Report: Talib has no structural damage in his knee

Posted by Mike Florio on January 21, 2014, 3:22 PM EST
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The injury inflicted by the allegedly deliberate hit from Broncos receiver Wes Welker on Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib isn’t as bad as it could have been.

According to Nick Underhill of MassLive.com, Talib has no structural damage in his knee.  Instead, an unnamed source told Underhill that Talib was “just banged up.”

Talib is due to become a free agent on March 11.  He hit the market last year, but he signed a one-year deal to return to New England, which traded for him during the 2012 regular season.

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56 responses to “Report: Talib has no structural damage in his knee”

  1. The hit wasn’t deliberate. Sour grapes from the hoodie. DRC took a bigger shot from Edelman the series before for the Broncos. Glad he is okay.

  5. You’d think “one of the worst plays I’ve seen” would cause a bit more than a boo-boo, wouldn’t you? Belichick’s gone down quite a few notches in my book over this incident.

    It’s sad to see someone who’s always been in total control of himself lose it the way he did when he ripped Welker. The grand mystery that was Belichick’s just not so grand anymore.

  6. Belichick was just trying to get in Welker’s head again. Remember that article where Welker says he still thinks about what Belichick is thinking whenever he speaks to the media? He be playin mind games

  7. Good news. Bitterness with Welker is Pats’ issue. They made the decision not to pay him. Period.

  8. It wasn’t a dirty hit. Glad to hear the guy won’t need surgery. This was just a collision in a physical sport.

  10. “Allegedly deliberate hit”?
    More like “unquestionably deliberate hit”.
    You can argue with Belichick on Welker’s intent to hurt and take Talib out of the game, but the hit was definitely deliberate.

  11. @nfloracle you’re right! BB has always seemed to be someone who’s genius could never be matched. Peyton proved that to be untrue last weekend, and this seemed to have left BB with a red-butt.

  12. As a Pats fan I don’t think it was a dirty hit. If Welker had wanted to do that he would have gone low and taken out Talib’s knee(s) in a way that would have required surgery.

    It was clearly an intentional pick though. He never even considered making a catch just whammed Talib. Should have been a penalty but I doubt that would have made a significant difference in the game’s outcome. One penalty more or less to the Donks wouldn’t have changed to overall situation.

    Pats need a beast receiver and a pass rusher. Probably 2 pass rushers. Doesn’t matter how good your secondary is if nobody gets near the other team’s QB.

  13. Still a cheap shot. I don’t care how many teams do it. How offensive PI goes uncalled, so often, is ridiculous. I saw Denver do it about 5 times last week, and finally it was called there in the 4th qtr.

  14. I don’t understand why everyone is giving the patriots and especially Bill Belicheck crap? They got to the same position they were in last year with A LOT LESS! plus people seem to question Bill Belicheck by saying he’s not so great while they aren’t questioning Sean Payton or Mike McCarthy among others who failed to get to the super bowl let alone the championship game. No disrespect to them but seriously get off his back!

  15. Belichick is loosing all his credibility….he hid his real self before and was better off.

  18. Clearly Belichick loves Talib and his defensive game plan got screwed after that hit.

    That should tell you Talib will be re-signed. That and the fact that he keeps drafting DB’s and then cutting them in year 2. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also went after Cromartie in free agency.

    Blount on the other hand – Belichick doesn’t overpay for running backs.

  23. There is no such thing as offensive pass interference when the ball has already been touched. Not an illegal play. No reason for a flag. If you want a no contact sport I recomend tennis

  26. Welker thought his buddy was going to catch the ball and if he wants to toss his body around to block somebody that wasn’t likely to be in the play well then that’s a play that is up to him to decide to make and he went for it just in case. Plus it also could take a little toll on Talib’s endurance meter. Sometimes it’s good to make play calls that advance the ball while also wearing down a Defense. This play was executed perfectly, except for the part with the dropped ball. And Peyton could have thrown that ball out even earlier to make the timing a little more graceful for Welker’s block move.

  27. Stop it NE fans with the dirty play, who taught Welker to run the pick and take the CB out, HC BB.

  28. DRC won’t be leaving Denver after this year. You can count on them resigning him. He is there best corner and Champ will have to take a pay cut to stay with the Broncos next year.

  29. Glad to hear no structural damage. Lets hope New England can keep Talib and sign him for several more years.He has been a good team mate in New England. When healthy, he is a shut down CB.

  31. I get the notion that Wes Welker really isn’t the type of player that would hit a guy with the intent of injuring him. I just don’t see how it could be otherwise. That play happened so quickly, it’s impossible to judge. It’s a bang-bang play, with one guy running full speed in 1 direction and another guy running in full speed in the other direction. Sour grapes if you ask me.

    I think what BB is doing is two fold.

    1. There’s obviously some animosity between him and Wes. Not to mention, BB’s arrogance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge BB fan, but he is as arrogant as they come. It’s not surprising every other team/fans hates the Pats.

    2. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Offensive PI called against Denver in the Super Bowl. This is BB’s way of telling the NFL, “You have to start calling these penalties, especially when the opposing team is blatantly running these pick plays.” Now that he has the attention of the NFL, I wouldn’t be shocked at all that the Super Bowl’s officiating crew is keeping a closer eye on this.

    As a fan speaking, however, I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the officiating in the playoffs. Seems to me as if they’re letting the players play, and not dictating a game by the calls they make. Maybe I’ve been too intoxicated during the playoffs and am completely wrong – but games are much more enjoyable when flags aren’t being thrown on every little ticky-tack play.

    Hats off to Denver and Peyton, looking forward to what should be a very entertaining football game. And no matter who wins, I just hope to see another Richard Sherman interview.

  32. Leaving a conference title game, not due to injury but because you can’t fight through the pain inflicted on you by the smallest dude on the field?

