Every week bones break and muscles rip around the NFL. We’ll take a look at the most significant injuries, and what happens next.
This is why we can’t have nice things
Jadeveon Clowney was supposed to be a freak-ish being, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
And he’ll be that guy, but only after a whole lot of sputtering to begin his career. That started with sports hernia surgery during the offseason, and a concussion last month. Now the worst and most long-term blow: a torn lateral meniscus that will sideline the first overall pick for four-to-six weeks.
Clowney suffered the injury during Houston’s win over the still stumbling Redskins, and suddenly in Week 1 his rookie season has already been halted. A front seven with Clowney and J.J. Watt was set to turn opposing quarterbacks into dust, and now Whitney Mercilus is the next man up.
Mercilus can bring the hurt too, and has 13 sacks over just 20 career starts. But his main problem is that he’s not Jadeveon Clowney, which is a critical flaw for a defense that uses the pass rush as its motor.
The Texans held opposing quarterbacks to 195.2 passing yards per game last year because they were pressured so often. When they had some time, it showed: 29 passing touchdowns allowed, only seven interceptions, and an opposing passer rating of 93.9.
The Kansas City crumbling
At this time one year ago the Chiefs had just earned their first of nine straight victories. Now they’re being exposed for what they really are: a team that needs a stonewalling defense, because without one coming from behind isn’t happening.
Not with a receiver corps that has Dwayne Bowe and a bunch of shoulder shrugging (and even he was out yesterday), not with Alex Smith and his three interceptions, and not with Jamaal Charles touching a football only 11 times.
A winning Chiefs team needs suffocating defense, and maintaining that going forward became harder when Derrick Johnson and Mike DeVito suffered the same injury: a ruptured Achilles.
The loss of Johnson is the far more significant blow, as he’s one of the league’s best middle linebackers. Over the past four years he’s averaged 121 tackles per season, and throughout his nine-year career he’s also recorded 60 passes defensed (with a single-season high of 16), and 11 interceptions.
He’s versatile, and is really everything you want in a multi-dimensional middle linebacker. Most importantly, he fuels a powerful Chiefs pass rush by stuffing gaps and helping to shut down runs up the middle. Now that will be the main focus for opposing offenses, subtracting from the impact Tamba Hali and Justin Houston have on the outside.
Ben Tate will always be Ben Tate
There are some players who will always be followed by the words “hey, if he can stay healthy…”. With Cleveland Browns running back Ben Tate, those words may literally follow him in speech bubbles as he goes everywhere.
Tate’s latest attempt to stay healthy lasted two quarters, and the injury itself is a microcosm of the Tate experience. He broke free for a 25-yard run against the Steelers (good!), and then checked out, with the media later learning he had a knee problem (awful!). He’s appeared in only 41 of a possible 65 career games, but in those games the lumbering power runner has averaged an efficient 4.8 yards per carry.
That’s the potential the Browns purchased when Tate was signed this offseason to a two-year deal at the still ripe age of 26. They have depth behind him in Terrance West, the rookie who had 100 yards on only 16 attempts yesterday, and Isaiah Crowell, who scored twice on only five carries.
But Kyle Shanahan’s offense needs to lean on a bruising back who can shoulder a heavy workload. Tate can do that… if he stays healthy.
And more pain…
- As Doug Martin discovered, having your leg wrapped in a cast after a game is never a good thing. He left a loss to Carolina, and will likely miss some practice time before being re-evaluated this week.
- The Eagles may have caught a break with Evan Mathis, their All-Pro guard who had his leg rolled on. The worst was feared, with initial signs pointing to an ACL tear and the end of Mathis’ season. But early reports indicate he instead suffered an MCL injury, which is usually means only a few weeks of down time.
- Logan Mankins had a similar scare, but it’s believed his knee problem is also minor. That’s good, because the football gods sending Mankins to Tampa and then ripping him apart during his first game would have been pretty wicked.
