The Seattle Seahawks are coming out of their first-round bye to face the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Divisional round of the playoffs.
But this matchup is being marred by a concerning injury to quarterback Sam Darnold. It's been reported that he has an injury, and while he's going to play, it's not going to be at 100%.
While Darnold's injured, what exactly is the injury that's causing him to be limited? Darnold's injury is an oblique issue, which is a strain in the side of Darnold's body, and will limit the Seahawks quarterback tonight against the 49ers.
Sam Darnold dealing with oblique injury
While there's been optimism that the Seahawks quarterback will play, the full extent of his health as he deals with this oblique injury has been more of an unknown.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported two key updates on Darnold before the game, revealing that Darnold hasn't thrown a football since Thursday's injury incident, when Darnold felt a pull in his side, and that he's expected to play.
But the key update from Schefter is that, while Darnold is expected to play, he's going to be dealing with this oblique injury, which will make him limited. But the extent of his limitedness is unknown.
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Darnold might not feel the effects of the oblique issue enough to hamper his performance against the 49ers, or the injury might impact him more, and have the Seahawks quarterback playing at well below 100% against the 49ers.
Oblique injuries can be tricky, but Darnold is expected to play through it. But if they were to sit out for any amount of time, Drew Lock, a journeyman backup, would take over.
Ideally, Lock doesn't see the field against the 49ers. And fortunately, the injury updates lately have Darnold set to go, albeit potentially limited against the 49ers' defense.
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