    Seems a little bit lame to me. I watched Jack Youngblood of the Rams play an entire Super Bowl with a broken leg in ’79.

  34. So many posts on BB. The real issue to me is that Talib got shaken up and chilled on the sideline the rest of the game. Man up dude. And yes, the hit was 100% deliberate, but not dirty.

  37. I never root for a player to be injured, so this is very good news. He does need to get tougher though. Ice up, son, ice up!

  40. .

    The NE – Denver game is over and won’t be replayed. However, the league should look closely at the current rules and consider ways to protect the DB from being blindsided by the crossing WR . I’d hate to be on the receiving end of a Megatron hit in a similar fashion.

  41. How many rule changes are we going to have every time a Patriots player is injured?

    We already have the Brady knee rule, Hoodie wants to eliminate extra points because Gronk was injured on one, and now will pick plays will be reviewed too? That won’t be good for the Pats offense!

  42. I don’t care for how such an important part of this defense keeps getting hurt at the wrong times… and I don’t think it would necessarily be a horrible idea for the pats to go in another direction.

    As for Bill – if you think this was the off the cuff rant of a sore loser, or a “they are who we thought they were!” moment of frustration, or just something to tweak Welker – then you just aren’t paying attention.

    Bill knew exactly what he was saying. He never says anything that isn’t 100% calculated beforehand. I believe it was a message to the league that if this doesn’t get called, guess who’s going to see how far he can go with this next year. Think roughing up Colts and Rams receivers 2001-2004.

  44. Also, as a Pats fan it’s infuriating to see Talib go down in the AFC Champ game 2 years in a row. You don’t want to question a guys toughness, but come on man, this is why you play all these years – to get in these games. He’s a great player, but completely unreliable when needed most….hope Pats don’t give him a big payday.

  46. People seem to forget that the Patriots had a great receiver who lost his career and use of his body below the neck to a cheap shot from Jack Tatum who made a career of them. Russ Francis, the guy Howard Cosell called an “All World” tight-end, said at the time that he considered quitting football after watching that play. In prior years we have watched Bernard Pollard go after Brady’s knees and knock him out for a season, twist Gronk’s ankle to the point of ligament damage and render him unable to effectively play in the playoffs, and lead with helmet to helmet contact on Steven Ridley that forced a key fumble and knocked him out of last years AFC Championship game. We watched TJ Ward blow out Gronkowski’s knee and end his season this year. I saw Belichick in a prior year take Brandon Meriweather out of a game, bench him, and read him the riot act for a cheap shot that didn’t even cause a guy to miss a play. I think Belichick honestly believes there was an attempt to take out Talib and that was the net effect.

  47. Talib has had injury issues going back to his Buc days and now it’s been two championship games in a row where he hasn’t been able to finish. Couple that with the fact that he is one incident away from a season long suspension and the Pats better think long and hard before making a multi year offer, because that is what it will take to secure Talib’s services for next season. The man wants to get that guaranteed money, because as shutdown as he’s been from time to time, he still needs safety help to cover the very best receivers in the game, and that is a fact.

    My advice: don’t get in a bidding war for Talib. He’s let you down twice in big games, it’s a stone cold fact. Do you want to make it three times? The same goes for Blount. Unless you can sign him on the cheap, it’s best to let him walk as well. He cannot pass protect and is too inconsistent to warrant significant carries on a good football team.

  48. I figured he wasn’t seriously injured, just didn’t want to show how weak he is against Peyton Manning and the talented Denver receivers. Being a Buccaneers fan, I’ve always seen him as a wasted 1st round draft pick who was suspended often, now injured often. Totally unreliable.

  49. The extent of the knee and rib injuries weren’t known, during the game and Belichick wasn’t going to turn him into RGIII and make the injury worse.

    Talib wanted to get back in the game but BB wouldn’t allow it.

  50. Wow. When he didn’t return I assumed it HAD to be something serious. Hard to believe he didn’t even attempt to come back and play. And I sure didn’t see any video of him begging coaches to get back in there. The shots I saw were him talking to teammates off by himself without his helmet even in sight.

  51. Denver runs picks on every play but know they aren’t going to get called for it on every play. Of course, teams that run picks happen to win lots of games.
    I do wonder what’s going to happen when someone blows Welker up on a pick attempt?

  52. As a Charger fan and a fan that hates the Patriots more than any other team…

    Bill Belichick is the best coach of all time.

    No amount of hate equals the respect this guy deserves for what he’s done. He coached a team to 11-5 with a QB that was a bust when coached by somebody else and all without Tom Brady.

    Even the best, and even the most respected of coaches can sometimes make a mistake and cross the line. Belichick did that in this situation, it looks like sour grapes to me. He’ll be back and just as angry next year, and not a single person will doubt them to win their division again.

  55. Anyone who thinks that Wes Welker would never intentionally hit Talib doesn’t know Wes Welker. As tough as they come, it has been said many times that if Welker were a DB, he would be a feared, big time hitter (of course, he would have to be bigger!). That being said, the hit wasn’t dirty in form. There is no doubt that it was an intentional, full fledged block, that was a borderline penalty, but only on the basis of timing. There was no intention whatsoever to just get in Talib’s way, as happens on most pick plays. Welker made a beeline for Talib, looking directly at him the whole way. His block should be looked at by every DB that gets fined as the perfect example of how to legally clock a receiver. Welker led perfectly with his shoulder into Talib’s chest with full force, while at the same time protecting his and Talib’s head by making sure his helmet was not part of the contact. Welker knows Talib well, and knows he can be taken out of a game mentally. It was intended to send a message, which it did perfectly. Talib’s physical injury was more of a bonus than an intent. It was the damage to Talib’s psyche that was the intent – and perfectly executed.

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