Hand injury sidelines McNeill

Thursday, Aug 24, 2006
By Casey Pearce, Chargers.com

Offensive tackle Marcus McNeill was scheduled to make his first professional start at left tackle Saturday night when the Chargers host the defending NFC Champion Seahawks, but the team’s second-round draft pick will have to wait at least another week before that happens.

McNeill underwent a minor operation Thursday to repair a broken bone in his left hand.  The injury is not considered severe, and Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer expects his young pupil to miss roughly a week.

“It’s going to keep him out this week, but we’re cautiously optimistic that he’ll be available the following week,” Schottenheimer said.  “We’ll be alright.  It’s a very minor setback.  This young man is very bright and he’ll be fine.”

McNeill left the field early in Wednesday’s practice after a teammate hit him on the hand during a contact drill.  The former Auburn Tiger knew immediately that he’d suffered a fracture. 

“It’s just bad timing,” McNeill said.  “I felt like I was coming along pretty well, but I’m going to keep my head up.  I’ll be full go in a little while.”

Last fall, McNeill suffered a similar injury on the opposite hand.  He left the contest just long enough to have the hand wrapped before returning to finish the game.  Auburn’s medical staff gave McNeill the option of having an operation on his right hand but he played through the injury.

“We didn’t have to have (surgery) now, but I decided to have it to shorten the healing time,” McNeill said.  “I’m ready to get back out there, but it’s good that we’ve got a couple of weeks before the (regular season) opener.  It’s got time to heal.” 

McNeill made it a point to note that his hand does not affect what he can do with his legs during practice.

“I’m going to be over there working on my pass drops and my footwork,” McNeill said.  “I’m not going to let this set me back.  I’ve got to do whatever I can to keep getting better.”

Two more

The Chargers will practice for an hour this afternoon and conclude camp with a walkthrough on Friday.  Schottenheimer praised his troops for pulling through despite feeling the effects of four weeks of two-a-days.

“There’s some fatigue,” Schottenheimer said.  “We’ve got a bunch of tired legs right now so we’ve got to work like the devil to get them back in the next couple of days.  We just have to get some rest.  We reduced the number of reps this morning by some 15 or so.  We’ll take some of that into the afternoon.”