The rash of serious injuries: just bad luck or ... ?

[Tunescribe]

I'm chalking it up to bad luck, but the question is bound to be asked: is there something organizationally/systemically going on (or not being done) in Foxboro contributing to the rash of injuries? I have no idea what it might or might not be, just tossing the idea out for discussion. In light of the Patriots' burgeoning M.A.S.H. unit, the remarkable example of an ever-healthy Tom Brady stands out. Tom's doing some unconventional stuff that appears to be working for him. Perhaps the whole team should be on his program.

Edit: playing into the post-season every year might be a cumulative factor coming home to roost. If so, how should a team compensate?

 

[strngplyr]

The injuries are nothing. Bad luck. It's not organized, Easley , Blount, and McCourty all exited on routine tackles or an accidental roll-up. Lewis was non-contact. Edelman was a normal tackle. Gronk was questionable, but his legs have been aimed at since he proved he was all-world in 2011, Solder tore his bicep on a basic pass-blocking play iirc, Collins had an illness for a few weeks, I forget HT's injury.

If you are even pretending to think it's anything other than bad luck, you're definitely in the tin-hat club.

 

[strngplyr]

Edit: playing into the post-season every year might be a cumulative factor coming home to roost. If so, how should a team compensate?

We compensate with our depth. Our teams lacks players paid like superstars because we value the entire team, not 5 or 6 all-world starters.

We're still probably the best team in the league, our defense is top 10 in almost every category, our offense still has Edelman returning to it and still remains among the best in the league.

 

[Tunescribe]

The injuries are nothing. Bad luck. It's not organized, Easley , Blount, and McCourty all exited on routine tackles or an accidental roll-up. Lewis was non-contact. Edelman was a normal tackle. Gronk was questionable, but his legs have been aimed at since he proved he was all-world in 2011, Solder tore his bicep on a basic pass-blocking play iirc, Collins had an illness for a few weeks, I forget HT's injury.

If you are even pretending to think it's anything other than bad luck, you're definitely in the tin-hat club.

I'm not "pretending" anything and prefaced my statement by chalking it up to bad luck. I'm just suggesting the possibility of contributing factors such as consecutive years of post-season play. I don't know what the Patriots have worked into their conditioning programs to mitigate injury. The Eagles apparently are doing some innovative things in that area under Chip Kelly's direction; don't know how it's worked for their overall health specifically. It's just an interesting point to ponder.

 

[strngplyr]

I'm not "pretending" anything and prefaced my statement by chalking it up to bad luck. I'm just suggesting the possibility of other contributory factors such as consecutive years of post-season play. I don't know what the Patriots have worked into their conditioning programs to mitigate injury. The Eagles apparently are doing some innovative things in that area under Chip Kelly's direction; don't know how it's worked for their overall health specifically. It's just an interesting point to ponder.

I don't know, I honestly don't believe it's any one factor or the other, I think it's just plain and simple bad luck, outside of maybe Gronk, who may be the most cheapshotted player in the NFL. The rest all, at least if memory serves, are basic footballs plays that went the wrong way for us.

Bad luck.

I also hope you're not being defensive thinking I was saying you're stupid for your opinion. I just personally fthink that while an absurd number of injuries have happened this season, it's silly to believe it's anything other than bad luck considering the nature of the injuries.

 

[Jlaff]

I thought the team was incorporating Guerero (or whatever his name is) more. I know I've gone to this well before... But maybe the blender just isn't that effective?

 

[luuked]

Ridiculous discussion. Every team has injured players, none of thrm seem to show any pattern of muscle injuries that stem from bad conditioning/strength so what is there to discuss?

It is a brutal collision sport so injuries are bound to happen.

 

[Fencer]

Some thoughts:

• Every team has a lot of injuries. We notice Pats injuries more.
• Pats have more good players. Hence they have more good players get injured.
  
• Every team has cases where the guy seriously risks injury and cases where he's a bit protected. E.g., Brady didn't tackle as aggressively on an INT return as Dalton did.
  
• Pats gamble a bit on injury-prone players. E.g. Gronk, Easley, Terelle Brown, Dowling.

The weird one to me is WR. Brady gets a lot of praise for not throwing his WRs into danger. Yet there's been an epidemic of injuries to his receiving weapons (WRs, Gronk, Lewis, previously Vereen).

 

[meatface]

I was waiting for a thread that said the injuries were because of the medical staff; but this is pretty mild. Ill wait for someone to say the pats all have mirsa

Sent from my KFSOWI using Tapatalk

 

[Fencer]

Edit: A longer and more accurate list is a few posts down.

The Pats have had a lot of injuries that cost guys games. But in terms of confirmed season-ending injuries, unless I'm forgetting somebody it currently stands around 3.5 - 4 guys out of 22.

