Drue Tranquill injury issues ,Kansas City Chiefs linebacker took a knee to the head early in the first quarter of the team’s “Sunday Night Football” game against the Green Bay Packers. Tranquill attempted to tackle running back A.J. Dillon but was injured in the process.
Following a first-and-10 play from the Green Bay 34-yard line, linebacker Drue Tranquill exited Kansas City’s Sunday Night Football contest. At the tail end of an AJ Dillon rushing attempt, the running back hit Tranquill in the head/shoulder area with his knee. Tranquill remained down on the field entering a commercial break, later getting to the sideline with some help from the Chiefs’ training staff.
Drue Tranquill Injury Update
After being examined in the on-site medical tent, Tranquill went back to the locker room to be evaluated more. He was replaced by Jack Cochrane as the club’s MIKE linebacker. Per the Chiefs, Tranquill is being evaluated for a concussion.
The Green Bay Packers, thanks to a great night from Jordan Love and a game-sealing interception from Keisean Nixon, got past the Kansas City Chiefs 27-19 on Sunday night at Lambeau Field.
The 25-year-old QB was 25-of-36 passing for 267 yards and three touchdowns.Love and the Packers got off to the perfect start on Sunday night. They mounted a 13-play, 75-yard drive to open the game that ended with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Ben Sims to give them the early 7-0 lead. By halftime, they were up 14-6 after holding the Chiefs to just a pair of field goals and Love finding Christian Watson for a 9-yard touchdown in the second quarter.
Love finished throwing 25-of-36 for 267 yards with three touchdowns in the win for the Packers. A.J. Dillon had 73 yards on 18 carries, and Doubs finished with 72 yards on four catches. Christian Watson had 71 yards on seven catches, though he left early due to an apparent hamstring injury late in the fourth quarter.
The Packers improved to 6-6 with the win, their third straight, as the Chiefs fell to 8-4.
The Kansas City Chiefs entered their Week 13 game against the Green Bay Packers already down two players, and another suffered an apparent injury early on.
The linebacker was slow to his feet before walking off the field and into the medical tent. Tranquill spent a few minutes in the blue tent before trainers accompanied him to the Chiefs’ locker room. Kansas City later announced that he would not return to the game.
Tranquill, who signed with Kansas City during the offseason, has emerged as an even bigger piece than the club anticipated this year. A high-ankle sprain and dislocated wrist have limited Nick Bolton to just four games played, forcing Tranquill to emerge as the leading linebacker in the room. As a result, the fifth-year veteran has logged over 500 defensive snaps already this year (74% of those available). In the Chiefs’ last four games, those percentages were 99, 95, 98 and 100.
Earlier this week, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo spoke about the value Tranquill has brought to the team in the absence of Bolton. Here’s some of what he had to say:
“What I think gets lost in the whole translation here is we lost a really good football player in Nick Bolton for a number of games here and yet, I think I’ve said this before, we slid Drue in there and really haven’t skipped a beat in terms of having to cut things back, the communication, you guys know that the back end and linebackers have to be like this (hands together motion), the chemistry. We didn’t lose that at all, and sometimes that happens…”
Tranquill was a free agent signing for the Chiefs this spring after spending his first four seasons in the AFC West with the Los Angeles Chargers.