Baltimore Ravens linebacker Kyle Van Noy blasted the Kansas City Chiefs’ medical staff for what he said was “unacceptable” and “super unprofessional” behavior after he sustained a fractured orbital bone in Thursday’s season opener.
Van Noy was addressed by the Ravens’ medical staff on the field after he was injured while chasing Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes early in the third quarter. Van Noy, however, claims the Chiefs’ in-house ophthalmologist didn’t see him in a timely manner.
“I was disappointed in the way the training staff of the Chiefs handled the situation,” he said on his “McCoy & Van Noy” podcast Tuesday. “When things like that hurt, especially something that could be serious like mine was, you’re supposed to rely on the team’s training staff or their doctors and I was supposed to see an ophthalmologist — which is somebody who checks out eye(s), performs eye surgery and they took an entire quarter to get down to talk to me in the locker room. Which, to me, is unacceptable.
“Because then you start thinking, âWhat if I was trying to go back in the game? What if I was really, really hurt?’ I know mine was moderate but it still serious because it’s an eye (injury). And your expectation of someone to be down there as the training staff asked them to be down there would have had a little more urgency. The way it took time was super unprofessional to me.”
The Chiefs had yet to publicly respond to Van Noy’s comments as of Wednesday afternoon.
Van Noy was able to walk off the field and finished the game with one tackle and one quarterback hit.
Van Noy, 33, re-signed with the Ravens on a two-year deal in April after registering a career-high nine sacks in 14 games (three starts) with Baltimore in 2023.
A two-time Super Bowl champion with New England, Van Noy has tallied 42.5 sacks, 501 tackles, 12 forced fumbles and three interceptions in 143 games (90 starts) with the Detroit Lions (2014-16), Patriots (2016-19, 2021), Miami Dolphins (2020), Los Angeles Chargers (2022) and Ravens.