Former Patriots LB Bruschi Says He'd Target Foster's Hamstring

[LetsGoBuffalo]

I could, but you'd argue it, so there's no use in doing so. As a general rule, go with injuries that don't generally involve permanent loss of skill and can take short times to heal, and frequently don't require anything but rest or a low level of medical care.

So, just to be clear, you are asserting that NFL players have enough medical education and training to know that the deliberate and intentional blows they deliver to "minor injuries" will permit those injuries to remain "minor" and not affect players with them later in life?

To further define your position, are you are advocating that opposing players try to worsen these injuries?

I have not argued at all, nor do I plan to. I'm simply asking for an exact definition of your position.

To echo what some other posters in this thread have said, it's man's game, that's how it's done, and if a "weak spot that should be exploited" is life threatening, what is that player doing on the field in the first place?

 

[Anteros]

Somehow I have a feeling that if Bart Scot or James Harrison said the same thing, many of you who are defending Teddy would be screaming about it. Yeah I know that Teddy does not play anymore and those guys still do...the point is though the total homer thinking. We make our judgment on a situation based on who said it more so than what was said. Then we try to use an agrument to rationalise that thinking. How many people on here have vented over Jets players name calling and talking trash about the Patriots? How many wanted to hang Bill Polion over the "break his leg" comment years ago? Again, we use a personal bias to defend the actions of one of ours when we would rip them a new one if they were on the other side. Then we try and attack the people who don't defend him by saying they are not man enough and need to take up ballet as a way to hurt the spirit of someone who tries to tell us we are wrong. The psychology of this thread has been quite interesting.

What he said. Exactly. Thank you.

 

[Deus Irae]

So, just to be clear, you are asserting that NFL players have enough medical education and training to know that the deliberate and intentional blows they deliver to "minor injuries" will permit those injuries to remain "minor" and not affect players with them later in life?

I'm asserting that anyone outside of Special Olympians, who plays competitive sports as an adult in the United States, at least generally understands the difference between a sore hamstring and a stroke. If you don't understand the difference, I don't know what to tell you.

To further define your position, are you are advocating that opposing players try to worsen these injuries?

I'm advocating nothing. You should take the approach that best comports with your individual take regarding the combination of honor, competitive edge, sportsmanship and morality.

I have not argued at all, nor do I plan to. I'm simply asking for an exact definition of your position.

Ahh, but you are arguing, via the question. That's fine, but you're trying it with the wrong person.

To echo what some other posters in this thread have said, it's man's game, that's how it's done,

Well, it is a man's game, and things do happen. Football's not really like hockey (well, like hockey used to be before Bettman decided to screw it up), where the players largely self-police with this sort of stuff. Football is a sport where the officials are called upon to monitor this sort of thing.

and if a "weak spot that should be exploited" is life threatening, what is that player doing on the field in the first place?

I don't know of anyone who had any realistically heightened chance of death, or serious injury, that was on the field without some form of waiver. However, you're the one who was posing the questions in an attempt to equate an elbow to the hamstring with an attempt to cause a stroke.

BTW, to avoid follow ups, I oppose wishing injury on an opponent, although I don't see a problem in hoping that an already injured player stays out long enough to miss your team's game against his team as long as that's within the normal bounds of healing.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I remember reading with bemused disbelief posts out here about Bernard Pollard after his hit put TB out for a season. Was he trying, on that particular play to hurt Brady? I have no idea. But are these guys going for the big hit every game they "lace 'em up and step between the white lines?" Of course they are. Does that make Pollard evil or somehow outside the ordinary? No.

I admire Bruschi for his honesty, and Rodney as well. They continue(d) playing as aggressively and violently as they can/could until the League makes it against the rules, and even then they'll continue to find a way to get an advantage.

Let's put aside all the self-righteous baloney about the game and the guys who play it at this level. This is what the sport is. The risk and the violence are what draw millions of viewers. They are also why I never begrudge a player who is holding out for a contract his right to do so. Every guy who plays in the NFL deserves the right to get every dollar he can out of the team for which he plays.

Remember this. The trophy that every team fights to take home every year and of which we are so proud as Pats fans of owning three is named after a guy who said, "Winning isn't everything. It's the only thing." guys like Bruschi and Rodney just connected the dots.

 

[LetsGoBuffalo]

Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification and go Bills!

 

[Anteros]

I wonder how Bruschi would feel if OLs and TEs targeted, oh, I don't know, his heart. Gamesmanship?

I have yet to see anyone on here answer this honestly. Someone else also asked this question and both were ignored.

Stop being hypocrites.

 

[Sivy]

Fair enough. Thanks for the clarification and go Bills!

OMG..a bills fan? They still make you?

 

[LetsGoBuffalo]

OMG..a bills fan? They still make you?

We never die. Our team's suckitude simply strengthens our resolve.

 

[bagwell368]

OMG..a bills fan? They still make you?

I grew up watching Ryan and then OJ gashing the Pats, then Jim Kelly and the "white powder" Bills run up the score.

Smerlas used to be a big media guy out there before he came back to Suburban West also...

Besides I'd rather have the Bills as the closest competitor to the Pats then the Jets and Fins whom I hope remain consigned to the 39th level of hell forever.

