| Black leaves the field on a stretcher in the third quarter. (US Presswire) |
Buccaneers linebacker Quincy Black suffered a neck injury in the third quarter of Tampa Bay's 34-24 victory over the Chargers on Sunday. The six-year veteran out of New Mexico remained on the field for some 10 minutes while medical staff attended to him. He eventually left the field on a stretcher, and his prospects for playing again in 2012 are unclear.
Black was taken to local hospital for observation, and the Bucs are optimistic he will make a full recovery.
"I think he's going to be OK," coach Greg Schiano said via the Tampa Bay Times' Stephen Holder. "We just have to work through some things."
Schiano coached Rutgers when defensive lineman Eric LeGrand was paralyzed after making a tackle during the 2010 season. As Black laid on the turf, the memories flooded back.
“I thought about it immediately, when a guy goes down and he’s still,” Schiano said. “The good thing was Quincy immediately moved his right arm. So, that was a relief. Now it’s a matter of being real careful. And I think the medical people did a great job. … As someone who’s supported efforts to do that, it was a really great job by the medical people to take every precaution.”
According to Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, as Black left the field he told his teammates, "Guys, I'm all right."
"When we heard that, we were like, 'Let’s go,'" McCoy said. "We said, instead of sitting here thinking about it, let’s use it as motivation. With one our family members down, let's stand up for him. That was him saying, 'Go do your thing.'"
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