“Literally day-to-day.” That’s the phrase that Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder used to describe Eric Berry on Wednesday. Now, what exactly does that mean?
“Literally day-to-day.” That’s the phrase that Kansas City Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder used to describe Eric Berry on Wednesday. Perhaps that is a sort of esoteric upgrade. It’s at least better than Andy Reid’s comment from Monday.
“Yeah, we’ll see, day-to-day, see how it goes,” Reid said. That was his entire statement.
On Wednesday, following Burkholder, he was ever-so-slightly more revealing. Reid said that Berry is “improving.” Which is sort of curious.
An injured player improving is a great sign, but I’m not sure the Chiefs have referred to Eric Berry as being “injured” since his last practice, back on August 11. We’ve heard “heel soreness,” and we know that Chiefs are being cautious as to “not go backwards,” regarding Berry’s health. But this poses a vital question: what are the Chiefs worried about?
Chiefs doctors could be seeing (or fearing) a wide array of outcomes to Berry’s current health. If he was re-injured in any way, then it would make absolute sense to let him heal until he is completely healthy. But if that’s it, how do they prevent him from re-re-injury? When he came back the first time, for training camp, his soreness proceeded to hold him out for, at least, several weeks. Why would it be different when he comes back next time?
Maybe Berry is simply going to be playing with soreness throughout 2018. But if it was something he was prepared to play through, we would have seen him suit up for a few snaps in a preseason game, or even practice at any point this week.
It’s completely reasonable for the Chiefs to exercise every bit of caution with Eric Berry. But right now, we don’t even know what they’re being cautious of. Until that becomes clear, any assumptions about what Eric Berry’s 2018 season seem completely unfounded. Perhaps he’s on the verge of full health. Perhaps he’s on the verge of another traumatic injury. Perhaps he’s wearing down and getting the Tamba Hali treatment. But as of right now, I can’t justify optimism regarding Berry’s chances to play on Sunday, much less his chances of playing every week of the 2018 season.
Also on this episode of the show, the logic behind the idea that Sunday’s Chiefs-Chargers matchup may end up deciding the fate of the AFC West.
NOT TO BE DRAMATIC, BUT THIS SUNDAY MAY DECIDE THE AFC WEST. (A mostly-sane thread.)
— Joshua Brisco (@jbbrisco) September 6, 2018
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