The annual injury epidemic is about to end for the Green Bay Packers, everyone!
I just pulled my hamstring as I wrote that.
Seriously though, the Packers have hired an Australian firm called Catapult Sports to help them study injury prevention.
Basically, this company provides teams with scientific data about players and injuries that is supposed to help them know when someone is susceptible to injury and when he’s ready to return from rest or injury. You know, stuff doctors should be doing.
As we all know, the Packers are pretty much a M.A.S.H. unit year in and year out. They had 15 guys on injured reserve in 2013 and have had the most games lost by starters over the past two seasons.
Coach Mike McCarthy, whose legacy may end up being injuries, has noted the team needs to do something about the situation. So has team president Mark Murphy.
For his part, McCarthy vowed to change the offseason program because of the injuries.
Hopefully, that coupled with this new data will help curtail the problem.
yeah, the law of averages doesn’t seem to be working on this. it seems statistically impossible for this to happen year after year after year. WTF??!
This issue can not be downplayed. I honestly believe that if the Packers were to just stay healthy enough they could have reached the Super Bowl last year, and maybe even the years prior as well.
Yup, at some point misfortune is no longer a legitimate answer.
About time. I have been calling this for some time. An independent, third-party panel of consultants. Better late than never.
Hear, hear. The right pull-your-head-out-of-the-sand move in the face of this vexing issue, but I wonder if they hired the right firm.
Perchance, would “Hamstrings R Us” have been a better choice?
It’s about time indeed. Could’nt believe what I read in the articles that it took so long and coaches did’nt know ( and some still don’t )
about over traning. See: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/hotread140326/gps-technology-nfl-game-changer
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Thank God! It’s about time.
I seem to recall that the Eagles had 5 players on IR last year. Why doesn’t the Pack save the $$$ to STUDY the problem and simply hire someone from the Philly training staff to FIX it???
I like the way you think; the Niners or the Seahquacks as well.
Maybe the Aussies can hook us up with some kangaroo hamstrings, esp. Masthay and Crosby. That’s not a hammy, THIS is a hammy.
I’ve seen this discussion going on for the better part of a year now on this site and I have to tell the hidden truth here.
I hate to say it…but hammy injuries this severe and often, along with other major tendon injuries, are often the results of steroid use.
Basically, the muscles get too big and create too much ‘torque’ in the type of high velocity movements players make in the NFL.
Another possibility is that by chance, we just happened to get a lot of players who are a bit more injury prone.
One more is that our players just happened to be in situations that caused injuries. I mean look at Mathews’ broken thumb. Proper warm-up techniques and off season conditioning don’t help you when you smash your thumb into metal.
The answer could be all of the above.
If these guys are on steroids, it’s for naught.
They don’t look big.
They don’t play big.
If there are real advantages to using steroids, and they were using — I’d think we’d see some stellar play (players running away from opponents; players tracking down opponents and making big tackles; players making hits that knock someone down, or backwards).
I’m thinking steroid use would change these guys, the way the juicers changed their bodies in baseball several years ago. In a span of a year or two, these guys morphed their bodies into comic book heroes.
If these guys are screwing with their future health… it’s for nothing.
Steroids are only one type of PED; different drugs have different side effects. Let’s just assume they are dosing don’t know what there body types (and associated performance) would be without the drugs as they were still maturing adolescents when they entered the NFL. There were plenty of players in the MLB who took roids whom you’ve never heard of, and there are players like Pat Rowan and Jeff Conine who are human tanks.
Along the lines of the ‘dumb luck’ hypothesis. Look at the four biggest injuries to the team this year. Rodgers, Mathews, Cobb, Finely. Does anyone really need to contemplate the reasons for those injuries or hire a consultant?
These are bone breaks and a neck injury!
1) Rodgers (hit the ground). —broken collarbone—
2) Mathews (slinging the shit out of some dude)—broken thumb—
3) Cobb (hit in the leg with tremendous force)—broken leg—
4) Finely (cracked in the head by a wound up DB)—spinal trauma—
Why are these injuries a mystery to anybody? I really don’t get it. As I stated above…the constant hammy injuries are a whole different category, but I was just speculating.
Totally agree, news flash, they are using PED’s
Sorry meant for that to be the comment above for the PED’s, this comment I agree the injuries are freak accidents