TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cameron Brate, who left Sunday's 20-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a stretcher, suffered a sprained neck, coach Todd Bowles said Monday.
"He has a sprained neck," Bowles said. "He has all his extremities moving well and he's resting. That's been the extent of it. Everything else came out negative."
Bowles said Brate suffered no neurological impairment, either, an important distinction as Brate suffered a concussion in the Bucs' Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs and missed their Week 5 game against the Atlanta Falcons before clearing the concussion protocol late last week.
It was as good of an outcome as anyone could have hoped for.
As he caught a third-quarter pass on an in route Sunday, Brate took a helmet-to-helmet hit from Steelers linebacker Myles Jack. The top of Brate's helmet hit Jack, who immediately motioned for trainers to come onto the field. A dozen trainers and paramedics attended to Brate for eight minutes as play was stopped, sending a chill through Acrisure Stadium. Players from both sidelines went onto the field. Several on both teams knelt in prayer.
Brate was evaluated at UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh and was released to fly home with the team Sunday night.
"It turned out great for him," Bowles said. "It was good to see him [back with the team]. It was good for the guys to see him. It relieved a lot of people's minds."
Bowles said the Bucs do not have a timetable for his recovery at this time.