Showing posts with label Richard Sherman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Sherman. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Thursday games under fire in NFL injury crisis


LOS ANGELES -- When Richard Sherman became the latest high-profile NFL star to suffer a season-ending injury in Seattle's bruising victory over Arizona last week, it was not long before a familiar culprit found itself in the dock.

Sherman, who suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, was one of around 15 players who finished the game hurt or injured.

For Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, the blame should be put squarely on the scheduling of the game on Thursday.

Since its introduction in 2006, "Thursday Night Football" has gradually expanded to incorporate 14 games, a period spanning most of the regular season.

For players required to suit up on Thursdays, however, that often means putting their battered bodies into the firing line while they are still carrying knocks from Sunday games four days earlier.

"Guys don't have time to recover," Baldwin told reporters after Seattle's 22-16 win over the Cardinals last week. "Hard to recover in four days."

Asked if the injury tally was evidence that Thursday games place an intolerable burden on players, Baldwin said: "It's Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C, Exhibit D, Exhibit Z. Thursday night football should be illegal."

This week it will be the turn of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Tennessee Titans to perform a tight turnaround after playing on Sunday.

Veteran Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is adamant that Thursday night games should be scrapped.

"It's miserable, it's terrible," he said in an interview with a CBS Sports Radio station in Pittsburgh on Monday.

"They need to get rid of this game I think. Just play on Mondays and Sundays. It's so tough on the guys. You're beat up, you're banged up. It's a very violent, physical game we play.

"You've got to let your body recover a little bit. Even a week, you're still not fully recovered by Sunday to Sunday, you're still dealing with bumps and bruises and things just continue to build up throughout the season.

"When you go on such a short week, man, it's just not good. I don't know many players that like it."

- Money talks -


Despite the unpopularity of playing on Thursdays, it remains to be seen whether the criticism will be heard by the NFL, a multi-billion-dollar industry which remains America's most lucrative professional sport.

The most recent television deal for games on Thursday saw CBS and NBC pay roughly $900 million over two years to broadcast five games each per season.

The players' share of that revenue is reported to be in the region of $225 million. Any move to cut Thursday games would almost certainly hit players in the pocket to that amount.

DeMaurice Smith, the executive director of the player's union, the NFLPA, acknowledged that players would need to accept that any cut to Thursday games would mean a loss of revenue.

It is possible market forces may yet dictate a reduction in Thursday games.

The current lucrative television deal ends this season, and with ratings having declined sharply over the same period, it is uncertain that any new deal will be struck at the same level.

In the meantime, some believe that the NFL should consider offering a bye to teams due to play on a Thursday, giving them a free weekend on the preceding Sunday.

"That's one option I think is very fixable," said John Wilckens, an associate professor of orthopaedic surgery at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Wilckens, who has served as the team physician to the US Navy gridiron team for 15 years, said he believes offering a bye could be a solution.

"If you have a bye week on the Sunday so that you have a break before you play on a Thursday, there are ways that you can be smart about it," he told AFP.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Sunday, January 10, 2016

NFL: Seahawks, Steelers advance


Missed field goal gives Seahawks frigid Wild Card win

Reuters


Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh missed a 27-yard field goal attempt with 26 seconds to play to gift the Seattle Seahawks with a bone-chilling 10-9 NFC Wild Card win in the frigid Twin Cities on Sunday.

Walsh, who had hit on 22, 43 and 47 yard field goals, looked poised to send a chilled Minnesota crowd home happy until he pulled his game-winning attempt wide left leaving both teams and a packed TCF Bank stadium crowd stunned.

"Crazy things happen in the playoffs," said Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson. "It was an ugly game, we didn't play very well on offense and that's on me. I take the blame for that we've got to be better.

"But we won, we kept battling. That is the great thing about it, you have to keep battling in the playoffs, you have to keep battling every opportunity you've got.

"Defense was lights out, they made so many big plays that kept us in the game."

As the lowest remaining seed in the NFC at number six the Seahawks, bidding for a third straight appearance in the Super Bowl, will now head to Charlotte next weekend for a divisional showdown with the number one ranked Carolina Panthers.

---------------------------------------


Brutish Bengals gift Steelers wild card victory

Reuters


The Pittsburgh Steelers secured a last-ditch 18-16 victory over bitter rivals the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday, coming out on top of an ill-tempered AFC Wild Card game to extend the home team's long wait for a playoff win.

The contest seemed to be safely in Cincinnati's hands after they fought back from a 15-0 deficit with 16 fourth-quarter points and seized control of the ball with less than two minutes remaining on a Vontaze Burfict interception.

However, as the Bengals endeavored to run out the clock and secure a first playoff victory since 1991, running back Jeremy Hill fumbled after a hit by linebacker Ryan Shazier and the Steelers recovered deep in their own territory.

Inspired by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's return to the game after he was earlier withdrawn with a shoulder injury following a bone-jarring sack, Pittsburgh marched down the field.

In the dying seconds, the Steelers benefited from a pair of personal foul calls, a ferocious late hit to the head by Burfict on an incomplete pass to Antonio Brown and another 15-yard foul on cornerback Adam Jones in the ensuing melee.

That set up a game-winning, 35-yard field goal by Chris Boswell with 14 seconds left.

---------------------------------------

Punishment expected after Bengals-Steelers ugly Wild Card

Larry Fine, Reuters


Their previous meeting resulted in nearly $140,000 in fines and more punishment is likely to come from the NFL following Saturday's outrageous Wild Card playoff between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

The National Football League has been striving to make the inherently violent game safer for players, but the contest instead showcased the reckless side of the sport.

Nine officials were stationed in a line across the entire Paul Brown Stadium field prior to the playoff game, won by Pittsburgh 18-16, to separate bitter AFC North rivals who had scuffled before the start of their encounter last month.

Peace reigned Saturday until the kickoff, when bad blood between the teams flowed with head-high hits, personal fouls and unsportsmanlike conduct calls that even involved coaches from both sides.

---------------------------------------


Blame me says Vikings kicker after miss

Agence France-Presse


Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh offered no excuses on Sunday after missing an easy field goal that cost his side a win in their wild card duel with the Seattle Seahawks.

With only 26 seconds left, Walsh incredibly pulled a 27-yard chip shot wide of the uprights to allow Seattle to hang on to clinch a 10-9 victory.

While some focused on the fact that holder Jeff Locke left the ball's laces facing Walsh, the Vikings kicker claimed sole responsibility for the nightmare miss.

"I can tell you this: It's my fault. I don't care if you give me a watermelon (to kick), I should be able to put that through," Walsh said. "Jeff did his job, (long snapper) Kevin (McDermott) did his job. I'm the only one who didn't do my job there. That's on me."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com