Inside The Huskies

Day Later Than Planned, Budda Baker Heads Home After Playoff Scare

The former Husky safety received a welcome report after undergoing testing.

Dan Raley

Tuesday began for Budda Baker with him lying in a hospital bed, seemingly a little groggy while mentioning how he hadn't taken a shower following the Arizona Cardinals-Los Angeles Rams playoff game the night before.

"I stink still," he said in a video clip.

However, Baker gladly accepted that delay in hygiene care to undergo medical tests and learn that he had survived a gruesome collision with the Rams' Cam Akers with no long-lasting effects.

The former University of Washington safety later boarded an airplane bound for Arizona and and was photographed wearing a red Cardinals sweatshirt and sitting under a blanket for the short ride from the L.A. area.

"Everything came out clean and I'm going to make a full recovery," Baker said, while thanking fans for their concern. "Definitely blessed. Excited to get out of this hospital and get back to Arizona."

Late in the third quarter of the 34-11 loss to Los Angeles, Baker collided helmet to helmet with the Rams' running back and couldn't get back on his feet, bringing a hush to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Players from both teams gathered around him to show their concern. 

The fifth-year pro from Bellevue, Washington, was strapped onto a stretcher and carted to a waiting emergency vehicle that delivered him to a nearby hospital. 

The NFL team made sure to let everyone know as soon as it could that he had possibly suffered a concussion but was going to be OK. 

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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