Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy confirmed Tuesday that he suffered a fractured orbital bone during Thursday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL season opener.
He also delivered a clear message to the Chiefs athletic training staff, calling them “unprofessional” for the way they responded to his medical needs. Van Noy made his comments on his Yahoo Sports podcast “McCoy & Van Noy” during a conversation with co-host Gerald McCoy.
“I can understand how Kansas City — the players — gave that training facility an F,” Van Noy said. “With my experience, I probably would have given them an F afterward.”
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Van Noy referenced an offseason poll conducted by the NFLPA in which players were asked to rate their teams on a variety of topics, including ownership and coaching staff. Despite winning back-to-back Super Bowls, the Chiefs performed poorly in the poll, finishing 31st out of 32 franchises.
Chiefs players gave the Clark Hunt-led ownership group an F-. They gave their coaching staff an F, the worst grade in the league. After his experience Thursday, Van Noy agrees.
Van Noy was injured in the third quarter while charging Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He confirmed Tuesday that he broke an orbital bone.
“I ended up with a broken orbital bone in my eye,” Van Noy said. “It’s a pretty bad fracture. I’m still undergoing tests with specialists.”
He did not give a timetable for his return to the field.
Van Noy: Chiefs athletic trainers were slow to respond to his injury
After the injury, Van Noy said the Chiefs’ athletic training staff was slow to respond to his facial fracture. He explained that it is protocol for visiting team players to rely on a host team’s training staff in situations like his.
“I was disappointed with the way the Chiefs’ coaching staff handled the situation,” Van Noy said. “When you get injured — especially something that could be serious, like I was — you have to trust the team’s coaching staff or their doctors.
“And I was going to see an ophthalmologist, someone who does eye surgery. They took a whole quarter to talk to me in the locker room, which I find unacceptable.”
Van Noy repeatedly described the training staff as ‘unprofessional’.
“Because then you start thinking, you know, what if I tried to get back in the game? What if I was, you know, really, really hurt? …
“The way it took time, to me, was super unprofessional. There were also people there — a doctor or a friend of the doctor was there — double-cup fist, Styrofoam cups — like everything was fine. I just thought that was unprofessional.”
Van Noy: Did they take their time because I’m a Ravens player?
Van Noy also said he began to doubt the motives of the training staff.
“People expect you to be professional and do business,” Van Noy continued. “In times of need, I wanted that from them, but I felt like I wasn’t getting it.
“Then you get into, did they take their time because I’m a Ravens player? That’s just the thinking that goes into it. I don’t think so, but at the same time I don’t want them to come out and apologize.
“It is what it is. I’ve been there. I know it. The training room I was in knows it. We know the truth.”
Yahoo Sports has reached out to the Chiefs for comment.
Kansas City won Thursday’s game 27-20. The Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2. The Ravens host the Las Vegas Raiders.
