Christian Watson addresses painful injury he suffered in Packers' 'TNF' win

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Matthew Couden

By Matthew Couden

Contributing Writer

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The Green Bay Packers seemingly lost wide receiver Christian Watson with 9:11 remaining in the second quarter of their game against the Carolina Panthers, as he left the game in an ambulance to go to a nearby hospital.

However, Watson later made what seemed like a miraculous return. An ambulance brought Watson back to Lambeau Field; he got out, then jogged back out to rejoin his teammates in the third quarter. Fans applauded and cheered the receiver for his surprising return.

Rather than remaining on the sidelines to watch his team finish off the Panthers, Watson actually played and had several more receptions. He later told reporters about his hospital visit and the painful injury he played through after his return to the field.

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"I can't say that I've ever heard about anything like that. I hope I never have to hear about anything or experience like that again," he said in the locker room postgame.

"I think I just came down on the ball or my elbow or something. I couldn't breathe on the field ... got the wind knocked out of me. I got back to the sideline and was kind of spitting up some blood or something like that, so the doctors said I had to go get a CT," Watson told reporters.

Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson reacts to team's win over Panthers

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Watson said he begged not to perform the CT scan, but they proceeded with the examination, which revealed no major internal issues. However, he revealed he "just got a rib" and that "all the major stuff was all good," which surprisingly allowed him to return to the game in the third quarter.

The Packers receiver confirmed he had a broken rib and said he was asked if he felt well enough to return to the game. Watson said he'd already wanted to go back in once he was told there were no major issues like "internal bleeding."

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"I just put on some extra padding, and they had this little molded pad that I put on my ribs," he said. "But, yeah, no, it is what it is. Something always hurts when you're out there, so, you know, just if I was able to go back out there regardless of what was hurting, I was gonna go back out there," Watson said.

He was gone from the game for approximately an hour before returning to play in the third quarter. Watson finished as Green Bay's leading receiver with 113 yards, including a 53-yard reception on which he suffered the injury after an awkward landing.

The Packers went on to win the wild "Thursday Night Football" game 27-19 over the visiting Panthers, with Watson becoming one of the major stories in his team's big victory.

However, a broken rib can be quite painful, and despite Watson's incredible return to play on Thursday night, one has to wonder if he'll now need some time to recover from the injury.