Dowling Injury Woes Continue, Fletcher Remains Out

[PatsFans.com Article]

Dowling Injury Woes Continue, Fletcher Remains Out
By: Derek Havens

Patriots rookie cornerback Ras-I Dowling's injury woes continue as he was not spotted at the start of practice and Dane Fletcher is out for the third straight day. ...

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[Darolyn72]

This draft pick could haunt this team. Given this piece of glass can't even practice, it probably makes sense to IR him when they have to activate Deaderick and Brace. FIVE GAMES LAST YEAR. ONE GAME THIS YEAR.

He was the FIRST pick of the 2nd round. They traded their other first round pick away for basically nothing since New Orleans will be drafting about 29th this year.

They passed on Sheard, they passed on Brooks Reed, and 5 guys at the end of the first round for Dowling. And when he doesn't play this week it will be his THIRTEENTH missed game of his team's last 19 going back to Virginia.

I would love to hear Bill's rationale for the non-pick at 28 and this pick at 33. Did they look at this guy's medicals??

 

[Darolyn72]

And when I say haunt, this team has two flaws, pass rush and pass defense. He could have helped both. His absence hurts both.

 

[moosekill]

I think he missed a few games in elementary school, you might want to add those in too!!!!

Haunt I say

Haunt!!

 

[JackBauer]

Brooks Reed? Are you serious?

 

[Shelterdog]

I would love to hear Bill's rationale for the non-pick at 28 and this pick at 33. Did they look at this guy's medicals??

It's the same thinking as they used when they got Gronk

Guess how many games Gronk missed due to injury in college: 16.

Guess how many games Dowling has missed in college due to injury? 8 or 9. You add up all his injuries for four years of college, his PG year, and his two years on the varsity at deep creek and it adds up to only 17 or 18 games missed over 7 years.

2010: 7
2009: 1
2008: 0
2007: 1* (I'm not sure if this was for injury or because it was the first game of his freshman year and he wasn't ready to play yet)
2006: 0 (he was at prep school and played the whole year)
2005: 4 games (knee injury)
2004: 5 games (broken hand)

The rationale for the pick is pretty simple: you're getting a discount on top half of the first round kind of talent, one who can start from day one, and who was actually pretty healthy for four years straight leading up to 2010.

Look, it clearly hasn't worked out so far but that doesn't mean it was stupid at the time.

 

[D-Money]

Dowling is looking like Mr Glass.Too early to say that the pick sucked but its not looking good

 

[Darolyn72]

Don't be such Honks. What was the rationale in Vereen over Murray?

Murray played in a better conference had more TD, Yards and Receptions than Vereen in college.

One guy is a star, one guy is a benchwarmer. Also if they took Murray they would not have to have drafted Ridley.

The thing you Patriot honks don't get and its in another thread. Is with Bill's drafting its not an aberration its a trend. Get him out of the 1st round and he misses all the time. He's better with undrafted players than with drafted players. Tate over Wallace is another example. Tate had an ACL injury in college. But yet they took him anyway.

Good comparision with Belichick and Theo when it comes to Free Agency and post first round draft picks. Theo's free agents probably cost the Sox two championships and Bill's poor drafting since 2006 has cost them 2 titles MINIMUM.

 

[RJB87]

My thoughts exactly Darolyn. You take flyers on guys like Dowling in the 3rd-4th round, not 33rd overall. I mean crap, even Da'Quan Bowers dropped from a top 5 pick to the middle of the 2nd rounder because of his surgery on his knee and he didn't even miss a whole year unlike Dowling. Oh, and Bowers is actually playing right now.

We missed out on so many other picks to get Dowling. I don't fault us on the New Orleans trade because that got us Shane Vereen but passing on Sheard and Reed looked bad back then and even worse now.

edit: I do disagree with you on the Murray vs Vereen statement though. The Patriots never just shove RBs into the starting lineup. You're part of protecting Tom Brady. BB and staff make sure you've got blocking down before they even consider handing you or passing you the rock.

 

[sbpatfan]

PatsFans.com really pushing out the depressing articles.

 

[Darolyn72]

Here's the thing the Honks won't say.

Dowling has had ankle, knee and now hip. And the hip is probably one of the worst injuries for a football player. He missed training camp, he played one game and now has not been healthy in 6 weeks. So HONKS, tell me I'm wrong, tell me this is good pick. The Patriot's defense is not at the point where they could take fliers on people. Btw, Reiss called this on draft day.

