Injuries & personnel losses take their toll

[The Dude]

Did you see him hamming it up on the sideline? He has a great acting career ahead of him if football doesn't work out.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Why are we the only team that has injuries?

Even as late as last year, I was arguin with folks that it's just a stroke of bad luck. But I was wrong. This is 4 years in a row now. even in 2011, we had some issues down the stretch. But two years in a row now, it's just been total dessimation. I know everyone has issues, but it's becoming a trend here. It's something that needs addressed.

x2.

This season has been extremely frustrating as far as injuries. It's enough for many of us to want to examine Dobson's training regimen insofar as injury resistance, as well as the actual fitness level of the offensive lineman, which is a horse of a different color.

Considering the struggle for this team to get over the proverbial hump during Bo's tenure, you'd think we'd spare no expense to ensure the best chance for success on the field, whether it be opening up the bank for the best S&C coach we can afford, hiring a QB coach, etc etc....

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

http://www.donbest.com/ncaaf/injuries/

Gives injury list for all schools. We aren't the only school that has injuries and we should stop using it as some sort of excuse. Recruit and add quality depth.

 

[Warrior10]

http://www.donbest.com/ncaaf/injuries/

Gives injury list for all schools. We aren't the only school that has injuries and we should stop using it as some sort of excuse. Recruit and add quality depth.

We have.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Nice straw man Hedley.

I'm not saying this isn't a problem for everyone else. Injuries are a part of the game and you have to deal with them. No one's using them as an excuse.

But, seeing as you were kind enough to provide that link, I did some quick math.

We are currently tied for 120th out of 128th with 12 players listed on the injury report. A majority of those were expected key contributors with an "out for season" tag next to their name. Most of the programs that had more listed everybody with a nick or bruise and included a lot of "probables" or "expected to play." Several didn't.

Just because it's an issue for everyone doesn't mean we're not doing a poor job (relative to everyone else) of keeping players healthy.

 

[Hedley Lamarr]

Nice straw man Hedley.

I'm not saying this isn't a problem for everyone else. Injuries are a part of the game and you have to deal with them. No one's using them as an excuse.

But, seeing as you were kind enough to provide that link, I did some quick math.

We are currently tied for 120th out of 128th with 12 players listed on the injury report. A majority of those were expected key contributors with an "out for season" tag next to their name. Most of the programs that had more listed everybody with a nick or bruise and included a lot of "probables" or "expected to play." Several didn't.

Just because it's an issue for everyone doesn't mean we're not doing a poor job (relative to everyone else) of keeping players healthy.

Oh I completely agree that something doesn't pass the smell test in regards to our injury concerns. Some were going to happen regardless obviously, but to have the same volume year after year is interesting to say the least.

I just get tired of the injury line used as an excuse. Not saying you were etc.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

If Kenny Bell's receiving stats aren't enough for you, take a gander of his highlight reel of shots delivered to opponets as a blocker or special teams gunner. Absolutely balls-out for a guy his size.

I can't think of a more go-to guy, who backed it up almost every game in a long Husker career.

What a weird time to be taking our star players down a peg.

I don't think anyone is trying to take him down a peg. Everyone, I think recognizes Kenny's importance to the program. Which is why I was very disappointed he didn't try to make a go of it at least on the last drive. Especially if the injury is insignificant enough that he's ready to go already for Northwestern. Even if not 100% as we saw, his experience being on the field could very well have resulted in the W. I can't recount all the games he's gotten injured in during his career here, but it seems like there have been several where his contributions would have made a difference. Minnesota last year, McNeese St. and Michigan St. this year all come to mind. In all instances he was back relatively quickly, so the injuries may have been minor.

I'm not advocating at all that players should play injured if they can't make a go of it, but how many times have we seen Tommie and Ameer shake off a hard hit where something got tweaked and still perform. It's Kenny's senior year, he is a captain, and a leader of this team. If it were me, I suck it up and tell coach, "put me in, I'll do my best to win this game for us," just as Tommie did.

Again, as long as our receivers don't run into each other on that last play, we very well could have won. Kenny could have been the difference and could have led to an undefeated Senior year for him and Ameer. If he was sitting out just "to be safe," he gave that opportunity up.

So......you're not taking Kenny down a peg. You're just saying his injury was suspect, suggesting he was a candyass for not going back in, and that his lack of desire to play at limited capacity may have cost us the biggest game of the year.

 

[True2tRA]

If Kenny Bell's receiving stats aren't enough for you, take a gander of his highlight reel of shots delivered to opponets as a blocker or special teams gunner. Absolutely balls-out for a guy his size.

I can't think of a more go-to guy, who backed it up almost every game in a long Husker career.

What a weird time to be taking our star players down a peg.

