NFL Injuries... Oh S--t

Injuries are always a problem in the NFL.  That’s part of the reason we love it.  And why so many people are on its case in recent years.  The sport is incredibly dangerous, especially at the highest level.  Despite all the safeguards that have ‘diluted’ the game, and made it easier to function as a receiver or a quarterback, if you play another position, it is really hard to stay healthy.  And even if you play one of those positions, you are pushing yourself so far physically that injuries are almost becoming more of an inevitability than a risk.  We’ve barely opened camps, and already key players are going down and hurting their teams’ chances, not to mention the many less-known players that we don’t even hear about.  It’s a tough problem and I’m not sure there’s a good solution.  But here are just a few of the most recent victims:

Dennis Pitta: Baltimore Ravens

Out for the season with a fractured and dislocated hip.  This is an absolute killer for the Baltimore Ravens.  They lost a lot on defense this year from the Super Bowl Championship team.  And the real story last playoffs was the emergence of Joe Flacco and that passing game.  Having lost Anquan Boldin to the 49ers, and now without Pitta as well, the Ravens will have a seriously tough time establishing the same kind of presence over the middle.  I still like Torrey Smith as a deep threat and Ray Rice on screens, but it won’t be enough.  Especially in the toughest AFC division, fighting of Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, this injury may very well cost the Ravens the division title.

Percy Harvin: Seattle Seahawks

Also out with a hip injury.  Fortunately, the Seahawks hope to have him back at Thanksgiving, but that sounds optimistic to me and even if it’s true, they’ll be 11 games into the season by then.  Harvin was supposed to take this defensive juggernaut to the next level offensively, giving Russell Wilson an additional versatile tool to take pressure off of both himself and the running game.  But now they don’t look all that much better or different from last year.  And this was a great team last year, don’t get me wrong.  But vying with the equally tough and perhaps even more dangerous 49ers, an injury like this for over half the season could cost the Seahawks, like the Ravens, a title in a tough division race.  They face the Panthers, Texans, Colts, and Falcons all on the road without Harvin, and they have their first meeting with the Niners, although luckily it’s the home game.  They may get Harvin back for a tough stretch of Saints, 49ers, Giants, but at that point who knows if he will be at 100%, and even if he is will the chemistry with Russell Wilson and other players be there?  Will Wilson have confidence in him having played so little together?  Seattle will still be very good, but Doug Baldwin, Sidney Rice, and Golden Tate just aren’t that intimidating.  Percy Harvin was supposed to be the solution to that problem, and now all of a sudden he is gone.

Jeremy Maclin: Philadelphia Eagles

Torn ACL, out for the year.  Now, even with Maclin the Eagles weren’t going to sniff the playoffs this year.  The NFC is too tough.  The NFC East is too tough.  Nonetheless, this is a big year for Chip Kelly and the Eagles.  After the debacle that was 2012 in Philly, there is a ton of pressure on Michael Vick, Desean Jackson, Chip Kelly, all of the players, all of the coaches.  Fans want to see results.  Even if that only means 6 wins, but some close games, some division victories, and good signs that point in the right direction.  There is still talent here with Vick and Jackson and LeSean McCoy, and some people believe Chip can bring it out and make it into something.  So while there weren’t necessarily high hopes in Philadelphia this year, there was some hope.  But Jeremy Maclin is absolutely a huge loss.  He was the one really solid receiver they had, sort of like a safety net, who could save Michael Vick when Shady was hurting or Jackson disappeared.  Without him, the question marks only get bigger in Philadelphia.  There is only more pressure on the afore-mentioned stars, as if there wasn’t enough already.  The loss of such a solid receiver could mean that for all of Chip Kelly’s tricks DeSean Jackson and Michael Vick just can’t carry the weight of a team on their frail shoulders.  Similarly to Pitta, Maclin was sort of the glue that held a passing attack together despite the fact that he lacked star power or flash.  Maybe the Eagles would have remained a mess anyway even with a healthy Maclin, but now they seem almost certainly destined for failure.

And these are just the big, definitive names.  Will Robert Griffin III stay healthy?  What about Arian Foster, Maurice Jones-Drew, Ahmad Bradshaw, and other star running backs?  Patrick Willis, Ed Reed, Mario Williams, and other defensive superstars? Rob Gronkowski? Hakeem Nicks? We don’t like to think about injuries because we can’t control them.  Most of the time we don’t even wish injury on our worst enemies.  I remember when Tom Brady went down in Week 1, and while I wasn’t entirely unhappy about the Patriot missing a year, I still deep down felt pity for this quarterback that I had grown to hate with my entire being.  But injuries are inevitably a huge problem for the entire NFL world, and it seems like they are only getting worse.  How long before some crucial piece of your favorite team, as you prepare for the preseason and all the hope and excitement that goes along with it, gets injured and everything that the franchise has been working toward is ruined.  That’s why every significant injury, whether a season-ender or only a few months, is a horrible mark on what is otherwise a wonderful and beloved sport and organization.