Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry is not practicing Wednesday, the second day of work as the team prepares to take on the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday afternoon in the AFC’s divisional round.
Berry missed practice on Friday, December 28, before he was eventually held out of the Chiefs’ final game of the season against the Oakland Raiders. Berry practiced limitedly to start this week on Tuesday, which many felt was a good sign, but he could not participate on Wednesday as he deals with his lingering heel injury.
“It’s difficult from the standpoint of he’s a real critical part of our team,” defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said when asked about the uncertainty surrounding the three-time All-Pro. “He’s an outstanding player. He’s one of our true leaders, the guys rally around him, so I think that part is always hard. You get caught up in different things in the season. But also, if you stick back for a second, you say, ‘Man, this is really hard on this guy, too, as a player. This is something he loves to do. He’s been really good at it, and as difficult as it is on us as a defensive unit or us as a team, I think for him, it’s really challenging.’
“So it’s just what it is. There’s not a lot you can do about it, and every week we’ve got our fingers crossed and hope that he can make it back and go. It’s truly—I know you guys get tired of hearing this—it really is a day to day to day thing here right now, the way it’s playing out. You just got to stay in there and go and figure out how to get other guys ready in case he can’t go.”
Berry was originally held out of the Chiefs’ first 13 games with what the team described as a sore heel, though reports, which have never been confirmed (nor denied) said Berry has what is called a “Haglund’s deformity.”
Berry eventually returned to the lineup to play 30 snaps Week 15 against the Los Angeles Chargers and played 69 snaps Week 16 against the Seattle Seahawks before what has appeared to be some sort of setback.
Sutton was asked Wednesday about who would replace Berry and linebacker Dorian O’Daniel, who hasn’t practiced at all this week, if they couldn’t play against the Colts.
Without Berry in a must-win game against the Raiders when it came to playoff home-field advantage, the safety snap count breakdown was as follows: Daniel Sorensen (63), Eric Murray (33), Jordan Lucas (32) and Ron Parker (6).
In the above breakdown, it is important to note that Sorensen and Lucas earned the start. Lucas suffered a stinger, and the Chiefs eventually removed starters in a 35-3 blowout.
It remains to be seen who the Chiefs start against the Colts if Berry cannot play once again.
A note on Dorian O’Daniel
#Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub on LB Dorian O’Daniel, who has missed two practices this week: “He’s a four-phase starter for us. He’s an important guy, so we’re keeping an eye on that one, pretty close.”
“I wouldn’t tell you,” he initially said with a smile. “We have to work guys in, obviously, and just see where guys are. The one good thing is you’re at the point of the season where if you do have to miss some reps and you get better toward to the end of the week, this is probably the time to do it. We just have to kind of roll guys through, which we try to do, anyway, but when you have a guy in question, you have to say, ‘OK,’ because that usually affects somebody else.
“Sometimes that affects special teams ... It’s going to affect Dave (Toub) and what he’s putting together, so you got to kind of stay on top of that as a total staff, too. But we just got to slide and we’ve got some different options, but we kind of have to wait and see where it’s at.” [Reply]
Maybe if Berry gets a ring this year.....he'll retire in the offseason. The dude's body is just done and he's made enough money that he can go take care of himself outside of football. [Reply]
The injury report later will reveal everything we need to know. Chiefs reporters are claiming that he missed "the start" of practice, so who knows if he might do some light work towards the end of it? Might be clutching at straws, but even if he doesn't play on Saturday, if we were to win and he's back for the championship game then all will still be well in my eyes. Sadly the Berry haters just can't get over their tedious "spirit" jokes and constant moaning about his paycheck. Meanwhile one of our top guards sits on the sidelines and is being paid a fortune but no-one ever mentions it!!!. [Reply]
Originally Posted by UChieffyBugger:
The injury report later will reveal everything we need to know. Chiefs reporters are claiming that he missed "the start" of practice, so who knows if he might do some light work towards the end of it? Might be clutching at straws, but even if he doesn't play on Saturday, if we were to win and he's back for the championship game then all will still be well in my eyes. Sadly the Berry haters just can't get over their tedious "spirit" jokes and constant moaning about his paycheck. Meanwhile one of our top guards sits on the sidelines and is being paid a fortune but no-one ever mentions it!!!.
LDT is on IR and hasn't been activated yet.....which is a team decision.
Originally Posted by UChieffyBugger:
The injury report later will reveal everything we need to know. Chiefs reporters are claiming that he missed "the start" of practice, so who knows if he might do some light work towards the end of it? Might be clutching at straws, but even if he doesn't play on Saturday, if we were to win and he's back for the championship game then all will still be well in my eyes. Sadly the Berry haters just can't get over their tedious "spirit" jokes and constant moaning about his paycheck. Meanwhile one of our top guards sits on the sidelines and is being paid a fortune but no-one ever mentions it!!!.
The guard that broke his leg? Yeah, I hate that he can't play.
The fact that you equate these two situations, man, just take a step away. [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
The guard that broke his leg? Yeah, I hate that he can't play.
The fact that you equate these two situations, man, just take a step away.
He can't step away. Everything to him is a race issue. We all bitch about Berry because he's black but nobody bitches about LDT or Morse because they're white. Even though tons of people have been bitching about Morse and want him gone this offseason because he can't stay healthy. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Pest:
He can't step away. Everything to him is a race issue. We all bitch about Berry because he's black but nobody bitches about LDT or Morse because they're white. Even though tons of people have been bitching about Morse and want him gone this offseason because he can't stay healthy.
Honestly, I’m so over people pulling the race card that I refuse to engage with this moron.
Have you seen all of the people crying about the lack of black HC’s and the shorter leash they have? [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Pest:
LDT is on IR and hasn't been activated yet.....which is a team decision.
Are you that ****ing stupid?
FOR TWO STRAIGHT YEARS HE'S GOTTEN INJURED AND IS GETTING PAID TOP DOLLAR FOR HIS POSITION. IF YOU'RE TOO THICK TO WORK OUT THAT HE'S ALSO COSTING THE ORGANISATION "MONEY" (LIKE BERRY) THEN GO BLOW A LAMPOST, BECAUSE I CAN'T HELP YOU BUDDY :-) . [Reply]
Originally Posted by O.city:
The guard that broke his leg? Yeah, I hate that he can't play.
The fact that you equate these two situations, man, just take a step away.
So Berry ruptured his achilles and has bone spurts as a result. Are you suggesting his injury is not bad too? And whatever happened to LDT is beyond the point. He was injured LAST YEAR as well and missed several games. But hey, like I said, NOBODY WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT and nobody mentions his paycheck :-) . [Reply]
