Bernard Pollard was off to a crushing start in Sunday's 24-23 loss to Eagles. But then all of that contact got the best of him.
After sacking Eagles quarterback Michael Vick in the first quarter, Pollard fell to the turf near the sidelines. He then spent several minutes on the ground getting looked at by the team's training staff once he made it off the field.
Pollard sat out the rest of the game with what Head Coach John Harbaugh said was a "rib contusion."
"It's tough to watch your team play out there, but there's something called a body and when your body is saying 'no,' you have to sit back and kind of take it in," Pollard said after the game.
The good news for Pollard is that he said nothing is broken.
"Nothing's broke," he said. "I would kind of know if something is broke. The painful part is not being able to go back out there and help my boys."
In his one quarter of action, Pollard was flying all over the field. He finished the day with three tackles, one interception and one sack.
His focus now is getting healthy so he can play in Sunday's AFC championship rematch against the New England Patriots.
Pollard has played some big games against New England over the years and he's best known by Patriots fans as the one who tore Tom Brady's ACL back in 2008 when Pollard was with the Chiefs. Pollard also injured tight end Rob Gronkowski's ankle making a tackle during the playoffs last year.
When he was asked if expects to return next week, Pollard responded with a vote of confidence.
"Ah man, come on now," he said. "Never going to leave my [team] out hanging, so I'm going to do what I can."
In terms of other injuries, Harbaugh did not provide updates on any other players.
Quarterback Joe Flacco took his time getting up after a hit to start the second half, but he played the entire game.
"I got my ribs rolled up a little bit on the first play of the second half, and you know that's it," Flacco said.
Linebackers Dannell Ellerbe, Jameel McClain and Courtney Upshaw all appeared to be shaken up at points during the game, but they returned after brief trips to the sidelines.
