My football fans, I apologize profusely for being absent since Week 5.
Yes, part of it was due to my Niners losing 3 straight after decimating the Dallas Cowboys on Prime Time TV. But also I had some actual in person football things to attend to and day job things.
That being said, I am back. Let’s talk football.
Roughing the Passer
So, it seems that for the 2023 season, the most dangerous position in the NFL is the quarterback position. In fairness, QB is always the hardest, but theoretically if you have a good offensive line to protect you, injuries are less likely to occur.
Unfortunately this year regardless of the quality of the offensive line, one too many QB’s have gone down way too early in the season. The most recent on the list, Joe Burrow, the star quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Remember I talked a lot about his lack of performance earlier in the season? If not, go back and read my past blogs.
Burrow now joins the list of quarterbacks that are out until the playoffs or for the rest of the season. Among those starting quarterbacks around the league are: Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets; Kirk Cousins, Minnesota Vikings; Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns (again, also not sad about him); Anthony Richardson (rookie), Indianapolis Colts; and Daniel Jones, New York Giants.
And that doesn’t include the injury prone quarterbacks like Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo or the QB’s that have gotten benched, because they clearly are not up to the task.
I mean when was the last time you saw Bill Belichick bench his starting QB in a “2 Minute Drill” drive? He and Brady pretty much owned the “2 Minute Drill” throughout the 2000’s.
Burrow-ing the Lead?
But let’s circle back to the Joe Burrow discussion, because I’m still not sold on the kid. Yes, he had one great season in 2022 even though he lost in the Super Bowl. But I still wouldn’t put him in the same category as Joe Montana. At least Montana has 4 Super Bowl rings and a dynasty named after him, so if he was paid $275 million, he might be a little worth it.
It’s nuts isn’t it? How much we pay these superstars preemptively and then they have a season ending injury.
Kind of makes you wonder if the Bengals were trying to hide a pre existing injury with Burrow’s throwing hand. In fact, that seems to even be a highly potential theory as Cincinnati is being investigated for not reporting injury properly to the League.
Follow the Money
Why does injury reporting matter? Why does anything ever matter? Money.
The world of sports betting has huge repercussions when certain high profile players are injured. The NFL is no different than any other major event in which fans or gamblers look to test their luck at the odds. And if certain games or match ups are rigged, then the organization itself stands to lose money and face large public backlash by being the responsible party for people losing money.
As much as I love sports, football in particular, the world we exist in revolves around what makes the money flow. Me, personally, I could care less about the gambling part. I do feel for these athletes, because I do believe a huge part of them still plays for the love of the game. And I don’t wish to see anyone injured.
But to know that your life is dictated by the public and its interest in what money you can bring for them, as an athlete sometimes you lose sight of why you are playing the game. It just turns into survival mode.
Wishing a Speedy Recovery
The quarterback position is the most highlighted position in the game of football, so survival at that level is a must. You are the face of the franchise and the leader on and off the field. How great a quarterback is can determine how much money is brought into the team’s organization. No pressure right?
Back in nursing school, I wrote a paper on the long term effects of traumatic brain injury in football players being similar to those with traumatic PTSD. These athletes spend only a short amount of time in high stress environments, both physically and mentally. If they want to make it big and score the big deals, it may just cause them to hide their deficits so they don’t lose out long term to another opponent.
As a former athlete, and knowing what injury, and now old age, does to the body, I don’t wish injury on any of these players. I wish them all a quick and successful recovery. I pray that there will be no more major injuries for any teams for the rest of the season.