Yesterday, Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett announced that linebacker Leighton Vander Esch would have surgery on his neck and that the team was putting him on injured reserve. Vander Esch initially hurt the neck in Week 7 of this season and has basically been sidelined since then. The Cowboys and Vander Esch were hoping rest and treatment would fix the problem, but after an MRI was performed, the plan changed to surgery which will happen this January.
So what is exactly wrong with Vander Esch? Cervical spinal stenosis is the medical term, it means a narrowing of the spinal cord.