Just prior to half time of the Raiders game against the Patriots last Sunday, Jimmy Garoppolo was hit in the side just after he threw the ball. He grimmaced in pain, but remained in the game for three more plays before exiting and not returning.
Garoppolo was taken off the field and loaded into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. The injury was ruled a back injury initially, but there was some fear or damage to internal organs so the QB was taken for testing and the results were at least positive in that regard.
“Seems like we’ve dodged a big bullet in that regard, so that’s good news,” McDaniels said about the results of the tests. “We’re still doing a couple things this morning and we’ll kind of make sure we do all the right things here as we go forward. But the prognosis is a lot better than it might have otherwise been. Don’t know yet for this week, relatively speaking. So, there’s a lot still to, I’d say, uncover in that regard. But good news relative to what it might have been.”
That is to say, Garoppolo may not be out of the woods in terms of his injury b being something that keeps him off the field. The first of the week’s three practices were without him.
QB Jimmy Garoppolo missed practice with a back injury and CB Nate Hobbs still not back from his ankle injury. #Raiders pic.twitter.com/OdJheX4qkW
— Levi Damien (@LeviDamien) October 18, 2023
Brian Hoyer replaced Garoppolo for the second half against the Patriots, but when Garoppolo had missed a game earlier this season with a concussion it was rookie Aidan O’Connell who started in his place. For that reason, it’s unclear which of the two QB’s Josh McDaniels would look to should Jimmy be unable to go.
The Bears were also without their starting quarterback Justin Fields who injured his right thumb. His head coach said earlier this week that it’s doubtful Fields will be able to go this week.
