Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba suffered an injury scare Sunday on a terribly unlucky play against the Tennessee Titans.
Seattle was facing 3rd-and-4 at the Titans’ 10-yard line while trailing 7-3 early in the second quarter.
Smith-Njigba unsuccessfully tried to haul in a pass from Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith for a touchdown. Smith-Njigba’s momentum while trying to catch the pass led him to crash into the padded wall at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.
Crashing into the barricade is unlucky enough. But Smith-Njigba’s left knee slammed hard into the only portion of the wall with the concrete exposed.
JSN took a big hit on the wall pic.twitter.com/2Y5A2eYgfs
— Matthew (@HildenbrandMa) December 24, 2023
The Ohio State alum was seen writhing in pain while holding onto his left knee. He hobbled into the tunnel with medical staff shortly after.
However, it didn’t take long for Smith-Njigba to quell Seahawks fans’ fears over his injury status. The 21-year-old was able to return on Seattle’s next drive and even caught a 6-yard pass.
Smith-Njigba’s knee also looked pretty good when he made arguably the biggest catch of the game with his team trailing 17-13 with under 2 minutes left in the contest.
Smith-Njigba caught an 18-yard pass in traffic on 3rd-and-14 to extend the Seahawks’ late drive. Seattle scored a go-ahead touchdown a few plays later.
Keep feeding it to @jaxon_smith1 🍽️#ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/X7nrMV8iei
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) December 24, 2023
After some misfortune in the first half, Smith-Njigba and the Seahawks were able to rebound for a 20-17 win over the Titans.
Smith-Njigba finished with 6 catches for 61 yards — just two yards shy of his career high.
