Joe Flacco’s mangled knee brace worried his coach and teammate

BALTIMORE — During the third quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco scrambled for 14 yards.

But after an awkward slide into the ground, he had to hop off of the field directly into the locker room.

Initially, it looked like Flacco was seriously hurt, as he wasn’t putting any amount of weight on his leg. But Flacco would return just a few plays later, as he was completely fine. Flacco was hopping around because the knee brace bent at a 90 degree angle, locking up and putting a lot of pressure on the knee.

“The brace got caught when I went down on it,” Flacco said after the Ravens’ 21-14 victory. “I was just trying to do my little slide pop up. I could tell right away, and it surprised me. The brace got caught and just totally bent out. I knew the trainers had another one, so I was just trying to get that on as soon as possible.”

But it still scared both Ravens coach John Harbaugh and wide receiver Mike Wallace. Because while Flacco was hopping off of the field, he wouldn’t tell anyone that he was completely hurt, leaving everyone wondering what in the world just happened. He was completely silent.

“I saw the brace mangled beyond recognition,” Harbaugh said. “I was just hoping the knee underneath it was fine, which it was. That’s all that went through my mind — how is the knee? I even said to him, ’how is the knee?’ when he was coming off. He kind of just didn’t say anything; he just went to the locker room. I didn’t feel great about that.”

Wallace figured Flacco was fine, but still was a bit concerned after the way he just hopped off the field.

“I knew it wasn’t serious because I saw when it happened, but I was still scared because I saw when he slid,” Wallace said. “I’m like, man, that’s one of the ugliest slides I’ve ever seen. You can’t be doing that. I think everybody admitted they were a little nervous about it just because the way he slid and his knee brace got caught in the ground, but I knew he was fine because of how he acted when he was on the ground. He was just like, whatever.”

Flacco apologized for causing all of his teammates, coaches and fans to gasp as he hobbled off the field. But, as he said, he was just trying to get back into the game as efficiently as possible.

“Hey man, that’s part of this game,” Flacco said. “I’m sorry to put everybody through that. That’s what one of our coaches told me. On you way into the tunnel, couldn’t you just tell me it was your brace? I was thinking, ’man, I’m not thinking about that.’ I’m just trying to get back out there as quick as possible.”