the course of a season. And it did just that on Wednesday night when the Celtics played the Warriors.

It certainly wasn’t in a good way, either.

The game was already a slugfest. It was 33-25 in the middle of the second quarter. The vibe was certainly mid-90’s NBA ball and, when that’s the vibe, things can get a little crazy. That’s exactly what happened.

There was a loose ball after Jayson Tatum nearly turned the ball over. Stephen Curry slides over to try and corral it when, all of a sudden, Marcus Smart dives on the ground through Curry to get to the ball first.

Curry walked back to the locker room. He didn’t come back out. After playing just one game with Draymond Green and Klay Thompson for the first time in 1,006 days, the trio had been broken up again by yet another injury. Their title hopes were chopped down once again with Curry now out indefinitely with a foot sprain.

To make matters worse, after diving into Curry’s leg, Smart actually kicks Klay Thompson in the face as he jumped in the air to try and foil a Warriors’ fastbreak.

The kick is ultimately ruled a flagrant foul. The dive wasn’t ruled as anything. But they were both extremely dangerous plays. Unfortunately, someone came up injured because of one of them.

Look, I know what you’re thinking. But this isn’t a dirty play. This doesn’t make Marcus Smart a dirty player. He defended himself after the game and he was right to.

“My teammates and players and my colleagues, they know I’m not a dirty player. They know I’ma go out there and leave everything I have on the floor for my team and I’ma hustle. And that’s just what it is.”

He’s absolutely right. He’s just out there hustling and playing hard. That is what it is. Smart played hard and he did it within the rules at that moment.

But I think this moment here and a moment that was heavily debated last year show that plays like this might deserve a little more scrutiny and attention.

The play from last year in question here is when Solomon Hill made a similar play for the Hawks that took LeBron James out of the game and effectively cratered the Lakers’ season.

It isn’t the exact same play, but it’s similar. This is a player diving to the ground to try and get a loose ball. It also resulted in injury in that scenario, too. You absolutely never want to see this as a fan of the game with any player, but especially not with players like James and Curry.

The NBA should really take a hard look at these moments and other hustle plays like them. Sure, the intent might not be to injure. But whenever you’re diving in the vicinity of someone’s legs? It’s a dangerous play. Period. And it’s also largely unnecessary — it was a single possession that wasn’t at the end of a game. The dive was unneeded.

The league can do something about this the same way they did something about the Zaza Pachulia closeout. This can be a flagrant foul, too.

Should it be? I’m not sure. But, at the very least, it deserves a discussion.

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OKC Thunder news: Sha Gilgeous-Alexander’s ankle to be re-evaluated post-ASB

The Thunder will be without its best player for at least the next 10 games as he recovers from an ankle sprain.

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced on Saturday that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be re-evaluated after the All-Star Break as he deals with a right ankle sprain he suffered in Friday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers.

The All-Star Game is on Feb. 20, which means Gilgeous-Alexander will miss at least the next 10 games for the Thunder. The 14-34 Thunder are 0-5 and have averaged just 93.4 points in games without Gilgeous-Alexander this season.

This news is not all that surprising considering just how hobbled Gilgeous-Alexander was as he checked out of the game and hurried into the tunnel to get his ankle checked out. The Suave Report’s Addam Francisco reported after the game that Gilgeous-Alexander was in a boot and crutches.

It’ll be interesting to see who takes advantage of the touches Gilgeous-Alexader usually gets as the number one option on the offense. My guess is that Josh Giddey and Lu Dort will have a heavier load and responsibilities.

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Cowboys LT Tyron Smith expected to miss Week 9 vs Broncos with ankle injury

The 7-time Pro Bowler lasted 31 snaps before a bone spur in his ankle forced him out; Mike McCarthy says he’d be “pressed to play.” | From @ToddBrock24f7

Once again, the Cowboys are preparing to play a game this weekend as if one of their most important offensive starters won’t be ready to go.

Left tackle Tyron Smith had already been dealing with an ankle issue, and it flared up again during the second quarter of the team’s 20-16 win Sunday in Minnesota, forcing the seven-time Pro Bowler to miss the remainder of the game.

In a midweek press conference, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy confirmed that Smith would not practice on Wednesday and expressed doubt about his availability for the team’s home date with the Broncos this weekend.

