Dr. David Chao: “Certainly five rib fractures in unusual, certainly both sides is unusual. I’ve never seen, other than a massive car accident, ribs broken on both sides at the same time. I haven’t seen that from football from one hit, so it does seem like it was one from the week before, and one from this week. The good news is that I don’t think the lung issues are bad, otherwise it would pretty much be malpractice to allow the quarterback to stand on the sidelines for the whole second half if he had a significant lung collapse. So I think it was probably small, or a small pulmonary contusion of some sort… The ribs usually recover reliably in 2-4 weeks. The lung is a little more questionable in the timeline. The bad news is that there’s no way Drew plays in November, the good news is that I would be shocked if he doesn’t come back before the end of the regular season and come back well. You’re looking at December. Is it mid-December, is it later-December, hard to say at this time, but I believe he will be back and be himself again.” (Full Segment Above)
Listen to Doctor David Chao, a former team physician for the San Diego Chargers for 17 seasons, join Outkick the Coverage with Clay Travis to predict when he thinks Drew Brees will be able to safely return to the field again, as there has been a wide array of predictions into his expected absence ranging from 1-2 weeks, to possibly even 1-2 months.
Check out the video above as Dr. Chao details the severity and complications of rib and lung injuries, and if, and when Brees will be able to return to the Saints at full strength for potentially one final hurrah at a Super Bowl.
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