Injuries Shaping the Season

Every team has injuries throughout each NFL season.  At a certain point it becomes obvious that no matter how much depth a given team possesses, the accumulation of injuries will take a toll.  For many teams a key injury can derail their chances of reaching the playoffs.  For others it could be even worse, setting a franchise back for years.  Catastrophic injuries can end up being as costly as bad personnel moves for a team when those injuries happen to key players.

The New York Giants have suffered incredible injuries to start their 2011 campaign.  Many of their losses were before the season even started.  You could almost start your own team with all of the guys they’ve lost.  If the Giants were to lose any more players off the defense they might be calling up Michael Strahan soon.

The Kansas City Chiefs suffered more in their two losses than just two regular season games.  In each game the team suffered defeat – and then insult to each defeat.  It will be a monumental task for the Chiefs coaching staff to put their season back together after only two weeks, losing their top players on each side of the ball.  It’s like having to start the season all over again.  With Eric Berry and Jamaal Charles gone for the year KC will have to find a way to make the playoffs with backups now playing key roles.

Maybe the most devastating of all the injuries so far wasn’t really an injury at all.  It’s been Peyton Manning’s spring-time neck surgery and subsequent recovery.  To date Manning hasn’t played a down for the Colts this season.  Losing a quarterback would be a big blow to any team, let alone a team that contends for a Super Bowl every year.  When that quarterback happens to be a former multi-MVP award winner, and the heart and soul of the team, it’s effect is not merely on his own team.  It sends ripples across the league.  With the Colts stuck in neutral, the Texans have become the favorite to win the AFC South this season.  Without any real threat from Indy the rest of the AFC has one less contender to deal with.  The entire league knows that there won’t be the same Colts on the schedule.  It’s just a different team.

Last year the Green Bay Packers suffered several major injuries and somehow managed to make it to the playoffs.  We all know how that ended.  This year with all those injured players returning the Pack looks like they’re ready to make another deep run into the playoffs.  Maybe the Giants and Chiefs can take some solace in what Green Bay was able to accomplish last year, even with all their injuries.  Just keep the team afloat and find a way into the playoffs and you never know.  Week three is just barely starting and there is plenty of time to make up for losing early in the season.  Just don’t lose too many more key players and it can happen.

For the Colts, however, I’m not so sure.  The loss of Manning this season could end up costing the Colts dearly.  Not just in the loss of an entire season, but for the following seasons.  If Peyton cannot recover from this the Colts may be drafting his replacement next spring.  The way it’s looking at this point, that replacement could end up being good “Luck” for the Colts after all, and at the very least there would be a good mentor for the rookie.

I HATE to see injuries determine the fate of any season.  Right now it sure seems they will make the difference between who CAN and CAN’T win come playoff time.  Injuries happen every season, and the teams that make it to Super Sunday are more survivors than anything else.  The ability to survive the grueling marathon that is the NFL season makes the finish all the more satisfying.  We’ve barely started the season and unfortunately it seems certain that we have not seen the end of the major injuries yet.  At this point it’s just a matter of who’s next.  Hopefully we don’t have to see too many more players get carted off.  The league is always better when the players are on the field.  Everybody knows that.