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Defensive end Josh Sweat of the Philadelphia Eagles was set to start their Wild Card playoff game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yet the fourth-year player did not play after going through a medical procedure to deal with what the Eagles stated was a "life-threatening situation."
The team released a statement about the state of his health:
"On Tuesday night, Josh Sweat was admitted to the hospital. He underwent an emergency procedure due to the severity of the matter. The doctors addressed a life-threatening situation. In the following days, Josh and our medical team did everything possible to help him return to play.”
The statement went on to say how close he was to playing in this weekend’s game:
“He improved every day but it was determined by the doctors today that he was not quite ready. The fact that Josh came so close to playing is a credit to his toughness and our medical staff.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni previously asserted that he had been undergoing abdominal pain. The team did not divulge the reason for his procedure, but did say that it was not for a busted appendix.
He was officially inactive for the game.
The defensive end traveled with the team to Tampa with the likelihood of playing. He was listed as questionable with an illness after missing practice all week.
The Eagles defense was forced to play without the fourth-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft in its playoff opener.
The Eagles lost the matchup to the Buccaneers by the score of 31-15.
His missing presence on the defensive line created opportunities for rookie reserve defensive end Tarron Jackson, who finished the game with only one tackle and 11-year NFL veteran DE Ryan Kerrigan, who finished with one and a half sacks and three tackles.
In the regular season, Jackson has one sack, a forced fumble and 18 tackles in all 17 regular season games. Kerrigan had just three tackles in 16 games (two starts) this season.
Josh Sweat is one of the reasons why the Eagles made it into the postseason
The Florida State product had seven-and-a-half sacks this season for the Eagles, tied with defensive tackle Javon Hargrave for the team lead. He had 45 tackles, seven tackles for loss, and 13 quarterback hits for the Philadelphia defense.
Those 13 hits were second to Hargrave’s 18. Despite missing the playoffs, we all hope that he gets better soon.
