Wednesday, June 7, 2000

The injury to Charlie Batch

Batch caught his foot in the turf during noncontact drills Monday at the Silverdome.

Tests showed he broke his tibial plateau, has a fracture displacement, and has slight damage to his posterior cruciate ligament.

Batch and his agent asked for the test results to be sent to Dr. James Andrews in Birmingham, Ala., for a second opinion.

If the world-renowned orthopedic surgeon agrees with Lions doctors, Batch will have arthroscopic surgery in about a week.

The Lions' first preseason game is Aug. 4 against visiting New England, and they begin the regular season Sept. 3 in New Orleans.

"The diagnosis we've received would likely put Charlie out of action through training camp and preseason," Lions coach Bobby Ross said. "Injuries happen in the game of football, and we've got to move on. We have to get through the arthroscopic procedure and see what is found once they look inside the knee.

"This is something we're going to have to deal with, and we will. Charlie will get well and we'll get him back. What we may do in the short term, though, is explore the possibility of bringing in another quarterback."

ProFootballWeekly.com asked editor-in-chief Ron Pollack to weigh in on the subject.

Q: How big of a setback is this for the Lions?

Pollack: I think it is a huge setback. Batch is a young quarterback, so the loss of training camp is a big setback to his short-term growth. Plus, the Lions have a new running back in James Stewart, so this means they will not be able to be as much on the same page early in the regular season as they would have had this injury not taken place. Also, Herman Moore missed much of last season, and it remains to be seen if he can return to his old high standard of play. Again, the fact that he and Batch will not have training camp to work together has to hurt their ability to develop a chemistry for the season.

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1999 - 2000 Season