NFL Injury Roundup – Week 15

We have just three weeks left in the 2020 NFL season. Time flies, doesn’t it? Just a few teams have punched their tickets to the playoffs, which means there is still plenty left to be decided over the season’s final three weeks. The schedule gets funky in Week 15. We have Thursday’s potentially high-scoring tilt between the Chargers and Raiders before a pair of Saturday games with playoff implications.

How are injury situations around the league affecting betting outlooks around the league heading into Week 15?

Ronald Jones, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Finger)

Leonard Fournette was a healthy scratch ahead of Sunday’s game against the Vikings. That meant a healthy workload for Ronald Jones, who went out and scored a touchdown in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 26-14 win over Minnesota. Jones also racked up 80 yards on 18 carries despite injuring his finger in the first quarter. Jones reportedly fractured the pinkie finger on his left hand while making a block.

Jones is set to undergo a procedure to have a pin inserted into his injured pinkie. ESPN’s Jenna Laine reports that the Bucs do not yet know whether the injury will cause Jones to miss any time. The Bucs will reportedly update his status later in the week, but Laine says that there is still a chance he suits up this week when the Buccaneers face the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday.

Ronald Jones may have fractured his pinky https://t.co/ajQMYOKx2p

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 14, 2020

Jones is currently fourth in the NFL with 900 rushing yards on the year. Bruce Arians has said that Tampa Bay’s offense is very committed to the ground game, which should mean Jones will continue to see a heavy workload moving forward.

If the USC product is unable to play this week against the Falcons, Arians will have to instead rely on LeSean McCoy, Ke’Shawn Vaughn, or Fournette to take on a larger role out of the backfield.

The Bucs are familiar with this injury after wide receiver Chris Godwin suffered a fractured index finger earlier this season. Godwin, who also had a pin inserted into his injured finger, missed the Bucs’ game in Week 8 before returning to the lineup a week later. The 8-5 Buccaneers are in firm position to nab one of the NFC’s Wild Card spots. With Jones’ status still up in the air, the Bucs have opened as 5.5-point favorites on the road in Atlanta this week.

Deebo Samuel, WR, San Francisco 49ers (Knee)

The 49ers have been an injury-riddled mess all season long. Deebo Samuel has been in-and-out of the lineup himself as a result of a variety of injuries, and the second-year pass-catcher went down again on Sunday. Samuel was injured on the very first play of the game on Sunday against Washington. San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said after the game that Samuel re-aggravated the same hamstring issue that plagued him earlier this season, and that the Niners would have to make the playoffs for Samuel to see the field again this season.

Samuel missed most of the offseason and training camp with a foot injury, which wound up costing him the first three weeks of the regular season. He then returned before injuring his hamstring for the first time in Week 7. Samuel came back in Week 12 and played well in back-to-back games before going down yet again on Sunday.

Samuel will join the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo, George Kittle, and Nick Bosa among the high-profile Niners that may already be done for the season. San Francsico fell to just 5-8 on the year with a 23-15 setback on Sunday against Washington, which means the team will need something of a miracle to make the playoffs at this point. The Niners are alone in the cellar of the NFC West and several games out of a playoff spot with just three weeks left to play.

San Francisco will close out the season with games against the Cowboys, Cardinals, and Seahawks. The Niners are 2.5-point favorites on the road this week at Dallas against a Cowboys team that has suffered numerous injuries, as well.

Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions (Ribs)

Matthew Stafford has been dealing with a thumb injury on his throwing hand for the past few weeks, but the issue hasn’t been dire enough to keep the former No. 1 overall pick on the sidelines. However, Stafford suffered a rib injury in Sunday’s loss against the Packers that could keep him out of the lineup moving forward.

Stafford has not yet been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Titans, but he is still reportedly dealing with some pain after suffering the injury in the fourth quarter against Green Bay. He was replaced by Chase Daniel for the Detroit Lions‘ final drive of that game. Daniel came on and completed three of his six passes for 29 yards in helping the Lions get into field goal range.

#Lions QB Matthew Stafford’s status is in doubt for Sunday against the #Titans, but he hasn’t been ruled out yet, per me and @TomPelissero. Stafford is tough and has played through a lot, but he was in a ton of pain last night after his rib injury. Chase Daniel would step in.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 14, 2020

Daniel would be set to start for the first time this season is Stafford can’t play against Tennessee. The 12-year veteran has been a backup at numerous stops around the league over the course of his career, but he has never enjoyed a long stint as a starter. While Sunday’s game has no playoff implications for the 5-8 Lions, the Titans are still duking it out with the Indianapolis Colts for AFC South supremacy.

The Titans have opened as hefty 10.5-point favorites at home against the potentially-shorthanded Lions. Detroit has already been playing without wideout Kenny Golladay, though rookie running back D’Andre Swift returned in Week 14 after missing time with a concussion.

Alex Smith, QB, Washington Football Team (Calf)

Alex Smith was forced to leave Sunday’s win over San Francisco early with a calf injury. The injury is on the same leg that Smith brutally injured a couple of years ago, so it’s understandable that the Washington Football Team may want to take it easy on their veteran signal-caller. The team is reportedly still evaluating the injury, which leaves Smith’s status unknown heading into this week’s game against Seattle.

Washington will host the Seahawks in a game with a lot on the line. The Seahawks are chasing the Rams in the NFC West, while the WFT is neck-and-neck with the Giants for the top spot in the woeful NFC East. If Smith is unable to play on Sunday, head coach Ron Rivera said that Dwayne Haskins will likely get the nod.

Haskins has played in just five games this season. He was benched for Kyle Allen following an inauspicious start to the year, but he came on in relief after Smith left Sunday’s win over the 49ers. Haskins wound up completing seven of his 12 passes for 51 yards in helping Washington close out their victory. On the season, the former first-round pick has completed 60.8 percent of his throws for 990 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions.

Washington enters Sunday’s game against Seattle on a four-game winning streak. Smith has started all four of those games, but he hasn’t put up big stat lines along the way. On the year, the 36-year-old has completed better than 66 percent of his passes, but he has more interceptions (six) than touchdown passes (four).

The Seahawks have opened as 5.5-point favorites in this one. Washington may also still be without leading rusher Antonio Gibson, who missed Sunday’s game after suffering a toe injury in the previous game against Pittsburgh.