Patriots/NFL Injury Thread

[Euclis20]

To be honest, because going after a QB would be a "problem".  The NFL protects QBs more than any position in any sport.  They're treated like Gods, and the top guys even more so.
 
I know you're being factitious, but it's true.  If a guy ran into a kicker, no one would really bat an eyelash.  It happens pretty regularly.  Rolling up a QB's knee isn't.


Kickers and punters get run into now and then, but rarely hard enough to get hurt while actually kicking the ball. If a team lost their final kicker/punter off the day on a blatant cheap shot, on national television during a playoff game, the league would flip out.

Much of the same rules that protect qbs also protect kickers/punters, but we don't think about it much because injuries on those plays are rarer for specialists, and rarely has the loss of a kicker or punter affected the outcome of a season. If a Colt hit gostowski hard enough and late enough to get himself ejected, there would be trouble.

 

[Stitch01]

Yeah, I get the theory, but not sure how the team is going to tell the special teams guy making $500K a year to go make a play that's going to cost him six figures and get him suspended for a month.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

 
Gostkowski punting is far from insane.  If it weren't for a disdain toward using football players to hold on extra points, a number of teams could just get rid of the punter altogether and reinvest budget in other roster positions. 

 
Punters don't make enough money to be cut for cap reasons, IMO. Is it really worth the 800K in savings to risk using a non-specialist in that role? If we're on the theme that punters aren't real football players (which you've mentioned before) then why waste a "real" player on a task as mundane as holding for kicks?

 

[Shelterdog]

Yeah, I get the theory, but not sure how the team is going to tell the special teams guy making $500K a year to go make a play that's going to cost him six figures and get him suspended for a month.

 
Along the same lines I think the players do respect each other, each other's careers, and the game enough that relatively few guys will take blatant cheap shots that can injure a player (as opposed to some pushing or whatever after the whistle which normally won't help anyone). 

 

[Bunt4aTriple]

 
Punters don't make enough money to be cut for cap reasons, IMO. Is it really worth the 800K in savings to risk using a non-specialist in that role? If we're on the theme that punters aren't real football players (which you've mentioned before) then why waste a "real" player on a task as mundane as holding for kicks?

Oh, I see you're on board with the Kluwe conspiracy theory too.

 

[ShaneTrot]

 
Punters don't make enough money to be cut for cap reasons, IMO. Is it really worth the 800K in savings to risk using a non-specialist in that role? If we're on the theme that punters aren't real football players (which you've mentioned before) then why waste a "real" player on a task as mundane as holding for kicks?

The Colquitt brothers make almost $4 million a year each playing for Denver and KC. That seems insane. Punting seems like a pretty fungible commodity.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Oh, I see you're on board with the Kluwe conspiracy theory too.

 
Eh, what?
 
I like Kluwe. I think he's got some interesting things to say from a unique POV, even if part of that stems from a need to be seen and heard. I also think that had he been a better punter last year, with a smaller cap number, he'd have been in the league this year, if not with the Vikings then somewhere else. It's not all black and white.
 
I admire his decision to burn all his NFL bridges because he feels the need to do what he believes is right, but the decision to cut him was fueled IMO by a number of factors, not just his outspokenness.

 

[Reverend]

 
Along the same lines I think the players do respect each other, each other's careers, and the game enough that relatively few guys will take blatant cheap shots that can injure a player (as opposed to some pushing or whatever after the whistle which normally won't help anyone). 

 
I have to think that if it got out that a coach asked a player to do this, there would be serious repercussions as well, beyond BountyGate.

 

[Bunt4aTriple]

Twas a joke, since anti-Kluwe crowd are claiming he was cut for cap reasons.  Personally, I admire his stance, am a bit turned off (but not too much) by his presentation, and think it was likely a combination of distraction/cap hit for a less than league average punter.

 

[dbn]

Why not just go a step further, and take out Brady's knees a couple seconds after the whistle?  That would really have put the Pats in a bind.

 
Depends. Would AZ still do the trade if Mallet had the franchise tag?

 

[steveluck7]

 
Depends. Would AZ still do the trade if Mallet had the franchise tag?

Duh, in that scenario, we trade Brady for Fitz and 2 1sts. Brady's too old anyway

 

[lexrageorge]

I seem to recall that the Mesko got hurt in a regular season game last season, and the Pats basically didn't punt the rest of the game.  
 
Obviously, the stakes were much higher on Sunday.  But normally having your place kicker handle punting duties long term is just asking for trouble; there is no chance that BB is planning to have Ghost punt in Mile High barring any in-game injuries.