Every week bones break and muscles rip around the NFL. We’ll take a look at the most significant injuries, and what happens next.
For a sport with a whole lot of contact that can hurt quite a bit, it’s a cruel twist by the football gods that the worst injuries can often result from non-contact plays.
We hardly knew you in 2014, Dennis Pitta.
Pop goes Pitta (again)
The hip is a pretty important part of the body, and now Dennis Pitta has dislocated his in back-to-back years. This time it came without contact, and all it took was an awkward plant.
Pitta caught a swing pass during the Ravens’ win over Cleveland. When he went to turn upfield, he crumbled instead. The injury is so severe that he stayed in Cleveland Sunday night after having his hip popped back in.
The Ravens haven’t handed down anything official yet, but it’s safe to assume Pitta’s season is over. It’s a massive blow to a newly installed Baltimore offense. Three games into the season a key target for Joe Flacco has been removed, and now Owen Daniels will be leaned on heavily.
Daniels was brought in this past offseason for a reason: he’s familiar with Gary Kubiak’s offense and has thrived in it previously. When the two were in Houston and Kubiak was the head coach there, Daniels had three seasons with at least 700 receiving yards.
The problem, of course, is time. Just simply time, as now after a significant injury last year Daniels plods far more and isn’t nearly the downfield threat up the middle he once was.
The little engine that can’t anymore
The San Diego Chargers have continued to impress this season, just as they did late in 2013. They’re now 7-2 dating back to Week 14 of last year.
Danny Woodhead has played a key role in that, and now he’s gone. Woodhead went full pretzel twist during the Chargers’ win over Buffalo Sunday, and he’s landed on the injured reserve due to a severely sprained ankle.
Woodhead is sometimes overlooked, literally and figuratively. But his skillset is so unique that replacing him simply won’t happen.
He had the second most receptions among running backs last year (76), and he can still function at a high level conventionally. During his first season with the Chargers he accumulated 1,034 total yards from scrimmage, 429 of which came on the ground.
The Chargers are now reduced to Donald Brown as the primary featured back until Ryan Mathews returns.
The Teddy Bridgewater show begins
An exact timetable will still trickle down at some point, but we can safely assume Matt Cassel won’t be playing football for a long time. That usually happens with multiple broken bones, and a few of those are in Cassel’s foot now.
So with that the Teddy Bridgewater era begins. It might be a touch too soon for the Vikings, but it’s far too late for the rest of us. Cassel was woeful in Week 2 while completing only 52.8 percent of his passes at a pace of 5.6 yards per attempt.
Adrian Peterson has likely played his final game in Minnesota, which means Bridgewater doesn’t have the support general manager Rick Spielman had envisioned. But while it’s unfortunate Bridgewater starting had to come through an injury, logic says Cassel’s benching was inevitable.
Always act like you’ve been there before, kids
You know those old school curmudgeon types who say you shouldn’t celebrate anything ever? The guys who hate Johnny Manziel for breathing? Stephen Tulloch needs a good finger wagging.
This is the greatest celebration injury http://t.co/feBKfQwDSZ https://t.co/XlBifMHTSS
— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) September 21, 2014
Tulloch went full Bill Gramatica and tore his ACL during a celebration. Except he actually went further, and did his ripping with a pelvic thrust.
Easy jokes aside, this is crushing for the Lions. Tulloch has been an anchor at linebacker up the middle throughout his career, and had 135 tackles with 3.5 sacks and an interception last year.
Who is playing defense in Pittsburgh now?
Sunday night’s win was costly for the Steelers, with Ike Taylor and rookie Ryan Shazier going down. On its own the loss of Taylor indefinitely after he broke his forearm isn’t nearly as significant, as he allowed a league worst 1,043 receiving yards when targeted last year. But when his injury is combined with Shazier spraining his MCL and Jarvis Jones already occupying a space on the shelf, the Steelers defense is suddenly decimated.
Shazier’s sideline-to-sideline speed will be sorely missed.
And more pain…
- Oh and about that depleted Vikings offense: Bridgewater will also be making his first NFL start without Kyle Rudolph, who will be out for about the next six weeks following groin surgery.
- DeAngelo Hall tore his Achilles and will miss the rest of the season. A Redskins secondary that’s given up the third most passing yards through three weeks (926) will be without its top cornerback.
- The Eagles offensive line continues to break and rip. The latest is Jason Kelce, who will miss six-to-eight weeks following sports hernia surgery. He joins Evan Mathis and Allen Barbre in the training room, with Lane Johnson still sitting out one more game due to a suspension. There’s no solution here, just a lot of pain for Nick Foles.
