Eagles K Jake Elliott ruled out of ‘Sunday Night Football’ with a concussion vs. Cowboys

Eagles kicker Jake Elliott left Sunday Night Football against the Cowboys to be checked for a head injury. He was ruled out of the game after the half.

Elliott was apparently injured on the team’s opening drive. He tried to tackle Cowboys returner Ryan Switzer and led with the helmet. The team’s physician decided to pull Elliott and check him for a head injury after he missed a 34-yard field-goal attempt, according to Michelle Tafoya on the Sunday Night Football broadcast.

Elliott was taken to the locker room, and then the team announced he was being evaluated for a concussion.

The team’s emergency kicker is linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill.

Tafoya said that the Eagles will go for it on fourth down instead of trying for field goals with Elliott out. They’ll also go for two-point conversions instead of PATs. This may be why:

Not only did he miss the net entirely, but he sent the ball flying into the stands. But Grugier-Hill did take over kick off duties for the Eagles. His first was a booming kick that went right to the end zone, which was pretty impressive.

The Cowboys had to turn to an emergency kicker when Dan Carpenter went down with a groin injury. Safety Jeff Heath filled in for Carpenter in Week 7, and he successfully converted two of three PAT attempts.

Grugier-Hill didn’t even play football until his junior year of high school. He played safety at Eastern Illinois, and he converted to linebacker with the Eagles. He primarily plays on special teams, and executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman has high expectations for him in that role.

“When we look at Kamu, we think he has a chance to be not only one of the better special-teams players on our team, but in the league,” Roseman said in September, via Bob Ford of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Being the emergency kicker adds a whole new wrinkle to that. We’ll see what Grugier-Hill can do.