The New England Patriots are holding their breath on Monday as left tackle Will Campbell goes for tests to determine the severity of his knee injury.
Campbell suffered the knee injury in the third quarter of the Week 12 win over the Cincinnati Bengals that forced his early exit.
It didn't look good for Campbell initially, as not only was he carted to the locker room after leaving the field, he was also visibly upset in the process, which is usually a sign that a serious injury has occurred.
After not providing an update on Sunday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was a guest on The Greg Hill Show on Monday and revealed that Campbell would "probably" miss more than a week or two.
"We won't know much. Yesterday was not a great day for us with injuries. There will be some players that went out of that game yesterday that won't be available Monday night," Vrabel said, per ESPN's Mike Reiss. "Hopefully we get some of those guys back. We have an extra day. I won't be able to tell you much."
"I wouldn't imagine that Will [Campbell] is going play in the game. I don't think that will be something that will happen. That injury is going to probably be more than a week or two," Vrabel added.
UPDATE: Not long after Vrabel spoke and this article was published, Ian Rapoport from NFL Network reported that Campbell is believed to have an MCL sprain.
While he's now a candidate for injured reserve, Rapoport says the hope is that Campbell will be ready to roll by the playoffs.
"Patriots LT Will Campbell is believed to have suffered an MCL sprain and will have an MRI on his knee, sources said. He’s a candidate for Injured Reserve, with the hope he returns when it counts the most," Rapoport reported.
END OF UPDATE
ORIGINAL TEXT
That would seem to suggest that Campbell didn't suffer a season-ending injury like we feared at first, but we can't say for sure. If it isn't a season-ender, that will be fantastic news for the Patriots, even if Campbell misses some time.
There is a report floating around out there from Patriots analyst Daniel Rotman that says the early belief is Campbell has a sprain, although he cautions that tests will be done on Monday to determine the exact severity.
"REPORT: Subject to further testing tomorrow, both Will Campbell and Jared Wilson are believed to have sprains," Rotman reported. "Neither injury is considered long-term as of now (per source)."
New England has five games left to play, so Campbell could still get back before the playoffs even if he lands on injured reserve.
We shall wait with bated breath for the results of those tests, but for now there is optimism that Campbell has avoided the worst-case scenario.
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