HOWE: Injuries Up For This Season Thanks To Lockout
Jeff Howe of NESN tracked the Patriots practice participation last season and this season, and came accross some interesting notes about how the lockout affected player injuries for this season.
According to Howe, even despite fewer practices this season, they're higher. The NESN beat writer points out that there were a high number of hamstring injuries, both here and accross the league.
That was a topic of discussion this offseason as people pondered the type of shape that players would arrive in camp in. Howe broke down the numbers once again, and posted some good comparisons between this year and last year.
According to two tweets from Howe (here, and here) here's how they broke down:
Pats' 2010 camp: 25 practices (17 full pads, 3 shorts/shells, 5 walkthroughs), 27 players missed at least one practice due to injury.Pats' 2011 camp: 21 practices (10 full pads, 5 shorts/shells, 6 walkthroughs), 38 players missed at least one practice due to injury.
As you can see 11 additional players missed at least one practice compared to last year. One thing to keep in mind that throws that figure off is also the fact there are a higher number of players in camp this season compared to last year, but there's no denying that the players probably weren't in quite the same shape coming in to this year since there was no offseason workout program.
Looking at the camp reports each day over the past few weeks, the Patriots generally seemed to have an average of 19 players (or more) in some cases sitting out practice on more than one occasion. That certainly seemed like a high number of guys sidelined compared to last year.
You can take a look for yourself, as Howe has the complete list of 36 players who have missed time here. You can also follow him on Twitter @jeffphowe.