 

[Mogamedogz]

First, let me note that disagreement with your wording doesn't make player a bad analyst. The entire point of bringing in players instead of the sort of geeks who already know how to work a camera is to get an inside view. Any putz can say "It's never to your advantage..." as you just did. Having the players doing the analyzing is so you can get exactly the sort of comments and insight that Bruschi gave.

As I said before, you just don't seem to grasp what the job's about.

As for Schlereth, you seem to be equating shill with analyst. Again, different jobs. Schlereth may say things that I find to be stupid, but so does pretty much everyone in the world. We're all stupid some of the time, after all. If I viewed everyone on the basis of just one incident, there'd be nobody I found worth watching on TV, and BB would be as big an idiot as every other coach in the history of the sport. It's about the body of work, and Schlereth is decent, though not spectacular, as an analyst.

Yeah deus you're right... it's my lack of understanding what the jobs about.

Bruschi is a ******* Rhodes scholar and a breath of fresh air on that network.

I concede.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yeah deus you're right... it's my lack of understanding what the jobs about.

Bruschi is a ******* Rhodes scholar and a breath of fresh air on that network.

I concede.

What you're claiming he's supposed to do is not what he's there for. It's not his job to be Belichick on ESPN.

 

[Mogamedogz]

What you're claiming he's supposed to do is not what he's there for. It's not his job to be Belichick on ESPN.

It's not at what im claiming at all.

 

[TruthSeeker]

I have yet to see anyone on here answer this honestly. Someone else also asked this question and both were ignored.

Stop being hypocrites.

Really? You pose a hypothetical (still not quite sure how you target someone's heart) and then call the board out as hypocrites because the question was ignored (which it wasn't - it was dismissed as the hyperbole that it was)?

I think you're overreacting.

 

[dhamz]

I guess you have to give Tedy points for candor about how all teams and players attack injuries. Where the anaylsis falls short is the the tweeting of the MRI is irrelevant. Guys would be taking shots at Fosters hamstring without it since everyone knows that is what he hurt.

 

[scout]

I read the article after reading the posts, wow. Bruschi detractors have to ask themselves, what % of current NFL defensive players would do the same thing that Bruschi stated in the article. If your below 50% your in denial. My guess would be at 70%, as some would not twist in the pile. In regards to targeting an injury: 100%. The big story should be what a dumb-ass for telling everyone he has an injury and specifically what and where it is. Do you think BB had a good laugh at that one?

 

[Frezo]

If it's alright for a player to intentionally target another's injury for the obvious reason of taking him out for at least the game, then it must certainly be OK for fans to wish injury to a player, right? A lot of people get berated here for doing that. I don't have a horse in this race, but is there really much difference in a fan saying, "I hope Manning get's his neck trashed and it ends his season.", or when a player thinks, "There's Manning. I'm going for his neck."? ...just trying to get my ducks in a row.

 

[scout]

If it's alright for a player to intentionally target another's injury for the obvious reason of taking him out for at least the game, then it must certainly be OK for fans to wish injury to a player, right? A lot of people get berated here for doing that. I don't have a horse in this race, but is there really much difference in a fan saying, "I hope Manning get's his neck trashed and it ends his season.", or when a player thinks, "There's Manning. I'm going for his neck."? ...just trying to get my ducks in a row.

Those are two separate situations. I've never wished injury on any player. As a matter of fact, I am disappointed when an opposing star player is unable to play against the Pats. Now, a player tweets that he has an injury and a Pats player focuses on that injury during the game, no problem. IMO, wishing for an injury and targeting an area that has been announced by a player as injured are two separate matters.

 

[Frezo]

Those are two separate situations. I've never wished injury on any player. As a matter of fact, I am disappointed when an opposing star player is unable to play against the Pats. Now, a player tweets that he has an injury and a Pats player focuses on that injury during the game, no problem. IMO, wishing for an injury and targeting an area that has been announced by a player as injured are two separate matters.

The intent and desire is the same...to see a player get injured. When a fan says it obviously it has no bearing. When a player says it and then actively seeks out a opponent's recent injury history doesn't seem like much of a difference to me. As fans we now know about Foster's ham string. Is it OK to wish that an opposing player targets it?

 

[scout]

The intent and desire is the same...to see a player get injured. When a fan says it obviously it has no bearing. When a player says it and then actively seeks out a opponent's recent injury history doesn't seem like much of a difference to me. As fans we now know about Foster's ham string. Is it OK to wish that an opposing player targets it?

That is not what you originally stated. "then it must certainly be OK for fans to wish injury to a player, right?". Thus, my post was in response to your statement. In addition, if a player says it, he will most likely be reprimanded by the commissioner. Bruschi is not a player, he's an analyst. Now you are stating a different scenario with another question which I'll answer. No, I do not wish that a player goes after another players announced injury. But, I also do not hold that against the player for going after an announced injury.

 

[Frezo]

That is not what you originally stated. "then it must certainly be OK for fans to wish injury to a player, right?". Thus, my post was in response to your statement. In addition, if a player says it, he will most likely be reprimanded by the commissioner. Bruschi is not a player, he's an analyst. Now you are stating a different scenario with another question which I'll answer. No, I do not wish that a player goes after another players announced injury. But, I also do not hold that against the player for going after an announced injury.

It was a general question and wasn't aimed directly at you. I do appreciate your outlook though.