Lewis Cine Suffers Serious Leg Injury in London
Josh Frey
|
The Minnesota Vikings may have come out on top in their London showdown with the New Orleans Saints, but along the way they suffered a major blow. During the first half, Lewis Cine had to be carted off the field in an air case after suffering a scary looking leg injury. Immediately after leaving the field, Cine was taken to a local hospital, and the Vikings ruled him out for the remainder of the game.
Following the game, Kevin O’Connell described Cine’s injury as a lower leg fracture, and he is staying behind in London to undergo surgery. Team officials will stay behind with him as well. O’Connell called the injury a very tough moment for the team. Indeed, this is a devastating injury for a promising young player. Below, you can watch O’Connell’s entire postgame press conference:
Obviously, the main concern is making sure Cine fully recovers from this injury, but this is just the latest chapter in what appears to go down as a very frustrating rookie season for the safety. After being selected in the first round by the Vikings in this spring’s draft out of Georgia, the rookie was considered to be competing with Cam Bynum for a starting job on the defense.
Instead, Cine sat out the season opener against Green Bay with a separate knee injury, and he appeared for just one defensive snap against the Philadelphia Eagles. Even when Harrison Smith sat out of the Week 3 game against the Detroit Lions, Cine could not get on the field as Josh Metellus started at safety over him. He played in 15 special teams snaps against each of the Eagles and Lions.
Moving forward, the Vikings must navigate through the second injury at the safety position over the past three weeks. When Smith missed last week with a concussion, Myles Dorn was elevated from the practice squad, and that looks like a possibility for the remainder of the season as well. Dorn performed strongly throughout preseason, recording 13 tackles and a pair of pass defenses, per FootballDB.com.
For Week 5, the Vikings return home to U.S. Bank Stadium to host the Chicago Bears. It will be Minnesota’s third NFC North showdown in the first five weeks.
Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho with a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing as well as minors in History, Human Biology, and Journalism. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh can often be found training for a marathon, playing video games, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. For more of his takes, NFL and otherwise, check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken