As the National Football League winds down its preseason play and enters the official week one of the regular season on September 8, I can't help but sit back and laugh, yet grimace at the amount of injuries and situations the NFL quarterbacks have gotten themselves into.
Some quarterbacks couldn't help the injuries they endured. Some are starters and some are back up quarterbacks. While it's preseason, a quarterbacks status doesn't quite matter when they are all competing for the starting job or back up job. While injuries plagued some, unfortunate circumstances plagued others.
By now, many of you have heard about the Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Romo has had many injuries throughout the past couple of years. At 36 years old, he is desperately trying to stay in the game, but after a preseason tackle that caused a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra, he is showing his age and vulnerability. For 6-10 weeks he will be confined to a back brace, hoping that will allow him to play for the last end of the season; just when the Cowboys might need it the most.
As long as we are on the subject of the Dallas Cowboys, Kellen Moore, a back up to Romo ended up breaking his ankle during the preseason. With the assumed top two quarterbacks for the Cowboys hurt, that leaves rookie Dak Prescott from Mississippi State University to take over one of the most storied franchises in the NFL.
Even though Aaron Rodgers for the Green Bay Packers is the starting quarterback, the injury of Packers' Brett Hundley's ankle is cause for worry. There is always a chance that a quarterback will take a hard hit and get injured. While the injury is only a high ankle sprain, he has had a history of that ankle causing trouble.
No doubt everyone has early about Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49er's and his silent, but impactful protest by not standing for the National Anthem during a preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. It doesn't matter what I think about his actions because we all have our own thoughts and feelings toward it, but either way, his off the field action isn't why the preseason isn't treating Kaepernick well. During the off season, he had multiple surgeries that has not allowed him to work out; he lost weight and muscle mass. There are many reports stating that Kaepernick will be lucky to be playing with the 49er's by week two of the NFL season. With this unwanted attention on the 49er's and Kaepernick's lack of athleticism during the preseason will only hurt him in more than one way.
Just released on August 30, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffers a serious ACL injury and other areas around the knee during non contact play. Per reports; the injury was bad enough that an ambulance was talked to the Vikings facility as well as practice getting called off. Assuming Bridgewater will be missing a greater portion of the NFL season, if not the whole season, the back up to him would be 36 year old Shaun Hill who has been in the league for 15 years. The third string quarterback, Taylor Heinicke, 2nd season quarterback, is currently out with a foot injury. This past week he just shed his walking boot. One of the top NFC North competitors behind the Green Bay Packers, may have a hard time getting through the season depending on the outcome of Bridgewater's injury and Hill's willingness and athleticism.
Quarterbacks aren't the only athletes that have been hurt this preseason. Whether they are out for a couple of games or the whole season, these injuries will affect each and every team. Unfortunately, many of the injured athletes are seasoned veterans and starters. Players like Brandon Marshall, Larry Fitzgerald, Julio Jones, Greg Olsen, A.J. Green and Victor Cruz are either questionable or probable to play in the next and last preseason game and beyond. However, once an injury happens, there is an even greater chance of that or other injuries to happen during the season when the team needs them most.
With these multiple injuries during the preseason, it begs the question if having preseason games is OK based on the amount of injuries that have happened. With the NFL regular season right around the corner, it will be interesting to see how some of these franchises handle not having their top performers and playing on eggshells with others.
