When Darren Sproles went down in the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ 27-0 romp of the New York Giants on Sunday night, there was legitimate cause for concern. The injury looked like one that could have been a long-term setback and a serious blow to the Birds' backfield.
When the news came out Monday morning that the injury was a sprained MCL, Eagles fans and players alike could take a sigh of relief. Evan Mathis, on Philly Sports Talk Monday, said the team believed the injury looked much worse than it was.
“For Darren, based on the assessment [Sunday] night on the field, we were fearing it was going to be way worse than it was,” Mathis said. “The MRI [Monday] let us know that it was not as bad as we feared. The recovery time, like you said, is about two weeks.”
Mathis is coming off a sprained MCL of his own. He suffered the injury during the Eagles’ 34-17 win over the Jaguars in Week 1. While their injuries have the same name, Mathis’ was much more severe than Sproles.’
Also, while no player wants to get injured, Mathis pointed out that the timing is certainly a benefit for Sproles.
“It is not torn nearly as bad as mine is, thankfully,” Mathis said. “With this one, we don’t need to rush him back. We are in a good situation. It happened leading into the bye week. That is a week of good rest and rehab right there. He should be back to form pretty soon.”
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