Injuries hit NFL playoff hopefuls hard on a rough Sunday
By this point in the year, the teams with the best chance at a Super Bowl championship might be the ones who were able to avoid catastrophic injuries. Ask the Dallas Cowboys about that.
Sunday was another brutal week in the NFL, as teams saw star players go down yet again.
QB T.J. Yates, Houston Texans
The toughest injury of the week might be to the Texans, who lost yet another quarterback. Brian Hoyer was out with a concussion. Ryan Mallett got cut long ago for behavior issues. So Yates started, but went down in a heap with what was reported as a torn ACL. He was replaced by Brandon Weeden, and depending on Hoyer’s health, the Texans might need to go with Weeden next week too. The good news is Weeden led a win and the Texans are in first place.
The Colts also saw quarterback Matt Hasselbeck — who is replacing injured Andrew Luck — down on the turf for a while after a hard hit, but Hasselbeck returned to the game.
RB LeSean McCoy, Buffalo Bills
The Bills saw their season come to an end on Sunday, and McCoy’s season probably is over too. McCoy took a hit to the knee and was down in obvious pain. he was taken back to the locker room. Even if McCoy’s injury isn’t as bad as it looked like it might have been, there’s no need for the 6-8 Bills to bring him back for the rest of the season.
WR Danny Amendola and S Patrick Chung, New England Patriots
Amendola is the latest Patriots skill-position player to go down. Again. Amendola, who missed some time with a knee injury, hurt his knee again against the Tennessee Titans. He was having a bad game before that, with a fumbled punt return, but with Julian Edelman’s status still unclear as he returns from a foot injury, it makes the Patriots’ receiving corps even thinner if Amendola misses some time.
Chung left Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter with a hip injury. He has been a big part of the Patriots’ secondary this season.
QB Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans
Mariota was knocked out of the game against the New England Patriots in the first half. Zach Mettenberger replaced him. The Titans were long ago eliminated from the playoffs, so it makes little sense to bring Mariota back this season.
RB Adrian Peterson, Minnesota Vikings
Peterson’s injury didn’t end up being that serious, because he came back in the game for a bit after limping off with an ankle injury. But he was used sparingly after halftime. But it does appear the Vikings don’t have anything to worry about long term with their star running back.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