“He’d be pressed to play,” McCarthy stated plainly.

Smith originally suffered the ankle injury in Week 6 versus New England and was limited leading up to the Halloween night tilt against the Vikings. He lasted 31 snaps before leaving the game. Team owner Jerry Jones called it a bone spur issue in a radio interview Tuesday.

If Smith sits, the offensive line will undergo something of a shuffle, a routine that fans became accustomed to seeing last season. Right tackle La’el Collins has returned from his five-game suspension, but did not take over his starting position in Week 8, as Terence Steele stayed put. Moving forward, Steele could remain on the right side with Collins sliding down to Smith’s left spot, or Steele could swing to replace Smith at left while Collins comes back to his usual position.

On Sunday, it was Ty Nsekhe who replaced Smith.

McCarthy declined to offer any hints about which way the team would go for the Week 9 interconference matchup.

“We’ve got some options we’re looking at. Frankly, I don’t want to tell you. We’d rather Denver find out when they find out.”

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Ankle injury ‘not of high concern’ for Trevon Diggs, says Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy

Trevon Diggs will be limited in Thursday’s practice, says HC Mike McCarthy, but the team expects him to be ready to play the Pats on Sunday. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Lost somewhat in the strong second-half team showing of the Cowboys’ 44-20 rout over the Giants on Sunday was the minor scare fans had gotten earlier regarding one of its stars. As the first quarter came to close, cornerback Trevon Diggs- the league leader in interceptions, the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Month for September, and the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week at the time- was on the sideline getting his ankle taped.

Diggs returned to the game in short order and even continued his remarkable pick streak for a fifth consecutive game. But the ankle was bothering him enough that he sat out practice on Wednesday, showing up on the day’s practice report with the dreaded “DNP” designation.

It served as a stark reminder of just how day-to-day every player really is all the time, and it prompted reporters to make Diggs’s status the first question in head coach Mike McCarthy’s Thursday press conference as the team prepares for a trip to New England to face the Patriots.

“Trevon will be limited today,” McCarthy told media members at The Star. “We’ll see if we can maybe get him into the individual [portion of practice]. That will be the most he’ll probably do today.”

While a management day for Diggs held him out of team drills Wednesday, the second-year phenom did go through resistance training on his own, and the team expects him to play Sunday in Foxborough.

“Not of high concern,” McCarthy said of the ankle injury.

Based on the way Diggs kept himself loose on the sideline bike during last week’s contest and then returned to make a major impact, it’s safe to assume that he and the team are taking the same sort of approach heading into the last game before the bye.

“No one knows their body the way they do,” McCarthy said on Thursday, speaking of athletes in general.

By all accounts, Diggs taking things easy on Wednesday and Thursday shouldn’t have much bearing on seeing him out there on Sunday, roaming through the secondary and looking to intercept yet another of his former Alabama teammates in New England rookie quarterback Mac Jones.

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Dak Prescott leads Cowboys rout, exorcises injury demons: ‘The final shovel in burying this thing’

The QB admitted that the injury from 364 days prior crept into his mind, but a 44-20 win “was the final shovel in burying this thing.” | From @ToddBrock24f7

It was always going to come back. Maybe part of it is this time of year, when haunted houses and zombies creep into the collective consciousness for a little while. But even though Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott had insisted for months that he had put his 2020 injury well behind him, moved on completely, “buried it,” to use his exact phrase, everyone knew it was going to come back to life in some way this week.

Of course, the media led the resurrection effort, hooking up jumper cables, Dr. Frankenstein-style, in the days of hype leading up to the Week 5 game. The story was too good to pass up: the Giants once again, back at AT&T Stadium, one day shy of the one-year anniversary of the star quarterback’s leg snapping on live TV. And even though Prescott had tried to maintain that he hadn’t given much thought to that eerie sense of deja vu, he admitted after the team’s 44-20 blowout win that the ghosts briefly reappeared.

“I think I have,” Prescott told reporters afterward when asked if he had reflected on his journey since the gruesome season-ending leg injury he suffered on October 11 of last year. “During this week, as much as I have tried to put it off, as much as I’ve tried to not think about it, I think it just naturally does. It’s in the back of your head, unconsciously or not.”

