It started as a sore calf, one that required a little wrapping to get him through the game. It ended as something much worse, already forcing Jason Taylor out of Sunday’s game at Dallas.
Taylor, who has started 133 consecutive games, underwent emergency surgery Monday morning to relieve pressure in his left calf. He’ll miss at least one week, though the Redskins weren’t sure how many games he would have to sit out beyond Sunday. Taylor was released from the hospital late Monday afternoon and was unavailable for comment.
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Defensive line coach John Palermo said Demetric Evans would replace Taylor. He can’t match Taylor’s pass-rushing skills, but Evans weighs 43 pounds more than Taylor, which could help against Dallas’ power ground game.
Evans has started 12 games in five seasons with the Redskins.
“Any guy who tells you they don’t want more opportunities is not being honest,” Evans said. “At the same time you don’t want them to come because someone went down.
“It’s definitely a setback because we brought Jason in to be one of the top premier pass-rushers in the league. We are really going to miss him.”
“We’ll miss his leadership,” Palermo said. “He never wants to come out of the game, even if he’s on one leg. And we’ll miss the obvious: which is him coming off the edge. … But it’s great [to have] Demetric. He’s done everything we’ve asked him to do.”
This is Taylor’s second injury; he missed less than two weeks with a sprained right knee.
Sunday, Taylor was kicked in the calf during the second quarter of the 24-17 win over Arizona. He had his leg wrapped and played the rest of the game with no problems.
“I didn’t even know he was injured until I came in this morning,” Redskins coach Jim Zorn said.
However, late Sunday night his leg started bothering him more. He talked to the Redskins doctors and then went to a local hospital. The nerve in his calf was “pinched off a little bit,” according to Zorn, and left his ankle feeling numb. The blood in his muscle pooled up and created pressure in his calf. Doctors told him he had compartmental syndrome, which, in severe cases, can cause loss of limb or even death.
So doctors, apparently concerned with possible nerve damage, relieved the pressure with a 20-minute procedure.
Taylor, who has 118 career sacks, has one this season for Washington. He tipped two passes in Sunday’s win and commands more attention than the other Redskins’ pass rushers. Washington can also turn to reserves Erasmus James and Chris Wilson for more speed off the edge. Wilson will be the third-down rusher, with Evans shifting inside; James will rotate into the game as well.
James, a former first-round pick by Minnesota, was inactive Sunday for the first time this season.
“He hasn’t been where he wants to be or where we want him to be,” Zorn said, “but he’s on an uphill track and that’s good.”
