Staley injured: Pro Bowl tackle leaves with eye injury.
PHILADELPHIA — Left tackle Joe Staley was still in a hospital when the 49ers’ flight left town, safety Jimmie Ward surely was headed for injured reserve and four other San Francisco players were dealing with injuries that prevented them from finishing a 33-10 loss to the Eagles on Sunday.
Staley stayed overnight and was set to return to the Bay Area on Monday after he was knocked out of the game with a possible orbital fracture. He sustained a gash under his right eye that required stitches after he was leveled by defensive tackle Fletcher Cox on a 37yard interception return by cornerback Jalen Mills.
Staley went to a hospital for a medical evaluation that included X-rays.
“It was really swollen on him,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “You could see at halftime he had no chance to get back in. He was trying to do everything he could, but he definitely was way too hurt.”
Ward suffered a broken forearm in the first quarter and is presumably headed for injured reserve for the third time in his four-year career. If Ward misses the rest of the season, he will have missed 22 of 64 games in his career.
The 49ers’ other injured players included wide receiver Pierre Garcon (neck), defensive tackle Solomon Thomas (knee), right tackle Garry Gilliam (knee) and nose tackle D.J. Jones (knee).
Garcon indicated his injury wasn’t serious and he would be able to play Sunday against the Cardinals. Meeting canceled: A proposed Monday meeting in Philadelphia between the NFL and players involved in the ongoing protests has been canceled.
“The league didn’t accept our invitation,” Philadelphia safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “We are waiting for a follow-up from the meeting of a few weeks ago. We’re still waiting.”
Jenkins had tried to arrange a meeting in Philadelphia that would include Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was in London on Sunday, Texans owner Bob McNair and Colin Kaepernick.
“I haven’t heard from anyone who is able to make it,” said linebacker Eric Reid, who has become the 49ers’ spokesman on the issue and who continues to protest for social justice before every game. “We’ve got meetings on Monday. There aren’t enough people confirmed for me to miss team activities.”
Reid and six other 49ers knelt, and Jenkins raised his fist during the anthem. Before the Houston-Seattle game, almost all of the Texans knelt in a show of protest over McNair’s recent comments about “inmates running the prison.”
Reid, who is in regular contact with Kaepernick, said the former 49ers quarterback would attend a meeting only if it was “legitimate.” Recently published emails obtained by Slate contradict the assertion by some that Kaepernick was invited to the previous meeting to discuss the protests.
“He told me he was explicitly told that he had no place being there,” said Reid, who had not seen the Slate story. “The NFL wants the protest to end. They think it’s bad for their business.
“But I think it’s ridiculous that they don’t want Colin to be there, being as he was the first one to start protesting. If we have to force him into the room, that’s what we’re going to do. But it has to be under the right circumstances.”