Fully 19 players are being held out
of practice today due to injury. Astonishingly, that number is down from 21
yesterday. Add to the sheer numbers the importance of the potentially season ending
hamstring surgery for Mack linebacker Desmond Bishop, and the Packers’ injury
situation isn’t looking great. Indeed coach McCarthy was quoted as saying he’d,
‘never seen anything like this before’ and ‘never dealt with (injury) numbers
like this before.’ While all that may be true, I don’t think we’re anywhere
near panic time just yet.
The Packers won Superbowl XLV with
a host of players on injured reserve (15 to be precise, the most of any team in
the league at the time). The list included our starting running back (Ryan
Grant), starting middle linebacker (Nick Barnett), starting cornerback (Al
Harris), starting tight end (J-Mike Finley), starting right tackle (Mark
Tauscher) and more. If all of the starters at those positions went down this
week, there would be countless individuals writing the team off before the
season even starts. The reality of the situation is that the Packers have
unbelievable roster depth that allows us to compete even after losing key
starters. Take the example of Desmond Bishop, who was a little used back-up
prior to Nick Barnett’s injury. ‘Bish’ quickly developed into a defensive
leader, facilitated the release of the mercurial Barnett, and made one of the
biggest plays in the Superbowl. So although it certainly hurts to lose him for
what looks like the entire season, there is a guy named DJ Smith backing him up
that would no doubt like to assuage any concerns we may have of ‘soft play’ in
the middle of our defense. Who is to say that Smith isn’t the next star waiting
to emerge?
The reality of our injury situation
in 2010 is that we were hit hard, but early. In other words, the replacements
had time during the regular season to adjust to the speed of the game and learn
to play as a cohesive unit. It’s no secret that the health of your team in week
16 is far more important than the health of your team in week two of the
preseason. Every team deals with injuries, the successful ones have a plan in
place and execute in the face of adversity. Yes, we could continue to suffer
injuries at a rapid pace throughout the season, but history tells us that’s not
likely. For whatever reason, injuries seem to come in bunches, and we’re right in
the thick of a bunch right now. McCarthy is adjusting practice schedules and
preseason playing time accordingly, and will continue to be proactive in
limited the exposure he gives his team to injury. Basically, don’t expect Clay
Matthews or Charles Woodson to be making too many plays in August.
The situation at hand reminds me of
the baseball fan that calls for the manager’s head after a 4-11 start. Although
the NFL is certainly more of a sprint to the finish than MLB, it would be
equally as foolish to panic after week one of the preseason. We’re going to
lose more starters to injury, that’s a fact. The injury rate in the NFL is
100%, no player escapes unscathed. I, for one, will sleep easy knowing that we’ve
had Ted Thompson at the helm planning for these injuries literally years ago.
He knew we’d end up here, and he’s taken steps to limit the damage.
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