Initial Lane Johnson Injury Update is Awful News for Eagles
The Eagles' sloppy play was the most frustrating part of Sunday's game against the New York Jets, but it was far from the only bad part. Lane Johnson also went down with an injury, and the offensive line really struggled without him.
The first post-game injury update on Johnson is here, and it's a bad one.
Initial X-rays on #Eagles RT Lane Johnson’s right ankle came back negative, an NFL source said.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) October 16, 2023
Belief is it could be a high ankle sprain, but an MRI tomorrow morning will tell more, source said.
Eagles News: Lane Johnson Injury Update
X-rays on Lane Johnson's ankle came back negative after Sunday's loss to the New York Jets, and the belief is that he has suffered a high-ankle sprain. He will undergo further testing on Monday,.
If you're a "glass-half-full" kind of person, the negative x-rays are obviously good. It's not a broken ankle, so he's probably not out for the season. But a high-ankle sprain is still pretty terrible news. That's almost certainly a multi-week injury, and it's the kind of thing that has the potential to linger and have a negative impact on his play when he does return.
Jack Driscoll filled in forJohnson after the injury, and the results were pretty abysmal.
If Tyler Steen can’t get on the field over Jack Driscoll then… pic.twitter.com/sec5q5B0ua
— Shane Haff (@ShaneHaffNFL) October 15, 2023
Driscoll made three starts last year (two in place of Johnson), and things weren't pretty then either.
Pro Football Focus gave him a grade of just 60.5 on the season, including 56.2 in pass protection and 61.6 as a run blocker. For comparison, Johnson has a pass-blocking grade of 80.4 and a run-blocking grade of 73.0, good for 78.6 overall in 2023.
Tyler Steen could be an option too, but considering the rookie took a few weeks to even make the active roster, it doesn't seem like he's far enough along in his development to be any sort of an upgrade over Driscoll.
The offense isn't going to look the same, no matter who steps in for Johnson. Just check out these splits with and without him through his career:
The #FlyEaglesFly stats with & without Lane Johnson:
— The College Kids (@TCK_Experience) October 15, 2023
Record:
With: 84-47-1
Without: 13-23
PPG:
With: 26.4
Without: 22.3
3rd Down %:
With: 42.8
Without: 38.9
4th Down %:
With: 57.4
Without: 40.6
Lane Johnson is the key piece to the success of the Philadelphia Eagles. pic.twitter.com/tmiomNFex2
Of course, maybe the MRI results will bring good news on Monday and we'll only need to prepare for a game or two without Johnson. But anything longer than that will start to become mighty concerning, especially when you consider the next six opponents Philly has on the schedule: vs MIA, @ WAS, vs DAL, @ KC, vs BUF and vs SF.
This Eagles team needs to get right in a hurry, and having to do it with one of their best offensive linemen being replaced by a total liability isn't going to make that easy.
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