 

[JJDChE]

Here's the thing the Honks won't say.

Dowling has had ankle, knee and now hip. And the hip is probably one of the worst injuries for a football player. He missed training camp, he played one game and now has not been healthy in 6 weeks. So HONKS, tell me I'm wrong, tell me this is good pick. The Patriot's defense is not at the point where they could take fliers on people. Btw, Reiss called this on draft day.

It's not even half way through his first season. Take a breath.

 

[InRodWeRust]

I really hope Dowling doesn't turn into Terrence Wheatley 2.0

 

[RJB87]

I called this on draft day, too. But the only people that listened to me were the people in my living room and my dog.

My state of emtions went like this:

1. (draft day) DOWLING!? WTF!!
2. (15 minutes later, defending my team's pick against my friends laughing at my team) Oh that can't be so bad, BB's smart. Calm down. Get off the ledge.
3. (later that night) AWW WHAT THE ****!!! DOWLING? I HEAR HE'S MADE OF A DECK OF CARDS!!
4. (even later that night) *throwing up in toilet*
5. (Opening day vs Miami) I was wrong! This dudes pretty good!
6. (Week 2 vs Chargers) - Awww ****. He's hurt. He'll be back soon though!
*crickets for 6 weeks*
7. (Today) Yep, we blew it.

 

[Rob0729]

Has Dowling even been ruled out this weekend?!? Am I missing something. Glad to see the Dowling haters having another opportunity to biatch, but a player missing one practice during the week is not a huge deal. Plenty of players who are nursing injuries are given days off during the week.

I think Thursdays are offensive focused days (since Brady and Moss used to get a lot of Wednesdays off). If that is the case, the training staff might have thought it was better to give Dowling additional treatment since he wouldn't get much activity.

If Dowling is not on the plane to Pittsburgh or on the active roster on Sunday, they you can biatch. This news is nothing more than an opportunity for the Dowling haters to biatch at this point.

 

[Water Boy]

Glass-I Dowling

 

[D-Money]

We will see.This guy has had ample time.I am not panicking yet but lets see.

 

[Deus Irae]

I've had my issues with BB's personnel and drafting moves since 2008, but I've got to respond to the following:

...The thing you Patriot honks don't get and its in another thread. Is with Bill's drafting its not an aberration its a trend. Get him out of the 1st round and he misses all the time.

Could you please supply us with a list of GMs for whom this statement of yours is not applicable?

He's better with undrafted players than with drafted players. Tate over Wallace is another example. Tate had an ACL injury in college. But yet they took him anyway.

Yes, in hindsight, the Tate selection was a bad choice.

Good comparision with Belichick and Theo when it comes to Free Agency and post first round draft picks. Theo's free agents probably cost the Sox two championships and Bill's poor drafting since 2006 has cost them 2 titles MINIMUM.

Now you're just making things up.

 

[hodgey]

Don't be such Honks. What was the rationale in Vereen over Murray?

Murray played in a better conference had more TD, Yards and Receptions than Vereen in college.

One guy is a star, one guy is a benchwarmer. Also if they took Murray they would not have to have drafted Ridley.

The thing you Patriot honks don't get and its in another thread. Is with Bill's drafting its not an aberration its a trend. Get him out of the 1st round and he misses all the time. He's better with undrafted players than with drafted players. Tate over Wallace is another example. Tate had an ACL injury in college. But yet they took him anyway.

Good comparision with Belichick and Theo when it comes to Free Agency and post first round draft picks. Theo's free agents probably cost the Sox two championships and Bill's poor drafting since 2006 has cost them 2 titles MINIMUM.

Bill has been living off the fruits of picking Brady in the sixth round for a decade now. Brady has made dozens of bad picks seem insignificant due to him being one of the two best QB's ever to play. My frustration is that without one more ring he can never be considered the best. Bill in my opinion has squandered possible championship seasons due to poor personnel decisions. Its time to recognize that Bill is a great coach, maybe the best gameday gameplanner ever, but a crappy personnel guy.
Let me brace mysely for the blind mice barrage.

 

[moosekill]

Now is it Honks or Haunts, if you are going to make moronic posts using just plain silly words you may as well keep using the same words. Or do you just enjoy using words that start with H?

Honks
Haunts

See they are different, I heard Ras had chicken pox when he was 7 and missed a week of school, you might want to add that also.