Written By: A.J. McDaniel
It’s the most wonderful month of the year for sports fans: October. The MLB postseason is underway, The NFL is going strong, and the NBA is just starting off. While this is my personal favorite month of the year it’s also a time where players can find themselves facing severe, and season-ending injuries. Let’s look back over the past few weeks and revisit all of the major players that have been sidelined for a while.
Odell Beckham Jr.
OBJ was carted off the field in obvious pain and discomfort in the Giants week five matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. He was going out for a pass on a simple slant pattern and jumped for a pass that was pushed way too high by Eli Manning. Cornerback Casey Hayward was in coverage forced the incompletion and ended up landing on Odell’s ankle and causing the fracture. Odell went into surgery in between weeks five and six and is scheduled to miss the entire season. As someone that was told the same thing and made a comeback only two months later, fully capable of playing, I have a feeling this won’t be the last we see of Odell this season.
Gordon Hayward
In the NBA’s very first game of the season matching the Celtics and Cavaliers up against each other, the Celtics newly acquired small forward from Utah, Gordon Hayward, went down with a possible season-ending injury just five minutes and fifteen seconds into the NBA season. Hayward suffered a dislocated ankle and fracture to his Tibia this injury will cause him to miss an extended time. Great hopes and excitement gathering around this new Celtics team quickly turned into worry and concern for how the team will perform without him. Hayward was named an All-Star for the first time in his career last year and averaged twenty-two points a game last year. It will be interesting to see how this Celtics team makes a bounce back after losing a vital part of their new offensive attack. Hayward was scheduled to go through surgery Wednesday, October 18th. His return to the game will be highly anticipated by Celtics players and fans alike. Hayward’s agent released a statement on Wednesday night after Hayward’s surgery that he will miss the entire season although several Celtics legends say he will return and will be back in the rotation with plenty of time left. Only time will tell, but he is still hopeful for a return.
David Johnson
David Johnson was set to be the highest scoring fantasy player and a “must have” for your fantasy team this year, but that all went down the drain when he dislocated his wrist in the first game of the season. Johnson had his first All-Pro year last year when he posted 1,239 yards, 870 receiving yards, and 20 all-purpose touchdowns. Johnson underwent surgery back in September and is scheduled to return shortly after Thanksgiving. Johnson will be returning to a position battle against Adrian Peterson who was brought over from the New Orleans Saints a few weeks ago. David Johnson’s return is long awaited all over the league.
J.J. Watt
J.J. Watt, already a Hall of Fame shoe-in by almost every sports media reporter involved in the NFL, suffered another leg injury in the Sunday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Watt suffered a tibial plateau fracture and was placed on the Texans IR. This is JJ’s third season suffering a season-ending injury which matches the years he has won a defensive player of the year award. J.J. is an insane player completely disruptive on the defensive side of the ball he is a key part of the Texans defense and the team as a whole. With injury constantly being an issue for JJ and this one being relatively serious some people may wonder how much more punishment J.J.’s body can go through. J.J. has gone through this tibia plateau fracture this season that ended his 2017 season, a broken hand, two torn abs, three torn adductor muscles, a twice herniated disc just in 2015. He also left the 2016 season three games in to undergo back surgery to maintenance those herniated discs again. J.J. is playing a dangerous game suffering injuries like these, time will only tell how long he has but the clock is ticking and with every injury, a little bit of time runs off the clock.
Aaron Rodgers
Among all these players, none came as more of a shock as Aaron Rodgers. With speculation and controversy coming out about the hit that took him out I am going to set the record straight. The hit was 100% legal. The defensive player was right in getting to the quarterback and wrapping him up he was also correct in taking Rodgers to the ground because if that player was to relax off he would have ended up landing on Rodger’s ankles and could have caused an injury that way much easier. The injury was entirely on Rodgers. If he would not have relaxed his shoulders and would have stayed tense like quarterbacks are taught to do he would have been fine but that’s football. Now obviously Rodgers is a major player on a major team and his loss not only affects your fantasy team seeing your starting quarterback go down but it’s not too big of a damaging loss. I’m not saying that its ok for an injury to happen but it could be worse. Last season Sam Bradford showed what he can do when in an offense he is comfortable with. With Bradford down as well, which comes as no surprise I don’t remember his last fully healthy season, the Packers aren’t completely out of the playoff race with using a backup quarterback. The only real threat posed to the Packers at this moment is Detroit, never thought I would say that, but it’s true. Matthew Stafford is playing good and if he can keep it up he may actually make a run for NFC North Division Champions.
All these injuries are damaging to a team’s game plan but also to a team’s morale when you see a good friend of yours go down with a big injury. But as we say in sports “next man up” all of these teams will now look to the backups to take control of the situation and answer the call.
dang that is wack