Joe Staley injury update: Anecdotes provide good news on 49ers left tackle

The San Francisco 49ers may have dodged a bullet Thursday evening, as it appears left tackle Joe Staley will be fine following a harrowing incident late in the game. Staley was blocking and got bent backwards at the knees. He went back into a painful position, and immediately started screaming. We knew he was screaming thanks to a hot microphone somewhere in the vicinity.

Thankfully, all comments since the game would seem to indicate Staley is alright. Staley was seen walking without a limp after getting an x-ray, and had this happen:

Joe Staley was walking w/just a minor limp in the locker room & Alex Boone was howling with laughter mimicking Staley's on-field bellows.

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) September 27, 2013

When a teammate is fine giving you crap about what happened during the injury, that has to be a good sign, right?

NFL.com's Mike Silver had this pair of tweets shortly after that:

Just walked to the bus with joe staley. He's fine. Hearing his fellow linemen goof on him for his initial reaction to injury was priceless

— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) September 27, 2013

For about 15 seconds, Staley thought he'd broken his ankle. He yelled, 'it's broken!' Thankfully he was mistaken. Hilarity ensued

— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) September 27, 2013

Finally, Staley himself sent out this tweet after the team departed the stadium:

I'm good. And I scream like no dude should ever scream lol my bad.

— Joe Staley (@jstaley74) September 27, 2013

All in all, this seems like one heck of a dodged bullet. When I first saw his knees bending in the replay, I figured it was some kind of ligament issue. He walked off fine and seems to think he's OK, so that is a big plus.

The X-ray is primarily to look for broken bones. I would not be surprised if he got an MRI when the team gets back to Santa Clara, although I don't know anything for certain. I am still a bit hesitant to be completely confident he's 100 percent, but we'll see.