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David Njoku exited the locker room with crutches and a walking boot but the Cleveland Browns tight end doesn’t expect to miss much time.
Njoku left the game against the Ravens with an ankle injury and did not return. The sight in the locker room wasn’t a positive sign but according to the man himself, he’ll be back sooner than later.
“Be back soon,” Njoku tweeted on Sunday night.
Shortly after Njoku’s tweet, ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed that Njoku avoided anything serious.
“Browns’ TE David Njoku, who was in a walking boot and on crutches after today’s game in Baltimore, suffered a sprained ankle that, in the words of one source, ‘isn’t serious.’ There will be added tests to determine full extent of injury but ‘he will be OK,'” Schefter tweeted.
Despite missing part of the game against the Ravens, Njoku still finished with a team-high seven catches for 71 yards. After signing an extension and taking over the TE1 spot this offseason, Njoku has turned into a massively important part of the offense. He’s tied for the team lead with Amari Cooper with 37 catches and is second on the team in yards with 418.
With the lack of quality receiving depth, Njoku is an important part of the offense and a key to the team getting things turned around following a 2-5 start.
Browns Not Giving Up on Season Despite Losing Streak
The Browns had a heated situation in their locker room after the loss, which was their fourth in a row. But with 10 games left and the AFC North a bit muddled, the Browns have not lost hope.
“Nobody is intent on giving up or letting this season go and thinks this season is gone,” Browns star pass-rusher Myles Garrett said. “There’s still 10 games left, a lot of football to be played, a lot of division football to be played. Everything is still ahead of us. It would’ve been nice to win this game and good for us in the standings and for this division. But we still have a lot of time to correct a lot of the mistakes we’ve been making.”
The priority for the Browns has to be fixing unforced errors and winning the turnover battle. Cleveland has been unable to pull out close games in crunch time when those factors are multiplied.
“Really disappointing and frustrating,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “You play these games and you know they’re going to be close. Games in the NFL are close, games in our division are close. But you’ve got to find a way to win. And we didn’t do it today.”
Browns Not Blaming Penalties for Loss
The Browns were on the wrong end of two controversial flags in the fourth quarter. One was on Cooper for offensive pass interference when he pushed off Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters.
“It’s something I shouldn’t have done. At the end of the day, I’m a pro, you can’t allow the referee to make a decision like that. You’ve just got to play more clean,” Cooper said. “Guys were saying they didn’t think it was a good call. But it is what it is.”
The Browns were also flagged for a false start on what would have been a 55-yard game-tying field goal attempt. That pushed it to 60 yards and the kick was blocked by Malik Harrison. No Browns appeared to move on the play but later replays showed that there was some motion up front. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett said the team can’t rely on getting calls.
“I definitely think it’s a lot more plays out there that we that we left. I can off the top of my head give like five right now,” Brissett said in the postgame. “But you never come into a game wanting calls obviously. And we weren’t expecting any calls so we just got to find a way to make those plays and be better from those.”
The Browns get another shot against an AFC North foe in the Bengals next week.
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