Springs/Portis injuries = good things??

[kleese]

First of all, I'm not the one with a sore shoulder or pelvis, so I'm sure neither of those two guys are feeling too "good" right now.

However, I think the panic level around here is way out of bounds. In a way, I think both of these things could turn out quite nicely for the Redskins.

Think back to the playoffs last year. Who were our two main injury concerns? Yep--Portis and Springs. Both guys were banged up and in Portis' case, I think it really hurt him-- he was not effective at all in the playoffs after dominating down the stretch.

Both of these guys have also had injury issues throughout their career. It's just something you must accept with them.

The reason I say these could turn out well for us.......

--Neither is overly serious. Obviously, these are two key cogs and losing either of them for a significant period would hurt. But neither injury sounds as if it will last much past the very beginning of the year.

--This is a long, difficult marathon we're entering here. Even if one or both had to miss a few games to start the year, it's not the end of the world. IMO, we should be able to beat the Vikings in Washington with BOTH of them on the bench. The next week in Dallas is another story. But if they need more rest, then so be it. I am much more concerned about our injury status in the mid-late season than I am early.

--This is not a Jon Jansen situation. Losing him for the year during the HOF game was big mental blow. He was a team leader and played a position with no depth. Neither Portis or Springs will be out much into the regular season and beyond that, Betts should certainly be good enough to spell Clinton for a few weeks. And I have 100% faith that Gregg Williams can piece something together to make up for Spring's absence for a short period.

--In the end, it means less wear and tear for those two guys. Clinton is now assured of not being hit again until at least Sep. 11th. His legs will be fresh and he plays a position that really doesn't require a ton of reps. If he is "unsure" of his shoulder, it will probably all wash away after the first hit. I assume he won't play until the shoulder is stable, so I'm not too worried about it happening again.

Both guys can rest up for the remainder of August. If for some reason the injuries cost them a game or two in September, then so be it.

IMO, we will be 3-1 after our first 4 this year.

If I knew for sure they'd both miss ALL of those games, then I'd still pick us to go 3-1 after our first 4.

Now, if either guy was to be out for the season, my overall predicitions would change a bit-- especially if Springs was lost for the season. However, that is not the case-- and sounds to be far from it.

Injuries are a part of every training camp/pre-season. All I ever hope for is to avoid any crushing blows to key players.

IMO, these injuries could very well be a blessing in disguise.

[Zuck]

:doh:



This part here is to make my response the required 10 characters.

[RabidFan]

classic Zuck...it isn't like they'd be taking many hits throughout the preseason anyway...cumon now...but i endorse your silver lining way of thinking.

[Greekdude]

I can see what you are saying, but also can see that if these injurys linger thru the season it is not gonna have a positive spin like that IMO :wish:

[iheartskins]

:doh:



This part here is to make my response the required 10 characters.
Do you have any thing substantive to add to the discussion? If so, why do you think his thread's off? Why just post a smiley if you don't have anything to add...

Anyway, in respect to your thoughts kleese, is your thesis essentially: "By having Portis/Springs on the bench, we give them another chance to rest up for the long season--which will benefit us long term"?

If so, I'm not entirely sure I agree with that assessment. I have no doubt that Portis will be raring and ready to go on September 11th, but I'm concerned that Springs issue isn't something that will easily be addressed by a few weeks off. He's getting into the later parts of his career and he still plays brilliantly, but having to get surgury like he has could potentially be troublesome--and I wonder what kind of pressure he'll be under to return given our current dearth of solid CBs...this all might play into more problems, and not necessarily a blessing in disguise.

I guess I'm just not as confident that we'll be 3-1 sans CP and Springs.

But I hope I'm wrong. :)

[mojobo]

Portis hasn't really had injury issues throughout his career. Plus it is never good to have early injuries as it always comes back to slow them down throughout the season... and we a little under a month until week 1.

[shagman]

I dont think that I agree or disagree with you, however I take the cards as they land. I have faith that CP and SS will come back from these injuries as explosive as ever. I understand what you are trying to say but I guess it just doesnt come out right when you say that it is a blessing. The truth of the matter is that it could have been a lot worse though and hopefully everything starts going smooth with the Redskins from here on out.

Its not a good thing though to lose either of these guys!~

[WallyG3]

kleese? optimistic?

Cheers! :koolaid:

[JoeSkins]

I hate "Doh" responses.

The Portis injury, to me, doesn't have any positives. His backups have been in the NFL for a while, and we know they can produce. Lumsden was going to get time to be evaluated anyway. Carter, well, we all know about him.

The Springs injury, though, might be a little less damaging for the time being. Note I said might, and I'm stressing the hope that he's only missing PREseason games. The team needs to see a lot from Rumph, Wright and Jimoh, and there is no better way than in practice with the first team.

[Rex Tomb]

I actually like your line of thought here. It's a real glass half full approach...now, prepare for the onslaught of CLS (chicken little syndrome). :laugh:

[ouvan59]

While there may some good things that arise because of this I would hardly characterize either injury as a good thing. Portis' shoulder is something that may be recurring which obviously can be a major problem. Anything you gain in wear and tear you lose in lack of conditioning.

The only real plus I see is that you get some backups some much needed experience

[Zuck]

Do you have any thing substantive to add to the discussion? If so, why do you think his thread's off?


Because I can think of no scenerio where having potential lingering injuries to two very key players could be construed as a "good" thing. If the coaches thought resting the players for a month was a good thing they'd simply not have them practice.


Could some players benefit from having an opportunity to play more? yes.

But I'm not kidding myself. These injuries were a real bummer.

[chow184]

better to happen in pre-season than to happen in week1

[iheartskins]

Because I can think of no scenerio where having potential lingering injuries to two very key players could be construed as a "good" thing. If the coaches thought resting the players for a month was a good thing they'd simply not have them practice.

Could some players benefit from having an opportunity to play more? yes.

But I'm not kidding myself. These injuries were a real bummer.
That's fair--post that instead in the future. It adds a lot more to the discussion than a "doh" smiley. :)

[FunBunch7]

11. Please do not use the “Quote” feature to quote huge blocks of text or pictures.
If you would like to respond to the contents of a particular post, simply quote the sentence or idea that you're commenting upon, not necessarily the entire post. It wastes space on the database and unnecessarily extends and clutters threads.

This is one of the best posts I have read in a while! My props to you!

Another thing along your same lines...we won a playoff game on the road last season with only 125 yards total offense...this defense CAN and WILL carry us. If it is Betts in there and they want to stack the line or blitz...so be it...this year we have more "down the field" weapons than just Moss, or Cooley in the flat.

[Truant]

Let's rest all our our best players since we'll be 3-1 after the first 4 anyways.

[Fetch]

Let's rest Gibbs as well, you know, since we'll be 3-1 after the first 4 anyway. Invite him to your Sunday BBQs and let him squeak down into the folds of your plastic-covered couch.

[rcl6h]

I appreciate this thread. We're still 4 weeks from the opener, and while the
injuries aren't good, it could be so much worse. They'll be back, probably
very, very early in the season and we'll be ok! Let's just hope that everyone
else stays reasonably healthy.

[LoudMouth12thMan]

Optimism is never a bad thing. It's actually a testimony to the trust you have in the coaching staff. After all, we have to be prepared for forks in the road and to know who to put in the place of our proven starters when they go down. I'm not predicting when Portis or Springs will return to 100%, but if we are going to make a real run for the post season we have to have guys on this team who can step up and produce enough to win games. I think that will be better achieved by giving the coaches a chance to evaluate these players, whoever they may be, with more reps in the preseason. Then they [the players, coaches, and fans] will be more confident that these players can adequately contribute to wins during and prior to Portis and Springs' return.
HTTR!

[Mark]

If I try to write the most stupid post I can think of, I would proably name it "Springs/Portis injuries = good things??". There is NOTHING GOOD about injuries at ANY POINT OF THE SEASON. When player gets injured in the hard fought game against division rival it still hurts but you can justify it, but during some kind of practice.. that really sux big time. I am not saying the season is over, but again THERE IS NOTHING GOD ABOUT INJURIES!

[chaz13]

It's better for Springs to get fixed now than be questionable every week, and be out for a stretch that we really need him. Portis concerns me because a RB's shoulders take a beating. This will probably linger all year and cause him to miss at least parts of games. He needs to get fully healed before coming back. On the bright side at least it wasn't a knee injury. CP is tough and can play w/ pain. AS has very good things to say about Ladell so he may need to play a bigger role this year. Instead of 4-6 carries a game maybe he gets 8-10, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Last year w/ our lack of receiving options this would hurt much more. We have many weapons this year and our line has been together for another year. I think most of our backs could do a satisfactory job if the opposing defenses can't load the box against us. Plus Portis was used less in Denver usually getting 18-20 carries a game and had a better avg. Let;s hope no more injuries and we get healed up and ready to lay some wood against those Vikes.

[bbuzz1962]

The only "good" thing is that they won't play for the rest of the preseason, thus will not risk serious injury that could keep them out for the season. Did you hear about the Vikings #1 pick? Out for the year with a knee injury Monday night. I am starting to get more and more in favor of tossing these pre season games out.

[kleese]

Well, keep in mind we did win a playoff game on the road last year w/o Portis or Springs. Yes, Portis played, but those bum shoulders made him a shell of what he was.

I think some of you totally misinterpreted my post. Yes, if you take it 100% literally, then yeah, saying injuries are "good" is a stupid thing to say.

A few things:

--I always ASSUME we will have some hampering injuries. I am picking us to the win the division-- I make that pick ASSUMING some key players will miss some key games. If you expect to have a 100% healthy roster for 16 games, you are kidding yourself.

--For now, I am going to go with the prognosis we've been given-- that both players will be back very early in the regular season, if not for the first game. Of course, if either of these injuries linger all year and keep them out of action, then it ceases to be a positive of any sort.

--Let's just say for example that both Springs and Portis miss the first 4 games. IMO, if we can't go 3-1 over that stretch because those two are missing, then we aren't as good as I believe we are. Home games against the Vikes and Jags, road games at Houston and Dallas. That is a stretch of games a "contender" should be able to survive even missing some key players. Over the course of the entire year, I do believe their absence would be felt and it would eventually probably cost us in the win-loss column. But very good teams (which I hope we are) can survive, and even thrive, for short periods missing key components.

--I'll be totally honest here. I have a lot of faith in Ladell Betts-- other than the fact, ironically, that he gets hurt a lot. As a matter of fact, if I was Joe Gibbs I might ENCOURAGE Portis to take it slow, and I might even FORBID him from playing in September at all. That way, the shoulder should be as healthy as it could possibly be when he returns.

Running back is a punishing position-- very few survive the season. And you can even look at a guy like LT and see his numbers dip late in the year. I would have NO problem if Portis missed the first 4 games or so simply because I think it's inevitable that most RB's are going to get dinged pretty good throughout the year. I'd rather see him 100% healthy on October 1st, then have him battling through each week.

[Scrimmage]

It does seem like both of their injuries are the same ones that vexed them at the end of last season. At least there is something that will "fix" Springs' problem now -- like how they fixed John Hall's problem. CP's shoulders are a bigger drag. I used to wrestle in high school and my right shoulder STILL subluxates when I'm at a wierd angle. It sucks. A buddy of mine had the same problem and he got the surgery to "tighten up" the loose joint, but his still pops out too. After the swelling goes down, its normal again, but it hurts like hell when it pops out again. I'm guessing that the docs are going to be trying to explain to CP, and the coaches, etc. that the only thing to do to avoid it is to limit the range of motion (like with tape, or something else that makes it harder to bring your arms over your head), but a marquee running back just CANNOT have the range of motion limited in his arms. [That said, he might be less of a candidate for the short passes exposing outstretched arms to a jarring hit from the side.] Anyway, it sucks for him b/c mostly it just means pain.

The only good thing is that this is the HONORABLE way not to play in preseason games. I think T.O. is lying about his hamstring injury and just doesn't want to or think he needs to play in preseason games. [The middway point between the honor of an injury and the dishonor of faked injury is the Willie Roaf way ... fake retirement during training camp and decide to come back for just one more season after its over.]

[IronMike]

1) No injury is a good injury.
2) If an injury is going to occur, better that it happen in the first preseason game instead of the first regular season game.
3) I am afraid that CP's shoulder injury will bother him all year. I see fumbles, and missed games during the regular season.
4) I do not want to get into predicting victories just yet, BUT I do not understand all this talk of 3-1 after the first 4 games. We could easily go 1-3. Vikings are a good team with solid players. Brad Johnson can easily run a west coast offense, and C. Taylor is a very good RB. The Vikes defense is solid. Dallas in Dallas will be very tough. Parcells will have them sky-high after being embarrassed last year. And TO will be awesome without Springs covering him. Jax was a 12-4 team last year. Yes, their best WR retired, but they have a very strong DL with 2 of the best DTs in the NFL. A crippled Skins team could have a very rough beginning if the ball bounces in funny ways.
5) This is a dumb thread.

