Inside The Medical Tent Week 14

PRESENTED BY THE INJURED LIST PODCAST AND FANTASY SPORTS CORPORATION

BY: BRIAN SCOTT AND ANDREW LEDUC

Welcome back for the second year of “Inside The Medical Tent.” Each week I, Andrew Leduc, will be asking Brian Scott, of “The Injured List Podcast,” injury questions that could have a fantasy impact. Brian will be giving his professional analysis of the injury and potential timelines. I will then turn that around into what you should do with that player and who could be a possible replacement. Check back every Wednesday during the season for all the necessary information before hitting your league’s waiver wire.

Brian Scott - There have been some contradicting reports about the severity and type of ankle sprain that Trevor Lawrence sustained late in that overtime loss to the Bengals this past MNF. He emerged from the locker room on crutches and in a boot and several reports have stated that he has a high ankle sprain. That diagnosis fits with the reports, but other reports have also stated that his high ankle sprain will be re-evaluated in a few days and there is a chance he could be available for week 14. Those two statements do not go together, because, as we have stated many times before this year, high ankle sprains are treated very conservatively and are much slower to heal enough to allow players back on the field. Sometimes the initial assessment can be somewhat clouded by pain and swelling, so it could be they were not convinced that it is a high ankle sprain and hence the re-evaluation in a few days. That would be the best-case scenario and potentially could mean a much quicker return. I am hesitant to say that he will be ready this weekend unless he can get time on the field in practice.

Andrew Leduc - This entire game felt like a personal attack on me from the Fantasy Football gods. I needed a combined 34 points between Lawrence and Kirk to win, and ended up losing by just 6 points. It is not hard to imagine what could have been, but I digress. This would be a massive blow for the Jaguars who were on pace for the top seed in the conference. Jacksonville should still make the playoffs if Lawrence misses extended time, but a hobbled Lawrence definitely hurts the chances of the team moving forward.

C.J. Beathard would be coming in to replace the injured Lawrence. You could have a worse backup, ie see New England. I do not expect too much out of Beathard specifically, but he is capable of getting the ball into the hands of the playmakers to at least support some PPR floors for Calvin Ridley and Evan Engram at their respective positions.

Brian Scott - Well this is an interesting one. First of all, you would have thought he got sniped from the upper deck by the way he went down. It looked almost as though he was grabbing at his groin and so many thought it might have been a muscle pull of some kind. Reports later came out that he had a core muscle injury and will need surgery. That went from 0-100 in no time. My best guess here is that he sustained some form of an acute sports hernia or something that might have been there, but not problematic, and then suddenly became incarcerated or strangulated, in which case, that requires urgent surgery to avoid any major complications. So, Kirk's season has ended on an odd note. Some reports stated that surgery is not definitely happening and that it could hinder on MRI results, but there seems to be much certainty around circles that suggest it’s a done deal.

Andrew Leduc - The big play threat looks to be down for the season for the Jaguars now. Between Kirk and Lawrence, this was a costly game for the team. With no surprise we saw Ridley step up to be more involved as well as Evan Engram. The surprise player though was Parker Washington. He looked to be much more reliable with catching the ball than Zay Jones was. Given how Beathard will be the one potentially passing the ball here, I look for there to be a continued established connection between Beathard and Washington to where he could be a FLEX Streaming Stash on your playoff teams.

Brian Scott - Another player fell victim to the new "hip drop" tackle. Based on film of the injury and reporting, it looks to be a significant high ankle sprain. These hip drop tackles are the lazy man's way of getting guys down using the defender's body weight to basically wrap up the opponent around the hips and then just sit down all your dead weight on them. The problem is, in doing so, many players are getting their legs “damn near” broken under them. The least of the injuries has been ligament injuries of the knee or ankle such as in the case of Stevenson. It will likely be several weeks before we see him back.

Andrew Leduc - Largely disappointing considering how he played last year and for where his draft stock was, Stevenson will now miss time at the most important time of year for fantasy players. This has been a disaster for teams. The good news for the Patriots is that they have a rejuvenated Ezekiel Elliot to step in and carry the backfield. He has run solid and quick and could definitely fulfill low end RB2 numbers going forward. The bad news, this is the Patriots offense we are talking about and I do not see many touchdowns in his future. That will ultimately cap his ceiling unless they somehow turn things around as a team.

Brian Scott - This is why I hate hamstring injuries, because just when it seems as though all is forgotten and good, BOOM, there goes another hammy. In this case, Watson apparently re-injured the same one he had injured in training camp that kept him out the first three games of the season this year. So, I find it hard to believe that he will be ready this weekend on such a short turnaround week. As with all hamstrings, until I see him get a full practice in, I do not anticipate him returning to action.

Andrew Leduc - This is another killer fantasy injury given how high most managers were on Watson coming into the season and how he had finally been starting to return numbers for those who believed in him. Reed should continue his rise in this offense as Jordan Love has become very comfortable with him. Maybe we see another spike from Doubs as well, but this offense as a whole has taken a step back, even though they looked great against Kansas City in that upset win. I expect a down week though with a little bit of a hangover. Ultimately I am not putting too much stock into the players on this Green Bay offense.

Brian Scott - Well this one came as a big surprise. It looked like an ankle sprain, a significant one, and turned out to be an unstable high ankle sprain that he already has had surgery to fix. So, with that, he will be sidelined for what the team is saying as an indefinite amount of time. Best case scenario, it was a simple fix and he can make it back in 6 weeks, which could have him ready should the Steelers go far in the playoffs, but that would be a perfect scenario. My gut tells me that he is done and the Steelers will have to rely on Mitch Trubisky.

Andrew Leduc - This injury likely does not effect too many fantasy playoff teams, but you never know. What it is though is another example of a QB going down this season. The QB position has become hectic and disjointed for fantasy managers. What is good about Trubisky is that he does still have some mobility left in him, which could create some scenarios where Dionte Johnson and George Pickens can work freely in some space. The bad news is, this offense is also down this year and with a quick turnaround this week for Thursday night, I do not see much productivity coming from this team.

Come back every week for all of the latest injury updates. If you have other questions we didn’t get to in this week’s edition you can follow us on Twitter below and message us directly.

Brian Scott - The Injured List Podcast - (@injuredlistpod) https://twitter.com/injuredlistpod

Andrew Leduc - (@theRealMrMallard) https://twitter.com/realMrMallard

If you are interested in Andrew’s weekly rankings as well, follow the link below to TSS Fantasy.

Andrew Leduc’s (Mr. Mallard) Rankings - https://tssfantasy.com/andrews-rankings