The Roughriders win Saturday afternoon wasn't easy to watch, in more ways than one.
There's the obvious one, because it wasn't a very good game until the final few minutes. The other way, was the number of injuries to both teams. However, one injury above all others stands out in these parts, and that's the one to receiver Rob Bagg.
Late in the second quarter, Bagg went down grabbing his knee on a rather innocent looking play where he was blocking for running back Kory Sheets as he ran up the gut for a first down over mid-field.
At first, all we saw was a green jersey down, but as everyone at the stadium realized who was down, and what the injury appeared to be, the air felt like it was sucked right out of the stadium. Hearts everywhere dropped.
"It's tough man," said quarterback Darian Durant. "I think it's a knee, it's something you don't want to see from him."
Bagg's knee history is well known, as he's missed the better part of the last couple of years, starting with the original ligament tear in the 2010 West Final, which he would re-injure heading into the 2011 season causing Bagg to miss that entire year. Last season Bagg appeared to be on track, but early in the season he tore his other knee, knocking him out of the rest of 2012 season.
We don't know how bad this injury is yet, and no official update is expected from the team until after practice on Tuesday as they're excepted to learn how bad the injury is sometime on Monday.
There is some positive news as early on Monday morning Sheets did post a video on Instagram of Bagg and safety Tyron Brackenridge running the stairs at Mosaic Stadium. Something he was able to do after surgery last season, so it's entirely possible that his injury isn't nearly as bad, but that's all speculation at this point.
After the game, Brackenridge was one of the Riders most shaken up by Bagg's injury, as the hard-hitting safety considers Bagg a good friend of his.
"That's a tough situation," said Brackenridge. "He's been fighting this for years. Just prayers are out for him and hope it's nothing too bad."
Bagg was on the minds of many of his teammates, including receiver Geroy Simon who caught his 1000th career pass in the game, who admits he actually has an admiration for Bagg despite the age difference because of the work he puts in day in and out.
"I feel so bad for the guy, I'm a fan of Rob Bagg," said Simon. "He plays so hard, and he's such a gifted talented guy."
The mood certainly changed in the stadium for some time after the injury, and it certainly changed on the side line as well.
All season head coach Corey Chamblin has been preaching family. Not only because players should be thinking about their families first, but he wants to locker room to be a family, because of that, an injury like this hits the room hard.
"We said that we would share on the pains and the pleasures of what happens in the course of the season," said Chamblin. "I think that's what we've seen."
As for himself, Chamblin has always spoken very highly of Bagg in the past, and clearly has a lot of respect for his receiver. He didn't know the extent of the injury after the game, but he was certainly hoping for the best.
"He's a strong willed individual," said Chamblin. "Hope that it's better than we all think it may be."
Hope, that's all we have right now, and Sheets has given us some. Now, we hope that this situation turns out well for Bagg, who certainly doesn't deserve this after everything he's been through.
