BY WILL POLADIAN, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
With the NFL season close to being a fourth of the way done, we have seen a recurring theme: injuries plaguing teams.
Take a look at the Carolina Panthers, for example. They’ve been off to a great start but have lost their top players in RB Christian McCaffrey and top draft pick CB Jaycee Horn. Now sitting at the top of a tough NFC South, the Panthers have to scramble and find a way to push through.
It seems like it’s the same narrative every year. Teams lose star players early. Just look at the Miami Dolphins. Without QB Tua Tagovailoa, they are 0-2 and are severely struggling on offense. Their performance against the Bills tells the entire tale. After Tagovailoa was hurt, backup Jacoby Brissett looked lost. After being sacked four times and throwing an interception, Brissett made the Bills defense look like the best it has looked this season. Even the next week against the Raiders, the Dolphins relied heavily on the ground game and didn’t feel comfortable with Brissett.
Some other teams are able to work around these issues. For example, the Washington Football Team lost starting QB Ryan Fitzpatrick very early in week one against the Chargers. So, backup Taylor Heinicke was thrown into action unexpectedly. But, he has somewhat kept Washington afloat. With a solid running game and a 119 passer rating with a touchdown, WFT kept the game close in their loss against the Chargers. The next week, Heinicke had an even stronger performance on short rest, throwing two touchdowns and passing for over 300 yards in a win against the now 0-3 New York Giants.
But, not all teams are able to have this same fate. The New York Jets, who aren’t expected to succeed this season, are hurting even more after LT Mekai Becton went down with a knee injury. The Jets have an already injury plagued defense with the losses of safeties Marcus Maye, Ashtyn Davis and LaMarcus Joyner. Additionally, the Jets have injuries at linebacker to Jarrad Davis and Blake Cashman as well as a season ending injury to DE Carl Lawson in pre-season. The injury bug has even affected special teams by the way of an injured P Braeden Mann. It makes an already horrible Jets team even worse.
With the promising pick of Zach Wilson in this year’s draft, the Jets being hurt sets back his progress and ability to learn with this team. He has had glimpses of ups and downs. In his first start, he threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns against a top-10 Panthers defense. But over the last two games, he has struggled immensely with no touchdowns and six interceptions against the Patriots and Broncos. Without his blindside blocker, he has had no time in the pocket and is trying to play hero ball because he’s being forced to.
Now, with all this in mind, it’s hard to stop injuries because they’re a part of the game. With a long season ahead, it’s bound to have this trend to continue. But we all enjoy when our favorite teams always have the best players available on the field. So, I feel that we can all agree on one thing, that we hope that the NFL can find a way to limit injuries and keep our favorite teams healthy. It may be time to get rid of the Thursday night games and even add another bye week to give more time for rest and recovery.
poladijw20@bonaventure.edu
