Sam Bradford’s had MRI on Knee this Week and While Vikes are “Cautiously Optimistic” He’ll Play Sunday and I’m “Cautiously Putting a Gun in my Mouth”
Joe Johnson
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After games like Monday Night against the Saints I think to myself, perhaps I’ll have to change the title of my site! But then a voice in my head tells me to just wait. It’s the Vikings it says. They always find a way to piss all over your happiness, it says. Despite the fact that that may mean I’ve officially gone crazy because of this team, that voice may have ended up being right, yet again, as it was announced a few hours ago that Sam Bradford has had pain/soreness/swelling in his left knee (a knee that he’s had MULTIPLE ACL surgeries on, too) that was bad enough that he’s been limited in practice and also that he required a trip to the old radiation magnet to ensure that there wasn’t some sort of ligament damage. He underwent an MRI, according to ESPN’s “source” and it did not reveal any “specific damage” which sounds encouraging until you realize that MRI’s don’t always offer a “clear picture in a knee that has undergone multiple ACL repairs.” Again according to ESPN.
Despite how horrifying (and typical) that sounds, the Vikings do sound like they believe Bradford will play Sunday, so it can’t be THAT bad. Right? Please say yes. Did I say cautiously optimistic? Well, it depends on who you ask. The press asked coach Zimmer about it and he said:
“I’m not going to talk about who has had MRIs or who hasn’t had MRIs, lots of guys have MRIs.”
I’d call that more cautiously Classic Zimmer, valedictorian of the Bill Belichick School of discussing injuries. He continued when asked what sort of protections they’d use to ensure that Bradford didn’t sustain any additional damage to that knee against a Steelers defense that is loads better than the group the Vikings (and their offensive line) encountered on Monday Night (Which also makes this a short week for the Vikes, Bradford and that knee):
“I’m not going to get too specific, but we’re always going to make sure that anybody that has anything that we’re trying to protect them.”
So far this week Bradford has been a “limited participant” on the team’s practice reports. That ESPN source was the one stating that the belief is that Bradford should be able to play this weekend, but the problem extends far beyond the Steelers game for Bradford and the Vikings. Bradford, who was only sacked once Monday night, obviously has had a history of knee injuries to that left knee and considering it’s the first week of the season still and he’s had to undergo an MRI on that knee, it’s extremely disconcerting to hear that this is a reality. Not to make this all about me, but my largest fear going into this season was that Bradford would get hurt and it just feels so Vikings to have Bradford play like Tom Brady’s brother who looks extra goofy when he throws the ball on Monday and then, four days later, having to have an MRI to see if he was going to miss the rest of the season because his knee apparently fell apart despite it not being hit (sound familiar?). The Vikings have not had a SINGLE quarterback start back to back 16 game seasons since 1978 and while Bradford can’t this year (as he started the second game of the season last year) there always seems to be an injury to a Vikings quarterback the year after he probably should’ve been injured (like Bradford last year, after he took a zillion hits as the offensive line was comprised of guys from the CFL and KFC).
Should he not be able to play obviously he’d be replaced by recent Vikings signing, Case Keenum, who performed admirably in the pre-season but also is Case Keenum. Hopefully, this is just some minor pain and swelling and it’s not some sort of bursitis or something where the cartilage is falling apart and thus a chronic issue is just beginning. We need Bradford healthy this year to accomplish what this team can accomplish and especially considering the work this franchise has done to ensure that Bradford will be able to succeed this year, it’d just be so awful to lose a guy who finally seems to be living up to that first overall pick/gigantic rookie contract he received back when he was drafted. I’ve always been a Bradford guy, which I’ve stated a lot and gotten essentially run out of multiple Vikings boards/forums for. So that, combined with his play on Monday and the doom and gloom from the ESPN article (and/or me just interpreting it that way, as I can infer negativity from a Family Circus cartoon (Mostly because of Billy, but I don’t think I’m alone on that)) perhaps made this a pretty reactionary and panicky article, but, after 33 years of being a Vikings fan (and zero years as a Family Circus fan)… Can you blame me?!?