Packers' Watson returns after hospital trip for chest injury - ESPN

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Christian Watson didn't even know which hospital the ambulance took him to, but the Green Bay Packers receiver guessed that from the time he left Lambeau Field to the time he got back was about an hour.

It was actually less.

At a little before 8:30 p.m. local time, Watson was in an ambulance — one that he climbed into by himself and with his full set of pads still on. By 9:19, Watson had already exited the ambulance, run down the tunnel and was back on the sideline.

In between, Watson was coughing up blood, had an X-ray that showed a broken rib and underwent a CT scan plus some blood tests. When the scan and bloodwork showed no additional issues, Watson knew what he had to do.

«Before I even left [the hospital], I wanted to go back out there,» Watson said. «So I was going to make sure I was going to get back out there if they let me.»

Not only did they let him, but Watson caught two more passes after his return and finished with eight receptions for 113 yards in the Packers' 27-19 win over the Carolina Panthers on Thursday.

«I think it's incredible,» Packers safety Xavier McKinney said. «I think it shows resiliency, I think it shows toughness and I think it just shows the love that he has for this team.

»He had his 100 yards [before the injury], and he could've just sat it. But the fact that he wasn't satisfied and the fact that he felt like and he knew that we still needed him out there and he still said, 'OK, I love this team and I want to be able to go out here for this team and do that,' that gains our respect."

Watson was injured on a 53-yard, deep ball catch with 9:11 left in the second quarter. It was his sixth reception of the game, and he was right on the 100-yard mark. He was slow to get up