Frank Ragnow went up to quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Chase Daniel early in Sunday’s loss to Green Bay and told them they would have to make the line calls the rest of the game.
Because Ragnow could barely talk. At the time, Daniel thought it was funny — mostly because no one knew until the day after the game how bad Ragnow’s injury was.
The center, who has been ascending to one of the top in the game this year, was quite serious. At some point in the first quarter, Ragnow fractured his throat.
“It’s pretty impressive what he was able to do,” Daniel said. “It was the guards relaying the calls to the running backs and obviously when I came in it was all passes so that was easy for us to do as quarterbacks while I was making all the calls and relaying it.
“We didn’t really seem to miss a beat and it’s pretty incredible when your throat is fractured and you’re used to making all the calls.”
Stafford said he knew something was going on with Ragnow in the game but “pretty crazy that he was able to finish the game with that.” The veteran quarterback said he had never heard of the injury before, although Indianapolis defensive lineman Henry Anderson suffered a fractured larynx in 2017.
The National Institute of Health said “80 to 90% of laryngeal injuries, fracture/dislocations, and separation usually result from significant high-velocity blunt trauma.” The most common causes come from car accidents and sports injuries and that “laryngeal trauma is rare.”
Ragnow did not allow a sack or pressure while playing with a fractured throat, either, while playing every snap the rest of the game.
“Personally, I had no idea. Talking to those guys, there are some times that I talk to them when there are some crossover things,” running backs coach Kyle Caskey said. “Usually, I’m talking to [offensive line coach] Hank Fraley about that. He looked like he was in the middle of a battle so it looked like just it was one of those games where he was just kind of beat up.
“I didn’t really notice it and didn’t even know it until Monday. He did a good job of hiding it from us, at least, but he kept playing through it.”
Ragnow’s brother, Jack, also had some fun poking at his brother’s injury – while also supporting him for the Pro Bowl. “Eh I’ve seen tougher #ProBowlVote Frank Ragnow,” he tweeted.
Detroit’s options at center without Ragnow are reserve interior lineman Joe Dahl, left guard Jonah Jackson or rookie Logan Stenberg, who hasn’t played a snap all year. Dahl has the most NFL experience at center.
“It was funny at the time. It’s not funny now because it’s a serious injury,” Daniel said. “Dude played the rest of the game and I don’t know if he gave up a QB hit. It’s impressive. It really is.”