Somewhere in snowy New York, once they came in out of the Buffalo cold and their faces thawed enough to allow movement, Bill Polian and Jim Caldwell must have smiled a small “I told you so” smile to themselves.
The reason is the knee injury suffered today by Patriots’ WR Wes Welker, which is feared to be “serious”.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Polian and Caldwell want other players to get injured. But after the grief they took this week from just about everyone (including me, who hated the decision while still lambasting Colts fans for their reaction to it), what happened to Welker is clear proof of why many teams decide to bench their starters when late-season games will have no effect on playoff seeding.
But back to Welker.
He went down in the first quarter of today’s Patriots-Texans game – which was meaningless for the AFC champion and first round home team Patriots – without even really being touched. Though he was in the process of being tackled, Welker’s injury occurred when he planted his foot and his leg just completely gave out.
Update: Here is the video of Wes Welker’s injury:
Immediately, my brother said it was, at a minimum, a blown MCL. And my brother would know about such things. He’s a physical therapy major and has torn his ACL three times (and is currently healing from his third surgery).
Though no official Wes Welker injury update will be available until an MRI is taken, a recent post at Pro Football Talk pretty much tells Patriots fans all they need to know:
Although Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the game that he didn’t have an update on Welker’s condition — and although a complete diagnosis can’t be made until Welker has an MRI — Welker’s dad seems to have concluded what just about everyone watching the game concluded: Welker’s injury is serious, and he won’t be on the field in the playoffs.
What a shame. The two teams I follow (the Browns and Dolphins) are eliminated from playoff contention, but I hate to see any player injured, especially a great player on a potential Super Bowl contender.
If there is any small sliver of bright side for the Patriots, it is that they have virtual Welker clone Julian Edelman on the roster. In Welker’s absence today, Edelman caught 10 passes for 103 yards.
Still, it’s hard to see how even Edelman can replace Welker’s superior production this season. Playing basically 13 games, Wes Welker caught 122 passes for 1,336 yards. That is outstanding, and set an NFL record for passes caught per game.
After seeing Welker go down, then watching Pat White lay motionless on the field, and remembering how Ben Roethlisberger went down in Week 17 last year during a meaningless game against the Browns, it made me just a little less incredulous at Polian and Caldwell for their decision. I still don’t like it because Indy was 14-0, but it does remind you just how risky every snap is in the NFL.
I’m hoping Welker’s injury isn’t as serious as it looked, but right now there isn’t much of a reason to believe we’ll see him any more this season.
And, for the record, New England lost to the Texans…not that anyone in New England really cared once Welker got hurt. I would imagine every snap was an exercise in holding breath hoping nothing happened to Tom Brady or Randy Moss. Luckily, it did not.
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* – Wes Welker photo credit: The Canadian Press via TSN.ca
About Jerod Morris
