[Sport] The Walking Wounded

Gus Ferrotte is knocked out in this weekend's game between Miami and Buffalo.

A lot of teams are suffering from injuries, but this is what happens every season. Normally a team's slump is determined soley by injuries (like the Jets, but I'm not going to whinge here). Last season it was the Panthers who just could not stay healthy, this season it's the Jets. the Rams as well have suffered from hurt QBs.

Injuries can herald the entry to the league of an under-rated second-string player who amazes everyone and becomes a hero (Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger). Or they can show the lack of depth teams have or why those players were at second and third string.

The Jets game a Gillette Stadium against the Patriots looks like a good contest for the Jets if you look at the injury list.

New York Jets at New England Patriots
NYJ	OUT	RB Derrick Blaylock (Ankle) QB Jay Fiedler (Right Right Shoulder)
	QUESTIONABLE	NT Sione Pouha (Calf)
	PROBABLE	RB Curtis Martin (Knee) SS Rashad Washington (Hip)
NE	DOUBTFUL	T Matt Light (Ankle)
	QUESTIONABLE	T Tom Ashworth (Knee) RB Corey Dillon (Calf) FB Heath Evans (Shoulder) RB Kevin Faulk (Foot) WR David Givens (Knee) TE Daniel Graham (Shoulder) WR Bethel Johnson (Pelvis) OLB Willie McGinest (Finger) FB Patrick Pass (Hamstring) SS James Sanders (Ankle) SS Michael Stone (Ankle)
	PROBABLE	QB Tom Brady (Shoulder)

Except that the Jets have a giant-boatload more injuries that aren’t listed here, like QB Chad Pennington, C Kevin Mawae, LB Eric Barton, TE Chris Baker, T Jason Fabini, WR Wayne Chrebet, T Marko Cavka, S Andre Maddox, LB Darrell McClover.

Note: according to the above list (which is taken from NFL.com) Jay Fiedler injured his “Right Right Shoulder”. He’s not as bad as Rams’ QB Marc Bulger who has injured his “Right Right Right Shoulder” Steelers’; QB Charlie Batch is out with a “Right Right Right Hand” injury. Indianapolis kicker Mike Vanderjagt has a sore “Right Right Calf”. But easily the worst injury goes to Arizona kicker Neil Rackers. Rackers is out with an injury to his “Left Left”.

The Patriots list doesn’t include their IR players as well (like Rodney Harrison). However (the game has now started) the Pats are using most of the players listed as questionable.

Moreover the lists don’t (obviously) mention those who are just banged up. Both Jets’ QBs Vinny Testaverde and Brooks Bollinger have had injuries in the past two weeks.

Interestingly the team with the smallest injury list this week is the Chicago Bears, who only have Cedric Benson out with a knee injury.

Below is a list of all the injuries for week 13 (this does not include those on the Inujured Reserve list).

Injury Type	Number of Injuries of this type in Week 13
Knee	50
Ankle	28
Hamstring	23
Shoulder	15
Foot and Toe	15
Calf, Fibula and Lower Leg	11
Thigh and Quadriceps	10
Groin	9
Back	8
Concussion and Head	8
Elbow and Arm	7
Hip and Pelvis	6
Chest and Ribs	6
Hand, Thumb, Wrist and Finger	6
Neck	5
Flu/Illness	4
Tooth	2
Abdomen	2
TOTAL	215

Obviously there is a problem with reporting errors with some team being as specific to say “quadriceps” while others say “thigh”, some say “flu”, and some say “illness”. So I have combined categories where it seems correct to.

Knees are the most injured body part, followed by ankles and hamstrings. The thumb had as many injuries (3) as the finger, the wrist and the hand put together. But it seems that if you want to do the un-sportsmanlike thing of removing an opposition player from the field it would a good idea to aim for the legs. Actually it was this idea that brought about the rule that a player cannot “lead with his head” in a tackle.

The Bengals have two players listed as probable with “tooth” problems. Perhaps the sugary colour of the uniforms has given the players cavities. St Louis has three players listed as questionable and one as probable due to concussion, perhaps they need to stop cheaping-out on the helmets.

Teams are still having to grapple with injuries this week. the Browns lost their highly drafted Braylon Edwards, the Dolphins lost Gus Ferrotte when he was knocked out (photo above) and the Packers' Bubba Franks got hurt in this tackle by Lance Briggs (photo below).

That’ll do for some morning analysis.

Mahalo

ps. This last photo shows how football is truly like a ballet (with 300lb 7 foot tall men).