Greg Olsen taking time to tend to son

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen is taking some time off from practice to deal with a personal matter.

Olsen's son, T.J., was scheduled to undergo open heart surgery on Monday for the third time after being born in 2012 with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Olsen was scheduled to be away from the team "until things kind of settle down'' to be with his family.

Here's what he wrote on Twitter:

Ill be taking a short break from the team as we prepare for r sons next open heart surgery 2morrow. Ill be back to work as soon as possible

— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88) August 25, 2014

The team showed its support of Olsen, huddling to pray for his son and family after Sunday's practice. "Any time you're dealing with open heart surgery on a child, it's pretty delicate and scary in itself," Olsen told reporters. "We're unfortunately getting used to this. It's the hand he was dealt, it's the hand we were dealt, and we'll take it on like we have the last two and just hope for as fast a recovery as he can.''

TJ is out of surgery and being brought to ICU shortly. Were very anxious to go see him. Thanks everyone for all the prayers and well wishes

— Greg Olsen (@gregolsen88) August 25, 2014

As for the Carolina offense, Olsen believes it will recover from Friday night's 30-7 exhibition loss in which quarterback Cam Newton suffered a hairline fracture to a rib in the second quarter. Newton will miss Thursday night's exhibition finale against Pittsburgh and his status for the Sept. 7 opener at Tampa Bay remains unclear.

Olsen isn't worried his time away will be an issue. He said many of the problems that limited Carolina to 94 yards and no points in the first half when the starters -- minus a few injured players -- played the entire way were addressed on Sunday.

"The world's not coming to an end,'' said Olsen, who led Carolina in receptions last season with 73. "That's the biggest thing, we need to understand that game doesn't matter. It's going to have zero impact on the Tampa game. That's where all of our efforts are towards.''


(espn.com)