The Seattle Seahawks were thrown a curveball this week after quarterback Sam Darnold landed on the injury report with an oblique issue.
Darnold injured himself during practice on Thursday and decided to shut it down to be safe. Despite his injury, Darnold said there was a "close to zero-percent chance" that he wouldn't play, so the expectation is he'll give it a go.
Darnold turned in a limited practice on Thursday and has drawn the questionable tag for the divisional round game against the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday night.
But his status apparently isn't as locked-in as Darnold's statement would have us believe and, at the very least, it looks like he won't be 100% for the game.
Sam Darnold injury update
According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Seahawks "believe" that Darnold will be able to give it a go on Saturday night, but they "don't know" for sure.
Schefter also noted that Darnold hasn't thrown a football since injuring himself on Thursday and instead the first-team reps went to backup quarterback Drew Lock.
"Seahawks QB Sam Darnold hasn’t thrown a football since he hurt his oblique Thursday," Schefter reported. "The Seahawks believe, but don’t know, that he will be OK to start tonight’s game vs. The 49ers. Backup QB Drew Lock took the reps the past two days and is ready if needed."
This is troubling on so many levels.
While we fully expect Darnold to play, it's pretty clear he may not be 100% when he takes the field, which could impact his performance. Oblique injuries are tricky and you just never know how things will go with them.
We also have to worry about Darnold injuring himself further and having to exit the game early, which would leave the football in the hands of Lock, who has never appeared in a postseason game during his career.
We'll keep an eye out for more news on Darnold's injury in the hours leading up to the game, but there is nothing to like about Schefter's report.
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