Tamba Hali and Justin Houston Injury Updates
John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports
Two of the Chiefs’ best defensive players, Tamba Hali and Justin Houston, left the first half of yesterday’s game against the San Diego Chargers with injuries.
Unfortunately for both players, and the Chiefs’ defense as a whole, they didn’t end up returning.
Kansas City lost the game 38-41, and the loss of Hali and Houston was really felt on the defense.
As a whole, the unit gave up 491 yards of offense and really fell apart in the second half when it mattered most. Would the outcome have been different with Hali and Houston in the game? I guess we’ll never know. But, it was easy to tell that the Chiefs’ defense wasn’t the same without its two best outside linebackers.
Head coach Andy Reid met with the media today and discussed the status of his star defenders, and it seemed to be a good news bad news situation.
First, let’s get to the good news.
The MRI on Hali’s ankle was apparently positive, according to Terez A. Paylor of the Kansas City Star, and that’s good news, without a doubt:
Reid on Hali: "The MRI, I'll tell you, was a positive."
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) November 25, 2013
Randy Covitz, also of the star, Tweeted more information on Hali’s injury:
#Chiefs Reid on Hali: "big improvements walking in pool ...he came in on one crutch so we're halfway there"
— Randy Covitz (@randycovitz) November 25, 2013
For what it’s worth, in my estimation it seems that Hali is going to be fine. Perhaps he won’t be ready for this weekend, but it does seem like he’s making great progress already.
The word on Houston isn’t as optimistic though.
He left the game with an elbow injury, and according to Paylor, it continued to swell through the night.
#Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Justin Houston's elbow swelled up more overnight.
— RIP Terez A. Paylor (@TerezPaylor) November 25, 2013
The official term is a subluxation of the elbow, according to Covitz:
#Chiefs Reid said OLB Justin Houston has subluxation of elbow and swelling wouldn't allow MRI yet
— Randy Covitz (@randycovitz) November 25, 2013
And there’s the bad news, folks.
Without a MRI we’ll have no idea how hurt Houston really us, but he can’t get one done until the swelling goes down. The fact that it kept getting worse over night isn’t a good sign either.
Let it be known that I’m not a doctor, just a football writer and football coach, but it doesn’t take a doctor to diagnose that Houston’s injury is a significant one.
Hopefully I’m wrong though, because the Chiefs will need both players at full strength in order to finish this season off strong and compete in the playoffs.