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Justin Houston didn't re-injure his knee in Chiefs playoff game, and more injury questions with John Dorsey

We know the Justin Houston saga by now. The Kansas City Chiefs LB had ACL surgery in mid-February which will keep him out 6-12 months. It was a surprise to everyone who heard Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder tell us the injury news a few weeks ago. Such a surprise that I don't think the media had enough followup questions prepared for Andy Reid back then.

Chiefs GM John Dorsey held a conference call on Tuesday at which point the KC media was able to get all their Justin Houston questions in. A couple of key points with the full timeline below as a reference.

Why wasn't this done sooner: From my understanding, the Chiefs couldn't tell the severity of the injury until Houston was cut open for his knee scope in February. They say they (and Dr. James Andrews) couldn't have known the ACL damage through an MRI because he did get an MRI. That should answer a lot of questions on the timeline.

"I mean, that was a long process and that process came up," Dorsey said. "As it unfolded, when you come back and they run an MRI on the thing (during the season), everything's there. You have to think that's very positive. When they went back in February, they did it, they came back and had some other findings."


Did he re-injure his knee: My theory was that Houston re-injured his knee in the Texans playoff game because I still have that image of his knee buckling in that game. It sure looked like something serious happened on that play. Houston said back then it was due to his knee brace, not a re-injury. I asked Chiefs GM John Dorsey specifically if Houston re-injured his knee in that game.

"No, he didn't," Dorsey said. "He didn't redo it. That's the thing. Here we are, you guys, and what's good is, Justin's coming back here and rehabbing, and we're getting ready to attack this 2016, so what I have to do is I have to live in the present, and that's kind of what I'm living in. To answer your question, Joel, no. He did not re-injure it."

The Justin Houston timeline:

  • November 29: Houston injures his knee in the Buffalo game
  • December 2: Chiefs say Houston is day to day with a hyperextended knee
  • January 9: Houston plays 44/64 snaps in Texans playoff game
  • January 16; Houston plays 8/58 snaps in Patriots playoff agme
  • Week of February 1: Houston has his knee scoped (unrelated), Chiefs discover ACL damage
  • February 16: Houston has ACL surgery

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