Breaking: Mac Jones Has 'a Pretty Severe' High Ankle Sprain

The Cause:

The Immediate Aftermath:

The Result:

And there we have it. After 20 or so hours of waiting, we have some understanding of the nature and severity of Mac Jones' injury. Given the fact that when he hobbled off the field, it looked for all the world like his season was most definitely over, and that if this was the Civil War days a doctor would've given him a piece of leather to bite down on an reached for a blood-covered bone saw, this is not the worst case scenario. 

But by no means is it the best, either. That range between "Season Ending IR" and "Under Center in Green Bay This Sunday" is narrowed somewhat. Still, we're left with no choice but to spend the days and weeks to come waiting for information from the organization in sports that gives out information like the Pentagon office that handles UFOs. All we know for sure is that ankle sprains are a problem. High ankle sprains are bad. And "pretty severe" high ankle sprains are … well, I'm not going to spoon feed you the end of that thought. Figure it out for yourself. 

In the short term, what we can say definitively is that the line at Green Bay that was once +5 for New England is now +10.5. Hereafter known as The Brian Hoyer Effect. 

Rey Del Rio. Getty Images.

In the term slightly less short than that, the "soft" part of the schedule that was supposed to start in Week 5: Home vs. Detroit, at Cleveland, home vs. Chicago, at the Jets, now looks like a fight for survival. A struggle just to stay above water while hoping Jones has the healing powers of Deadpool, so that maybe this season can be salvaged somehow. 

But even that at this point sounds like crazy, unhinged and unfounded optimism. The sort of crazy, unhinged, unfounded optimism that could only come from a fanbase who saw the highest paid quarterback in NFL history get sliced in two, only to have his backup become the greatest athlete in history. None of us is expecting Hoyer or rookie Bailey Zappe to win the Super Bowl like before. Just for some combination of them to hold down the fort long enough for "a pretty severe high ankle sprain" to heal. If we haven't used up all our cosmic good fortune on that Mo Lewis hit on Drew Bledsoe in 2001, maybe Calais Campbell crushing Jones' precious leg won't sink this season. 

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Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be at my desk listening to "Goodbye Lover" on repeat: