Battered and Bruised: Recapping Notable Pre-Season Injuries

We have been counting down the days till the start of this football season since the Saints marched the Vince Lombardi trophy back to New Orleans after Superbowl XLIV. In anticipation for the day that we get to see our favorite teams face off against each other on the line of scrimmage, many of us take to watching overly glorified scrimmages preseason games.

I have mixed feelings about the pre-season and how much it really tells me about my team and how they will do in the long haul. On one hand, we have the ability to size teams up, see how much depth on their roster and see how some of our newly acquired players fit with our team. But preseason injuries are inevitable in the NFL. And within the span of four weeks, several teams are faced with the threat of losing one of their key players for a significant part of the regular season. And this year was no different as we kept a watch on the injury report to see if some late greats and young hopefuls could keep themselves together long enough to take the first snap of the regular season.

As we count down the final hours before the start of the season, lets take a look back on the notable injuries of this season that have been keeping us up at night.

Dez Bryant

The Bad News: The Cowboys were the first team to suffer a potentially serious injury to one of their key players. During training camp, Bryant went down with a high ankle sprain and missed all but the first week of practice. The anticipation around Bryant and the potential impact he can have on the Cowboys is what makes this injury concerning to fans. With the Cowboys trading up in the draft to pick up Bryant, scouting reports about his speed and agility, and the infamous rookie shoulder pads training camp drama, there has been quite a bit of hype around a player that has played in a full game since September 19, 2009 before the NCAA suspended him.
The Good News: Bryant thinks his ankle is 100% and we should finally see some of his potential unleashed this Sunday against the Redskins

Byron Leftwich
The Bad News: With Ben Roethlisberger out for the start of the season, it was essential that the Steelers have a solid QB roster to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Steelers had brought in Leftwich at the end of last season to be their starting quarterback while Roethlisberger was out. Now, Dennis Dixon is the guy who will be running the show with career backup Charlie Batch waiting in the wings. The Steelers began the season with a solid line up of 4 quarterbacks and now they are down to just two with Leftwich on the sidelines for most of the first month with a strained left knee ligament.
The Good News: Big Ben’s suspension has been reduced to 4 weeks and he will be retaking the reigns on this team October 17th when Pittsburgh meets Cleveland.

Gibril Wilson
The Bad News: The Bengals safety Wilson is out with a torn ACL and MCL and will miss the entire season after suffering the injury in the 2nd pre-season game. He signed this spring as a free-agent and the Bengals hoped that he would add experience and depth to the position.
The Good News: Although this leaves Cincinnati pretty thin at the safety position Coach Marvin Lewis is expecting to see the young guys on the team step-up to the plate since they will be filling the No. 4 position internally.

Donnie Avery

The Bad News: The Rams #1 Wide Receiver is out for the year after suffering a torn ligament in his right knee during the preseason game against the Patriots. This is a pretty big blow to the Rams offense since Avery is the arguably one of their few threats on offense. While the Rams scrabbled to find a replacement it started to look like the much celebrated Bradford had no one of quality Laurent Robinson to throw the ball too.

The Good News: The Rams were able to find a replacement to add some much needed experience and to the Wide Receivers roster in Mark Clayton who they picked up from the Baltimore Ravens. Clayton is a product of the Boomer Sooner machine like QB Bradford and they even have had the experience of working together in the past. The experience and familiarity may be enough to hold the Rams together through this season.


Sidney Rice

The Bad News: The Vikings have been plagued with injuries all off-season. Wide Receiver Rice will miss the first 6 weeks of the regular sesason. Although this doesn’t completly cripple their offense, it is disappointing to see, particularly because the Vikings success last year was in large part due to Rice’s 1,312 yards and 8 touchdowns. Even more concerning is that it looks like this situation could have been prevented. Rice initially injured his hip in the NFC Championship game against the Saints, but doctors continually told him in the offseason that it would heal with rest and he would need surgery before the start of this season. But apparently the doctor was wrong and the situation worsened forcing Rice to opt into surgey.
The Good News: Rice isn't out for the entire season and a healthy Rice is better than no Rice. As he reports on his blog, he should be back later this season to "help the Vikings make a push for the Super Bowl."

Now there are some key players that are "healthy" but their previous injuries are still in the back of our minds. Just to mention a few:

Donovan McNabb, Redskins- foot injury

Troy Polamalu, Steelers- knee injury

Brett Favre, Vikings- ankle injury

Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals- sprained MCL

Wes Welker, Patriots- knee injury

Michael Bush, Raiders- thumb

Clinton Portis, Redskins- sprained ankle

What major players did I forget? And what impact will their absence have on their teams this season?