1.0 Solder
1.0 Blount + Lewis
< 1 Terelle Brown
~.5 Easley
< .5 A whole lot of contenders for the #4-5 WR roles.

Am I forgetting somebody who seemed in line for a lot of snaps?

 

[Tunescribe]

The Pats have had a lot of injuries that cost guys games. But in terms of confirmed season-ending injuries, unless I'm forgetting somebody it currently stands around 3.5 - 4 guys out of 22.

1.0 Solder
1.0 Blount + Lewis
< 1 Terelle Brown
~.5 Easley
< .5 A whole lot of contenders for the #4-5 WR roles.

Am I forgetting somebody who seemed in line for a lot of snaps?

Below is the Pats' current IR list via Wiki (17). By contrast in our division, the Jets have eight on IR, the Bills have 12, the Dolphins have four. Elsewhere, Philly has eight, Carolina has eight, Arizona has 11, Seattle has 11, Denver has five, Indy has eight, Cincy has three ... Baltimore is the only team I've come across so far exceeding the Patriots, with 18 on IR.

• 25 Tarell Brown CB (IR)
• 86 A. J. Derby TE (IR)
• 46 James Develin FB (IR)
• 17 Aaron Dobson WR (IR)
• 99 Dominique Easley DT (IR)
• -- Dane Fletcher MLB (PUP)
• 98 Trey Flowers DE (IR)
• -- Tyler Gaffney RB (IR)
• 13 Brandon Gibson WR (IR)
• 59 Rufus Johnson DE (NF-Ill.)
• 94 Chris Jones DT (PUP)
• 33 Dion Lewis RB (IR)
• -- Darryl Roberts CB (IR)
• 77 Nate Solder T (IR)
• 84 Brian Tyms WR (IR)
• 62 Ryan Wendell G (IR)
• 29 LeGarrette Blount RB (IR)

 

[smg93]

Seems like there's a thread like this every year. It's a violent sport, every team has injuries.

 

[fourhour]

Edelman????

 

[Tunescribe]

Edelman????

He's not on IR.

 

[manxman2601]

As others have said, most teams are suffering much the same. The Cowboys lost their best two Offensive players for a significant portion of the year which crippled their season, the Seahawks have had Graham, Lynch and Rawls go down, the Ravens lost their starting QB and their #2, the Broncos lost their QB, their LT and their DE, Steelers lost Big Ben for a while and Bell. We've had a particularly rough season but most teams' fans have reason to be bothered about key players getting injured.

 

[fourhour]

He's not on IR.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought he was left off the injury list.

 

[Fencer]

Below is the Pats' current IR list via Wiki (17). By contrast in our division, the Jets have eight on IR, the Bills have 12, the Dolphins have four. Elsewhere, Philly has eight, Carolina has eight, Arizona has 11, Seattle has 11, Denver has five, Indy has eight, Cincy has three ... Baltimore is the only team I've come across so far exceeding the Patriots, with 18 on IR.

• 25 Tarell Brown CB (IR)
• 86 A. J. Derby TE (IR)
• 46 James Develin FB (IR)
• 17 Aaron Dobson WR (IR)
• 99 Dominique Easley DT (IR)
• -- Dane Fletcher MLB (PUP)
• 98 Trey Flowers DE (IR)
• -- Tyler Gaffney RB (IR)
• 13 Brandon Gibson WR (IR)
• 59 Rufus Johnson DE (NF-Ill.)
• 94 Chris Jones DT (PUP)
• 33 Dion Lewis RB (IR)
• -- Darryl Roberts CB (IR)
• 77 Nate Solder T (IR)
• 84 Brian Tyms WR (IR)
• 62 Ryan Wendell G (IR)
• 29 LeGarrette Blount RB (IR)

Thanks. The ones I was forgetting were Develin and Wendell. OK. We have 3 full-time spots for Solder, Wendell, and Blount/Lewis. Add to that a near full-time spot for the CBs taken together, a half-time-ish spot for Easley, and a half-time-ish spot for the various offensive skill position players.

So it's about 5 guys out of 22 w/ season-ending injuries, plus lots more game-losing ones, including Gronk, all 5 OL, the 3 top WRs, the 3 top WRs, and now McCourty.

 

[PatsBoy12]

This is one time where I'm choosing not to get on the ride to Conspiracy-Land, but I will say this lends some credence to expanding the rosters.

 

[DarrylS]

From my couch it always seems that after a Superbowl there seem to be more injuries, perhaps the NFL could hold a bake sale and fund a longitudinal study on the effects of a longer season(teams in playoffs) and injuries the following year..

On second thought probably not, they can't handle the truth..

 

[Uncle Rico]

We compensate with our depth. Our teams lacks players paid like superstars because we value the entire team, not 5 or 6 all-world starters....

Yup. Meanwhile, haven't heard a whole lot about Ozzie's unmatched team building skills this year ...