What some fans might have missed from Monday's matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams was how Bucs center A.Q. Shipley had to be pulled out late in the game due to injury. While there was some initial optimism about his status, it now appears that the injury is much more serious that originally anticipated.
Right after the game, Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians downplayed Shipley's injury, expressing how he believes that this was nothing serious:
“He just had a stinger,” Arians said at the time, via Mike Florio of NBC Sports. “It looks like he’s going to be OK.”
There appears to have been a drastic turn of events as Arians was provided with an update by the Buccaneers' medical staff. All of a sudden, Shipley's career is now in jeopardy:
“A.Q. Shipley appears to have had a career-ending injury,” Arians told SiriusXM NFL Radio, via JoeBucsFan.com. “And I feel bad because I love A.Q. He’s one of my favorite players of all-time and was playing good for us. But I think it was a previous injury that might have just got aggravated in his neck.”
The complete details of the 34-year-old's horrific neck injury have yet to be revealed, but at this point, it is clear that it is serious enough to be labelled as potentially career-ending for the veteran. Shipley joined the Bucs in August to reunite with Arians.
The Buccaneers are in the midst of their preparation for Sunday's highly-anticipated matchup against the defending champs, the Kansas City Chiefs, and they will need to plan ahead without Shipley.
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