Department of Bad News: Chris Cooley

Done

The inevitable became evitable yesterday as the Redskins placed injured Pro Bowl tight end Chris Cooley on the season ending injured reserve list, his broken ankle did not heal as fast as had been hoped and Chris is now guaranteed to miss the team's final five games of the season. He joins the parade of what is now nine players on injured reserve so far in the 2009 season.

Chris injured his ankle in a crossing pattern in the second quarter of game seven, the home Monday Night Football loss against the Eagles on 26 October 2009, the instant reporting on the injury predicted Chris was lost for the season, after seeing a specialist talk got happy about Chris' return, the post surgery prediction was a month out, meaning that with the bye the following week Chris would have been back as soon as... this past Sunday, the game eleven loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia.

Recovery was not as quick or as easy as the delayed reporting back in October, a week ago on 24 November 2009 Chris even admitted that he was probably done for the season, openly questioning whether there was any purpose in the team insisting he come back in 2009.

Many Redskins fans were not buying that initial sunshine anyway, with the team tanking, the season lost and Chris still a vital part of this offense for the forseeable future, the decision was made to shut him down for the year.

Before the injury, Chris was Jason Campbell's favorite target, through six full games this season Jason had connected with Chris Cooley 23 times, compared to Santana Moss with 21 catches through six games and eighteen catches through six for Antwaan Randle El. Replacement tight end Fred Davis had seven catches in the first six games, and has had 20 in the following five.

These nine games are the first nine games Chris will have missed in his professional career. Get it well, get it back, see you in 2010.



Chris Cooley on the field after his ankle injury in October: AP Photo from here.