UPDATE: How Panthers TE Greg Olsen broke his foot, plus a source talks timeline

Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen emotionally confirmed that he broke his foot in Sunday’s 9-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills at Bank of America Stadium.

Meeting with reporters in the locker room after the game, Olsen confirmed that the injury, which occurred late in the first half, is a broken foot. He left the field, limping and without a shoe on his right foot, and returned in the second half with crutches and a walking boot.

“It’s tough,” Olsen said. “I broke my foot pretty straightforward. The X-ray was pretty conclusive.”

Olsen hasn’t missed a start with the Panthers, making 82 straight after Sunday. Now he will miss what he described as “a lot of games.”

A source told the Observer that Olsen will be out for six to eight weeks, but that the timeline could change with further evaluation.

“I’ve been very lucky in my career to not get injured a lot,” he said. “So this is going to be something that takes a little time, but sometimes that’s just part of the game.”

The injury occurred in the second quarter.

“I was running a route and I just stepped and I just fell,” Olsen said. “I just felt something in my right foot. I didn’t touch anybody. It’s just the way my foot went down. It just popped.”

Olsen wouldn’t speculate on how long he would be out.

“It’s hard to say right now,” he said. “We’ve got to regroup. We’ll get with the doctors in the morning and kind of see what the plan of attack is.”

Olsen’s contract was updated before the season to include incentives for such things as a fourth consecutive 1,000-yard receiving season. It is unclear how long Olsen will be out. He is scheduled to meet with foot specialist Robert Anderson on Monday, head coach Ron Rivera said.

“You’re tormented when something like that happens,” said quarterback Cam Newton after the game. “The optimism is, we’re still going to have him at some point this year.”

This story was originally published September 17, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "UPDATE: How Panthers TE Greg Olsen broke his foot, plus a source talks timeline."