Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

It was only weeks ago that we passed along a report outlining the difficult road ahead for Quincy Black. The seemingly routine hit he took from Ryan Mathews during the 2012 season quickly became a serious medical situation, as Black’s neck was impacted in exactly the wrong way. With the NFL Draft Combine providing media members with a chance to talk with NFL coaches and GM’s, journalists finally got the chance to sit down with Mark Dominik and Greg Schiano this week and ask about, among other things, the future of Quincy Black.

The Tampa Tribune posted an article online that features less than optimistic quotes from Mark Dominik, who had this to say about Black’s future:

“You generally like to walk out of any surgery and say that it was a successful surgery, but the reality is, that because of the nerve damage and the nerve grafting and everything, you won’t know if it’s successful or not for several months… It’s a tough injury and a unique injury and, at the same point, it’s hard for us to have any timetable or feel for it.”

He would go on to list some of the players that could fill in for Quincy at the strongside linebacker position. These statements together seem to imply that there is little to no hope for Quincy Black to play in the NFL in 2013. The fact that he’s months away from knowing if his surgery was successful likely means his timetable for a return would more closely resemble that of Peyton Manning, who spent a long time on the sidelines recovering from a neck injury. The Buccaneers have no guaranteed money left to pay Black, which means that the wisest move from a business standpoint would be to release him before paying his 2013 salary, freeing up funds to sign a replacement.

The strongside linebacker position is the first to come off the field in nickel and dime situations, so in all honesty a strongside linebacker who cannot shift to defensive end or middle linebacker is not the biggest piece of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense. The run defense is bolstered by a force at the position, setting a strong edge and allowing Mason Foster and Lavonte David room to cut through gaps and make tackles. However, the pass defense replaces the strongside backer with a defensive back, which is why Qunicy played 50% or fewer of the team’s defensive snaps in 5 of the 8 games before his injury in week 10.

Mark Dominik lists Adam Hayward, Jacob Cutrera, and Najee Goode as possible internal replacements for Black. Considering how little the defense used the position in the 2012 season, it might be worth it to plug Hayward or Cutrera in for run situations, and use Mark Barron in what Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times refers to as the “dollar” position (a safety who plays up in the box, leaving a single high safety) in other situations. It could also be beneficial for the Buccaneers to find a player who can line up as a strongside linebacker in running situations, and shift to a pass rush specialist on more obvious passing downs, to help bolster a very weak pass rush.

Black’s career as a Buccaneer is almost certainly over, but we here at the Pewter Plank wish him the best of luck. He’s never been the biggest named player on the field for the Buccaneers, but he was a solid contributor, and I hope  that he has a full recovery and can resume his playing career, if he so desires, once he’s back to 100%.

Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

When Quincy Black was injured against the San Diego Chargers, the Buccaneers knew almost right away that something was wrong. Black made impact in just the right way to obviously cause some damage to his neck or head. After the game, Coach Schiano admitted that it was a serious injury, and cause for concern. Black would later be added to the injured reserve, and reports would surface that he was struggling to regain the full use of his arm. The defense was bad enough in passing situations, and losing a key part of the linebacking corps did not help matters. However, this isn’t the usual “take the offseason and get better” kind of injury.

It appears that Black is not progressing well, and will require surgery. Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times has reported that the doctors are not seeing the natural regrowth they’d like to see, and the surgery will be aimed at inspiring regrowth of nerves. This is a concern not only for the Buccaneers as a football team, but for Black as a football player. Neck injuries can change or end careers, as we saw with Buccaneer legend Mike Alstott. The report from Holder says that Black is nowhere near ready to return to the field in his current state, and the hope is that the surgery will help him get close in time to play in the 2013 season.

Due to Black’s contract situation, it’s likely he would be released if he’s not in game shape heading into 2013. I took a liking to Black, and definitely want to see him stay in Tampa Bay. However, this is a business, and ultimately it doesn’t make business sense to pay a man millions of dollars to not play, when you could release him and pay a little over a million in total injury protection pay. The defense needs continuity, and Black was one of the more veteran guys on that side of the ball. I hope for Black’s sake and for the Bucs’ sake that Quincy makes a speedy and full recovery. However, it might be time to consider life without Black, because it’s clear that Coach Schiano was right when he told reporters after the game that it was a serious injury and a long term situation.

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Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

The scariest moment of Sunday’s win over the Chargers was when linebacker Quincy Black took a helmet-to-helmet shot from running back Ryan Mathews, and proceeded to thump to the turf motionless. To make things worse he was even accidentally kicked in the back of the head after he was down, but the damage was likely already done.

The extent of said damage is not fully known at this time, but we do know what isn’t the problem: Black’s spine.

In his Monday press conference, Greg Schiano noted that although Black’s injury is indeed a serious one, it’s not his spine that is causing him problems, rather he’s having issues with nerve damage.

“The spine is fine. That stuff. It’s just nerves and things coming off.” Schiano said. “I don’t want to say too much because I’m not even exactly sure because I’d hate to misspeak. But I do know that it needs some further tests to get right to the bottom of it and there’s some really smart, good doctors that are working on it right now for Quincy which makes me feel good that we’re going to get him the best care and get the best solution and get him back to being well.”

Black was evaluated further on Monday and it was revealed that he’s having problems moving his left arm voluntarily. This points directly at nerve damage, but the extent of the damage is a mystery.

What is likely not going to be a mystery for long is Black’s playing status. While the Bucs have yet to make an announcement on how long he’ll be out, Black will likely be placed on IR when the full results of the tests being run on him come back. With seven games left in the season, there is no reason Black should step foot on a football field in pads again this year.

But the next logical question (or the first when a serious neck injury is suffered) is how will this effect his career. This is his livelihood, and we’re not about to speculate that Black’s career is over — and judging from Schiano’s response, it likely isn’t — but the question is still being asked, even if there is an ambiguous answer.

When Black heads to IR he’ll join Davin Joseph, Adrian Clayborn, Anthony Gaitor and Carl Nicks as Bucs players to have been place on the list. Gaitor is on the revokable IR and will return this year, but of all the injuries suffered this year, Black’s is without a doubt the worst.

Further testing is being done on Black and we will have more updates on his condition as we learn them.