I don't think anyone is trying to take him down a peg. Everyone, I think recognizes Kenny's importance to the program. Which is why I was very disappointed he didn't try to make a go of it at least on the last drive. Especially if the injury is insignificant enough that he's ready to go already for Northwestern. Even if not 100% as we saw, his experience being on the field could very well have resulted in the W. I can't recount all the games he's gotten injured in during his career here, but it seems like there have been several where his contributions would have made a difference. Minnesota last year, McNeese St. and Michigan St. this year all come to mind. In all instances he was back relatively quickly, so the injuries may have been minor.

I'm not advocating at all that players should play injured if they can't make a go of it, but how many times have we seen Tommie and Ameer shake off a hard hit where something got tweaked and still perform. It's Kenny's senior year, he is a captain, and a leader of this team. If it were me, I suck it up and tell coach, "put me in, I'll do my best to win this game for us," just as Tommie did.

Again, as long as our receivers don't run into each other on that last play, we very well could have won. Kenny could have been the difference and could have led to an undefeated Senior year for him and Ameer. If he was sitting out just "to be safe," he gave that opportunity up.

So......you're not taking Kenny down a peg. You're just saying his injury was suspect, suggesting he was a candyass for not going back in, and that his lack of desire to play at limited capacity may have cost us the biggest game of the year.

Whoa. Unless you've pulled your groin severely or torn it before, you should chill out on the judgment. I have severely pulled my groin before and you can't hardly do a damn thing without being in pain. Bell would have done no good even trying to go back out there.

I am surprised he keeps coming back from this so quickly though. Mine lingered for a long time, it really hung quite long. I was very stiff, and walking was hard. The key was to slowly loosen it back up though, you couldn't just go plunging in and out of vigorous activity.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I have no idea why expecting your groin to heal in two weeks is evidence that Bell should have been able to play the fourth quarter.

 

[74Hunter]

Umm,, substitutions. You know, not having one guy play every snap of every game.

Who is playing every snap of the game that you would like to see on the sidelines more?

Well, I could be wrong but i didn't see much of the backups on the DL against MSU. I'm fairly certain that no OL backups played, even though the starters weren't great and one of them could barely move and got smoked repeatedly. The RB rotation hasn't been any sort of rotation for years,,and still isn't. It took the staff 5 or 6 games to finally try Roach at LB while the play there was sub par.

That's just a few off the top of my head.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Umm,, substitutions. You know, not having one guy play every snap of every game.

Who is playing every snap of the game that you would like to see on the sidelines more?

Well, I could be wrong but i didn't see much of the backups on the DL against MSU. I'm fairly certain that no OL backups played, even though the starters weren't great and one of them could barely move and got smoked repeatedly. The RB rotation hasn't been any sort of rotation for years,,and still isn't. It took the staff 5 or 6 games to finally try Roach at LB while the play there was sub par.

That's just a few off the top of my head.

Bo tends to stick to his guys and play favorites a bit too much. That's probably behind the hesitancy to switch to Roach.

You're correct about the lines. The starters played more or less every snap of the entire game on both sides.

 

[Danimal]

Umm,, substitutions. You know, not having one guy play every snap of every game.

Who is playing every snap of the game that you would like to see on the sidelines more?

Well, I could be wrong but i didn't see much of the backups on the DL against MSU. I'm fairly certain that no OL backups played, even though the starters weren't great and one of them could barely move and got smoked repeatedly. The RB rotation hasn't been any sort of rotation for years,,and still isn't. It took the staff 5 or 6 games to finally try Roach at LB while the play there was sub par.

That's just a few off the top of my head.

Roach came in during the 4th game against Miami. He should have came in earlier. I think Bo was in love with Bando's physical potential, unfortunately he just doesn't play mentally fast and misses tackles.

They've rotated the rb's this season, maybe not as much as some would like but they were trying to keep AA in the Heisman race and he's just much better than our other backs.

They rotated the OL a little against MSU but not nearly as much as much as they should have.

 

[Redshirt]

Dont we see the same post every year?

Its part of football. Every team has contributors that get banged up in Spring, fall camp, games and practice. If that will be our excuse for poor performance and losing game, then get used to it because it will happen every year.

The staff need to focus on recruiting more depth and developing younger/backup players more. Because every year you are going to lose people to injury, behavior, academics, or family/personal issues.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Dont we see the same post every year?

Its part of football. Every team has contributors that get banged up in Spring, fall camp, games and practice. If that will be our excuse for poor performance and losing game, then get used to it because it will happen every year.

The staff need to focus on recruiting more depth and developing younger/backup players more. Because every year you are going to lose people to injury, behavior, academics, or family/personal issues.

The debate is not whether or not we're GOING to lose people to attrition during the season. We know it's inevitable.

The debate is whether we're doing something WRONG training or practicing that unnecessarily INCREASES the number of guys getting hurt.

We can recruit/develop all we want. If that's an issue, we're going to suffer the same attrition.