:doh:

[kleese]

Iron Mike-- I don't consider missing Springs and Portis for a few games "crippled." I consider a normal expectation for an NFL team. If we can't beat the Vikes, Texans, and Jags (two at home) unless our roster is 100% healthy, then we should pack it up right now.

Personally, I think we're going to lose week 2 regardless of the injuries. I just see Dallas getting us back a little bit in that game. But that's not the point.

The point to me is that this should be expected and is very normal. Not quite sure why everyone is freaking out.

[greenhunter7]

I dont think it is ever good to have injuries to players and especially the work horse of the offense which his shoulder if not healed up could be a problem all season long.

[Gigantor]

The positive out of these injuries, if there is any, is that it forces the team to find alternatives. The backups will get better because of it.

[shagman]

This may seem a little off topic, but I will throw my personal experience to show that CP can comeback without any effects from the shoulder injury. Before I joined the military I grew up in Vermont snowboarding religiously just about everyday since I was 5 years old. I used to compete in the halfpipe and thats where I sustained the same injury that CP endured. I was 22 years old and healthy (Not even close to CP's health) riding the pipe on my freetime. Im writing this assuming people know what a halfpipe is so I will continue.
I did a front side air to fakie but as I was returning into the pipe, I mis-timed the entry and just caught the top of the wall with my tail of my board. I fell about 15-20 ft and seperated my shoulder.
I couldnt ride for a week and it was sore for another week but by the third week there was only the occasional pain that happened if I planted my arm on a turn. By the fourth week I was 100% without professional rehab.

The point of the story is that I hear all of this negative doomsday stuff and the fact of the matter is that CP is a warrior. Even if there is a little pain for the first couple weeks, this isnt nearly as bad as it could have been. Have faith people! injuries happen. CP is very tough and its going to take a lot more than a seperated shoulder, a month from the regular season to stop him from breaking his own record this year.

Pick up CP in the Fantasy drafts!!! People are crazy if they pick Lamont Jordan or Cadillac Williams ahead of this man.:notworthy Dallas will lose in Week two!!!!!! I have faith(and hatred for Drew,TO and company)!!!! HAIL to the Redskins and HAIL to CP

[Hog Lover]

logical argument.

[Smurf85]

This may seem a little off topic, but I will throw my personal experience to show that CP can comeback without any effects from the shoulder injury. Before I joined the military I grew up in Vermont snowboarding religiously just about everyday since I was 5 years old. I used to compete in the halfpipe and thats where I sustained the same injury that CP endured. I was 22 years old and healthy (Not even close to CP's health) riding the pipe on my freetime. Im writing this assuming people know what a halfpipe is so I will continue.
I did a front side air to fakie but as I was returning into the pipe, I mis-timed the entry and just caught the top of the wall with my tail of my board. I fell about 15-20 ft and seperated my shoulder.
I couldnt ride for a week and it was sore for another week but by the third week there was only the occasional pain that happened if I planted my arm on a turn. By the fourth week I was 100% without professional rehab.

The point of the story is that I hear all of this negative doomsday stuff and the fact of the matter is that CP is a warrior. Even if there is a little pain for the first couple weeks, this isnt nearly as bad as it could have been. Have faith people! injuries happen. CP is very tough and its going to take a lot more than a seperated shoulder, a month from the regular season to stop him from breaking his own record this year.

Pick up CP in the Fantasy drafts!!! People are crazy if they pick Lamont Jordan or Cadillac Williams ahead of this man.:notworthy Dallas will lose in Week two!!!!!! I have faith(and hatred for Drew,TO and company)!!!! HAIL to the Redskins and HAIL to CP

Do you have a good warm pick me up story for SS.Thats who im worried about now.:doh:

[shagman]

me too- I thought about the John Hall had the same surgery- and look at him now one but it just didnt have the right ring to it

edit- I do like John Hall though~~he's no Chip but I like him and hope he gets his kicks down.

[kingchris626]

what are you talking about? It's never a good thing. I couldn't even finish reading your post

[#98QBKiller]

I couldn't even finish reading your post



Maybe that's why you didn't get it? :whoknows: