Brandon Banks Still Hospitalized; Tube Inserted in Chest

Filed under: Redskins, NFC East

Redskins return specialist Brandon Banks, the NFL's smallest player, continues to fight for his health in a Washington hospital. The 5-foot-7, 155-pound Banks was stabbed early Saturday morning outside a nightclub in the nation's capital in the midst of an altercation between a friend and the alleged attacker, Jason Shorter.

Although Banks' agent, James Gould, initially said that he expected Banks to leave the hospital within 24 hours, Banks has now been there for more than four days. The injury was initially reported as "a surface knife wound on his (left) side which will require stitches." Now, Gould is terming Banks' damage as being "knifed in the chest." Banks has had a tube inserted in his chest, to avoid the possibility of a lung collapsing.

Gould assured that Banks is still on track to full recovery.

"Brandon is doing fine; he has been moved to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, under the care of Redskins team physician, Dr. Anthony Casolaro," Gould said in a statement on Tuesday. "The knife nicked his lung creating a pneunomothorax condition. He still has a chest tube inserted and it will remain until the wound heals and the lung remains inflated. We are hopeful that the tube will be removed by Friday, and if the lung does not respond then a commonly performed procedure using a scope will be performed to repair the lung.

"Brandon should be released within 48 hours afterward. We expect 100 percent recovery where he can resume his offseason training in two to four weeks. We were hopeful that the tube would have been removed this past Monday, but the lung would not remain inflated. Brandon is in good spirits, especially after speaking with his friend, Christopher Nixon. Brandon would like to thank the doctors and nurses at Howard University Hospital for their care and appreciates the outpouring of love and support from his fans, teammates and the Redskins family."

Banks' scintillating speed often took away the breath of those who watched him return kicks and punts as a rookie free agent from Kansas State in 2010. A surprise survivor of the final cuts, Banks was inactive during the first two games and was then released and re-signed, respectively, before and after Week 3. He returned punts in Week 4 and began double duty the next week. In Week 8 at Detroit, Banks set a Redskins record with 271 return yards. That included a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown on which he blazed past the Lions. A 95-yard kickoff return for another score was negated by a penalty on Washington's Reed Doughty.

Although he had a 77-yard punt return touchdown called back by an illegal block in Week 12, Banks still finished ninth in the NFL with an 11.3-yard punt return average and 12th with a 25.1-yard kickoff return average. The only other players to rank in the top dozen in both categories were fellow rookie Marc Mariani of Tennessee, Detroit's Stefan Logan and Seattle veteran Leon Washington.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Victoria Silvstedt Hilary Swank Whitney Port Minka Kelly