Detroit Lions CB Emmanuel Moseley injures knee two plays into season debut
Emmanuel Moseley was excited about playing his first game Sunday in nearly a year, since tearing the ACL in his left knee last Oct. 9 in the San Francisco 49ers’ game against the Carolina Panthers.
“It’s the same team that I played when I got hurt,” the Detroit Lions defensive back told the Free Press on Friday. “That’s full circle.”
Moseley’s return 364 days after his injury lasted only two plays Sunday before he hobbled off the field after a non-contact injury to his right knee late in the first quarter of the Lions’ 42-24 win over the Panthers.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said Moseley will undergo further testing Monday to determine the extent of the injury.
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” I know on tape or the replay it certainly didn’t look good,” Campbell said. “But we won’t know a ton until we get the MRI, which will be (Monday) afternoon.”
The Lions signed Moseley to start at the cornerback spot opposite Cam Sutton this offseason, but Moseley missed all of training camp after undergoing a clean-up procedure on his knee this summer and pulled his hamstring in his return to practice in early September.
He was slated to play a few series Sunday, and saw his only two plays at left cornerback in place of Jerry Jacobs.
On Moseley’s first snap, Panthers left guard Chandler Zavala suffered a neck injury and was taken off the field on a backboard after an eight-minute delay.
“That’s my brother,” Jacobs said of Moseley. “To see something like that again, I was just speechless, bro. But I couldn’t even really talk about that cause like I know he’s hurt but he want to play ball. … He’s hungry and to see him go down like that after two plays, man, that’s just sad.”
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Gibbs update
Campbell said he’s not sure how long rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs will be sidelined with the hamstring injury he suffered in practice Friday.
“We’ll see,” Campbell said. “Didn’t feel like it was awful, but it was just enough to where we felt like we needed to sit him today. So, we’ll see.”
With Gibbs out, David Montgomery ran for 109 yards on 19 carries and scored on a 42-yard run, his fourth touchdown in two weeks. Craig Reynolds added seven carries for 52 yards off the bench, and the Lions lost running back Zonovan Knight for an undetermined amount of time to a shoulder injury.
Knight wore a sling on his left arm in the locker room Sunday. He was hurt after taking a big hit after a second half catch.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
