One of the issues that has plagued Charles Tillman in his career has been frequent shoulder dislocations, or subluxations, and it is possible that is what happened when he reached out in an effort to tackle a streaking Steve Breaston during the second quarter.
Breaston came around the left side on an interesting end around where the Cardinals brought another player in motion in front of him. Tillman was being blocked well downfield by wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who was engaging him at his right shoulder. When Breaston went by, Tillman reached out with his left arm in an effort to make the play and failed. He instantly went to the ground in pain, and came off the field.
Tillman had surgery in January to repair his right shoulder, which was injured against Philadelphia when he went to make a tackle on tight end Brent Celek. Two weeks later, Tillman left the game at Atlanta with an injury to his left shoulder. He played through the remainder of the season with injuries to both shoulders, and admitted recently that it was difficult to raise his arms above his head last season.
He was tough playing through the injuries last season, but Tillman has now had two shoulder surgeries in his career (to go with two back surgeries). We’ll see what kind of report Lovie Smith shares on Monday with a short week ahead of the Bears. They will also have to evaluate the right shoulder of rookie strong safety Al Afalava, who was knocked out of the game. Afalava said he will have an MRI today.
