The Commanders are 9-5, their best 14-game start since 1992, and have an Eagles-Falcons-Cowboys finish to the season that will see them either get their first playoff berth in a few years, or go home empty-handed after a 7-2 start.
Austin Ekeler won’t be a part of most of that stretch run, unfortunately, as he still has to miss the next two games after going on IR due to his concussion…but he is getting better.
“I’m just continuing to get back through the process. Feeling more like myself this week, getting some good strength back; I had some nerve damage and bruised nerves on my neck that was kind of affecting my right arm a little bit, so that’s coming back,” Ekeler said. “Nerves take a long time, kind of annoying to heal up, but making steady progress.”
Sounds scary, and it is, but Ekeler revealed he had a previous bout with nerve issues due to a concussion that were a lot worse.
“I actually had this happen in my second year, where I had a concussion and was hit from the other side, and it damaged some of the nerves on my neck on the left side, so my left arm lost a lot of strength,” Ekeler said. “There's a lot of nerves that come from your spine right there, I think it’s T5 where it goes right to your arm, and I remember I couldn't even curl like a 25-pound dumbbell at the time. So it took a little bit to get back. Not ideal, but one of those things that you can make your way through and it sounds probably worse than it is.”
Concussions of any sort are serious business, and Ekeler had told G&D a couple weeks ago that after two in one year, he didn’t plan to rush back, hence the IR stint – so, has anything changed in terms of a possible return, and who might he be discussing that with?
“One of the main things is really understanding your situation, because they’re all different; get all the information that you can,” Ekeler said. “We went and got a CT scan, and I'm looking at my brain, my spine, my spinal cord, and I'm really gathering all of the information that I can so that I know where I'm at and what I’m dealing with. What’s the diagnostic on what I'm having to go through, and then using that information, what is now from here the recovery? Am I recovered? And then if I am recovered, what's it look like going forward? Concussions all have a kind of a life of their own, but really what you want to know is, okay, is there any structural damage, or am I more susceptible to getting another one, and am I taking longer to recover? Those are the kind of the questions that you need to really look into and get answers to, and you can kind of diagnose over time.”
And, one thing that ex-athlete Danny wondered is this: knowing how sometimes, you’re still a little hesitant to push an injury even after you’re cleared, how much different (better or worse) is a concussion in that regard?
“Again, each one has a life of its own, but what's common across all of the concussions is the symptoms, regardless of what those look like; whether you feel like you're in a fog, you have sensitivity to light, you have a little bit of blurred vision, headaches, trouble sleeping, it’s things like that,” Ekeler said. “So how do we measure it? We have to get rid of all those symptoms, and you need to hit your baseline scores with memory tests that we have, with different eye tests and things like that. If it’s a hamstring, you could probably come back if it's like 90 percent, and you can still run and you’ll be fine, but concussions, it has to be 100 percent. That's how those are treated with the NFL, making sure that there's zero symptoms and you're back to where you were before you had the concussion.”
So is there any update on his potential return?
“The first game I'll actually be eligible for is the last game versus the Cowboys, the team I got knocked out against, so, hey, revenge game for me if I'm back!” Ekeler joked. “But as I mentioned, it really comes down to just symptoms, making sure everything's gone, making sure I get my strength back in my arm and everything's kind of looking good there. So that’s where I’m at right now, continue to just really get this last 10 percent or so back, which can be annoying at times, but there’s no telling because I'm not gonna rush this. This is not something you rush; you're talking about your spine, your brain, so you make sure you're 100 percent back, so that’s exactly what I'm gonna do.”
Listen to Ekeler’s entire visit above, which of course saw his thoughts on the win in New Orleans, a quick look ahead to the Eagles on Sunday, and more!