49ERS’ MCCAFFREY HAS A CALF STRAIN
Christian McCaffrey left the 49ers’ win at Washington on Sunday with a right calf injury that coach Kyle Shanahan thinks could be a strain but hopes is not serious.
Clinching the top seed in the NFC and rendering next week’s regular-season finale meaningless certainly helps, giving McCaffrey roughly three weeks to heal up before needing to play again.
San Francisco’s do-it-all running back exited the game after a 3-yard run in the third quarter. He could be seen getting the calf taped up and then testing it by running around on the sideline late in the 27-10 victory.
Shanahan was unsure how concerned to be about the injury to the oft-injured star who has stayed healthy all season to this point.
“We think he’ll be all right,” Shanahan said. “I don’t know if he would’ve been able to go next week or not, but we’ll have to find out more (today). He was moving around all right on the sidelines, so hoping it’s not too bad.”
Levis hurt again
Titans quarterback Will Levis left Sunday’s 26-3 loss to the Houston Texans with a foot injury and it’s unclear if he’ll be back for the team’s season finale next week against Jacksonville.
“We will see how it is,” coach Mike Vrabel said. “I don’t think it’s anything that’s going to be too, too serious. He couldn’t finish the game. We will see where things are tomorrow.”
Dolphins lose Chubb
The Dolphins were playing out the final minutes of a particularly distasteful defeat Sunday when things went from bad to worse.
The first-string defense had already been humbled and beaten by the Ravens when star linebacker Bradley Chubb dropped to the ground, flat on his back and unable to move because of a knee injury. A while later, the team’s sack leader was lifted onto a cart and driven into the tunnel.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel lamented his decision to keep Chubb on the field in the waning minutes of what became a 56-19 loss.
“In hindsight, I would have absolutely not wanted him out there if I knew he was going to get hurt, for sure,” McDaniel said. “That’s a known part of the job that I understand fully. It doesn’t look very smart at all.”