Pete on inury proneness

[trents]

I was watching part of the presser on Root Rot Sports tonight where Pete was being interviewed. For a change he said something that made sense and had substance to it. He was asked by some reporter about some players being injury prone but others have few injuries. Basically, Pete said he thinks a big part of that phenomenon is that some guys just seem to have a better awareness than others of what is going on around them as plays are unfolding and avoid putting themselves in awkward positions where they are likely to get hurt. That makes sense to me and I'm think of how good down through the years Russell has been at that. There are just players that are able to twist and doge head on collisions such that most hit are glancing blows. Or players who seem to hop up to avoid getting their lower feet and ankles rolled up on. That kind of thing. I've often seen linemen standing around at the edge of a pile when the play is about over, looking down at the pile when someone comes in late and rolls up on their lower end. I'm thinking to myself, "Hey dude. The play is over. Look around behind you for late comers to the party and keep your ankles safe.

[NorthHawk]

In cases where players are carrying the ball, I would agree, but some players just have bad luck.
I'm thinking of Okung and other OL where they get hurt by other players rolling onto the back of their legs and causing injuries.
That was just bad luck for him as it happened a couple of times. Then he had other injuries, too that didn't help the perception of injury prone.
Then there are other OL that go most of their career without serious injury. It's almost like a roll of the dice on the LoS.

RB's? Yah, there might be something to that - Lynch had a very subtle way of shifting before contact so it was rare that a defender would get a clean shot at him.
Walter Payton was similar in that he also rarely got clean shots delivered to him but he dealt out a lot of shots on defenders. Different running styles but similar
avoidance of injury.

[Hawktawk]

The injury that cost Penney the better part of 2 seasons after never being hurt was a tackle to the knee from the side at the end of a really nice explosive carry after a swing pass. Didn't look like much but it was a devastating injury. I was drooling at the mouth with playoffs approaching the way the guy was starting to look. I think a lot of the pulls and strains are part of getting back from something like that. When it happened he was playing like he should be starting.

As for Carrols theory hes been at it a long time so I'm sure he knows what's up. I think some guys are built better, more flexible. Sometimes its just luck though. Curt Warner blew his knee without contact. Bo Jackson lost his hip being tackled by a guy laying out and grabbing his foot. Russ has been amazing playing though lots of stuff but hes also built more like a running back than a QB. Then he gets sidelined breaking his finger on the palm of Aaron Donald. Not his helmet. His palm.
Go figure.