"When the guy came to block him, he kind of trapped his leg," Lewis added. "We thought it was initially a bruise to the knee. When they did further studies on Monday morning they found out."
Lewis said Burfict's first reaction was to try to play through it, but the risk of further damage was too high.
"It's something that can float in there," Lewis said. "The problem is if it locks in the joint, then your leg locks. There's also the fact that if you leave it in there and you try to play, which is what his initial thought was, you can do some further damage. So you don't want to do that.
"When the adrenaline is going and everything, unless it's in the joint, it's fine," Lewis continued. "The problem is you don't want it to get stuck in the joint and cause issues. That's why the best thing to do is to bite the bullet right now and have it removed and get him back and rehab him and get him healthy the rest of the way."
Lewis said he thinks Burfict has a chance to be back for the Nov. 16 game at New Orleans.
Burfict missed two games earlier this season with a concussion, and he has left three games early, two for concussions in Week 1 at Baltimore and Week 2 at home against Atlanta, and one for a neck injury he suffered in the first quarter Oct. 19 at Indianapolis.
After suffering the knee injury Sunday against the Ravens, Burfict made a brief trip to the locker room before returning and finishing the game. He played 60 of a possible 65 snaps (92 percent) and finished with seven tackles, sharing team-high honors with cornerback Leon Hall.
Jayson DiManche also left Sunday's game with a shoulder injury, and his status for this weekend is unclear.
Vinny Rey has started the last three games for the injured middle linebacker Rey Maualuga and likely will fill that role against the Jaguars as well, which means rookie sixth-round pick Marquis Flowers could be in line for his first career start at Burfict's WIL linebacker spot
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