The afternoon got off to a scary start for Prescott, who had a pass tipped and intercepted on the Cowboys’ very first possession. Later in the quarter, a shotgun snap got away from him and was recovered by New York just as the team seemed poised to score their first touchdown of the contest.

“Kind of rushed the whole snap-to-handoff mechanics and threw the ball away right there, and just definitely can’t do that. Especially not in the red zone. That’s just situational; it’s not good any time, but down there when you’re guaranteed some points, that’s a big swing.”

And that’s when the ghosts really started rattling their chains.

On the Giants’ next play, running back Saquon Barkley rolled an ankle. For the second straight year, a hush fell over the Giants-Cowboys meeting as a superstar lay on the turf in Arlington. Barkley ended up being carted into the tunnel, just as Prescott had been 364 days earlier.

“When I saw the cart, it definitely came in my head. ‘Get that thing out of here.’ But flipped the page quick; I’ve got a short memory. I thought about it for that moment,” Prescott said, also noting the injury suffered later by Giants passer Daniel Jones that required him to be driven off the field as well. “My thoughts went for him. Hope he’s okay, hope that Saquon, hope that all of those guys [are okay]. You never want to see anybody get hurt. It’s a physical game, and we know this game can take a toll on your body, but you never want to see anybody get taken out where they can’t come back in… But it was about turning the page and staying focused on what my job was.”

It didn’t take long. On the next offensive series, Prescott hooked up with wideout CeeDee Lamb for a 49-yard touchdown reception. He would add another scoring strike to Amari Cooper just before halftime. And then another to running back Ezekiel Elliott with the first drive of the third quarter. Prescott would end up going 22-of-32 for 302 passing yards and those three touchdowns in the rout, tallying a quarterback rating of 116.9.

And it all started with that deep ball to Lamb.

“Once I actually had that touchdown to CeeDee was kind of when I started rolling and got into the groove,” Prescott said.

The day may have gotten off to a dicey start, but head coach Mike McCarthy was confident that Prescott would exorcise any demons that last season’s memories tried to dredge up during this year’s rematch.

“Never blinked,” McCarthy said of his quarterback during his postgame press conference. “He’s so dang focused in everything he does. His disposition never changes, his attitude, his energy. I think that clearly was evident in how he finished the game, the numbers that he put up. I thought he played very well, particularly after those two giveaways.”

But quickly getting over an unfortunate moment is becoming one of Prescott’s calling cards. Perhaps even more so than the accuracy, the gaudy statistics, the unwavering leadership, the unquestionable grit and toughness, Prescott’s knack for bouncing back from adversity may well be his greatest trait of all.

“The past is the past,” Prescott said to start his postgame address. “I think it’s about living in the present, not getting too infatuated with the future, either. Just living in this moment, enjoying this win here. And we’ll turn the page tomorrow and focus on the New England Patriots. It’s about the growth.”

And it’s the growth that Prescott zeroes in on when he talks about the last 365 days. Not content with just a comeback to the level he was at when he went down, Prescott is most proud now of going beyond.

“The way that I’ve grown,” he explained. “Honestly, my growth. Personally, just off the field and on the field. I learned a lot about myself, tested myself. I think everything I do now is very intentional and purposeful to what I want and what I want to accomplish. Just to be able to do that, and to know that everything that you’re taking in is for the good, and you’re trying to exert that as well: exert nothing but good energy and positive energy and support. I’m blessed, and anything that I go through, I’m thankful for, because I usually come out a better person, as I did this.”

All indications are that Prescott is better than he was 365 days ago. And not just as an elite NFL quarterback, although that alone would be an impressive feat. He’s stared down every ghost that’s arisen since his home stadium turned into a personal house of horror last October. Now that injury can finally be laid to rest for good, never to see the light of day again.

“I said that in the locker room. I hugged [Cowboys director of rehabilitation] Britt Brown right there at the end and he said, ‘I know what this meant.’ I told him thank you and I said, ‘I’m glad it’s behind us.’ I said, ‘I don’t know why I was in a slow mental fog I felt early. But when it passed…’ Yeah, I’m glad it’s over with it, and I’m glad I’m past that, and I think this was the final shovel in burying this thing.”

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