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Eagles' McCoy might make you forget Po James
By Rich Hofmann
December 5, 2009
THE YEAR WAS 1972. The Eagles would finish the season 3-11-1. A rookie running back from Western Pennsylvania, by way of New Mexico State, carried the ball 182 times for that team. It was a franchise record for rookies that still stands. The back in question was named Ronald "Po" James.
LeSean McCoy probably knows nothing about this. He is, after all, somewhat busy these days.
The Eagles had a role for McCoy this season, his rookie season - as a complement to Brian Westbrook. The role got bigger when Westbrook gimped around a little following offseason ankle surgery and missed much of training camp, and it got much bigger when Westbrook suffered the first of his two concussions in late October against the Redskins. Now, with wide receiver DeSean Jackson likely out because of his concussion, there is a small trail of evidence that suggests McCoy's role might be getting bigger still as the team looks to run more.
Through 11 games, McCoy has 123 carries for 528 yards. He is almost a cinch to break the club record for rushing yards by a rookie (Correll Buckhalter, 586 yards, 2001). As for Po James, that record for carries is out there and it is attainable - and to do it on what is likely to be a playoff team would just add to the accomplishment.
"Being in there so much since training camp, getting the reps, being in there with the 1s . . . right now, each time I get better and better and better," McCoy said yesterday before practice. "I've been doing the same stuff since camp. It's starting to come a little more naturally to me.
"I still feel like I am a rookie. Everything is still new. But I'm kind of getting so used to it and adjusted to it, sometimes I feel like, 'Maybe I've seen this before.' "
It was easy to see, from the very beginning, that he was going to be an absolute linchpin player for the Eagles. The man they call Shady had to be productive or they had no shot - and that was true even before Westbrook's concussions. It was a lot to ask of a second-round draft choice, but, well, both he and they had no choice.
Now, through 11 games, he is sixth all-time for franchise rookies in rushing yards and tied for eighth in carries. He is doing a passable job on blitz pickup. He is carrying the ball a little tighter, it seems. His ability to somehow remain on his feet on a crucial two-point conversion in Sunday's come-from-behind win over Washington remains one of the season's highlights.
With Westbrook still not cleared to play, there is no way the team can afford for McCoy to be stopped by the rookie wall, the part of the season after the college season ends - virgin, brutal territory for a first-year player.
"He's really a good back," offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said. "He's really good, and we can play better on offense. I was disappointed on several things; we were just off on several things during that ballgame and really at some critical times in that third quarter. He's a heck of a back. He can do a couple of things better, but for him to do this as a rookie is pretty good. It's a pretty good start. Now he's got to get better every day and then every week, and then he'll be in good shape for down the stretch here."
And you wonder whether, somehow, his workload is about to increase. In two successive games, in come-from-behind situations, the Eagles have leaned on their running back in a way they haven't in the past. Especially Sunday, with Jackson out and tight end Brent Celek nursing a hand injury, you had to wonder whether the runs were called because those other weapons weren't there.
Mornhinweg danced around that question yesterday as best he could. His answer on this stuff is always a variation on, "Every game is different." But while the run-pass conversation can be tiresome in this town, this commitment to the run while trailing late really is a difference.
Asked whether it marked a philosophical shift, Mornhinweg said, "You may have something there." But then the answer devolved into, kind of, well, you know, every game is different.
But now, seeing as how Jackson looks unlikely for Sunday, and seeing as how they've had some recent success, they could be looking to use McCoy even more. And so you ask him, as the role keeps increasing, whether it ever starts feeling like a burden.
"My situation as a running back, you only have to do so much," McCoy said. "The good thing is we have a guy like [fullback Leonard] Weaver, who blocks and also runs. We've got Donovan [McNabb]. We've got so many weapons on offense - Jeremy [Maclin] has been playing excellently. We have a lot of weapons."
Still, the focus on McCoy sharpens. Among NFL rookies, only Denver's Knowshon Moreno has carried the ball more this season. He is getting his chance. More and more, it's always Shady in Philadelphia.
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Sanchez has sprain, may be able to play
Associated Press
December 5, 2009
Mark Sanchez might be able to play in the New York Jets' next game after spraining the posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during the Jets' 19-13 win over Buffalo on Thursday night. Coach Rex Ryan said an MRI exam yesterday revealed the severity of the injury, which could have been much worse.
"I feel good that it sounds like he's going to be healthy," Ryan said. "I think that is the best news we could've hoped for."
Ryan said Sanchez will initially wear a brace to stabilize the knee, and is optimistic the rookie could be ready to go against the Buccaneers at Tampa Bay on Dec. 13. That could be good news for the Jets (6-6), who kept their slim playoff hopes alive with the win over the Bills.
Meanwhile, Jets safety Kerry Rhodes has been fined $5,000 by the NFL for throwing a ball into the stands following an interception against Carolina.
After the first of his two interceptions in the Jets' 17-6 win on Sunday, Rhodes tossed the ball into the crowd after he reached the team's bench. Earlier in the week Rhodes had been demoted from the starting lineup in favor of Eric Smith.
St. Louis running back Steven Jackson was fined Thursday for a similar infraction after he threw a ball into the stands following a loss to Seattle.
NFL in brief
Packers: Green Bay outside linebacker Jeremy Thompson was hospitalized for testing yesterday after suffering a neck injury in a collision with running back Kregg Lumpkin during practice.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Thompson remained conscious after the neck stinger. Thompson, a second-year player out of Wake Forest who plays primarily on special teams, missed the Packers' first two preseason games because of a shoulder stinger earlier this year.
Thompson has been getting more snaps on defense in the wake of a season-ending knee injury to Aaron Kampman.
Panthers: Carolina placed Tank Tyler on injured reserve and claimed fellow defensive tackle Derek Landri off waivers from Jacksonville.
Tyler hurt his knee in last Sunday's loss to the Jets and becomes the 10th Panthers player to be lost for the season.
Seahawks: Julius Jones is apparently ready to return to start for the Seahawks. And now his backup is hurt.
Seattle listed Jones as probable for tomorrow's game against San Francisco. The veteran has missed the last 2 1/2 games with a bruised lung that had him coughing up blood on Nov. 15 at Arizona.
Coach Jim Mora has said that when Jones is cleared to play he will remain the team's starting running back.
Backup Justin Forsett has had two 100-yard games in the three weeks Jones has been hurt. Then yesterday, he landed on the injury report as questionable with a quadriceps injury.
Browns: Cleveland (1-10) avoided a blackout for tomorrow's game against San Diego by joining with a TV station and several local businesses to guarantee a sellout.
The Browns on Thursday received a 24-hour extension to reach a sellout.
Concussions: This week's NFL games are the first under stricter return-to-play guidelines for concussions, and players say they appreciate the league's recent shifts in policy.
In dozens of interviews across the NFL, the Associated Press found players are grateful to have extra sets of eyes looking out for them - and relieved to have a buffer against peer pressure about missing games or practices.
Meanwhile, Houston Texans rookie cornerback Glover Quin, who has started eight gamesthis season, will miss tomorrow's game against Jacksonville with what he called concussion symptoms.
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Is Favre playing his way to another MVP season?
By Ed Barkowitz
December 5, 2009
RODNEY HARRISON brought it up, so let's take a look.
NBC's rookie commentator - who is terrific, by the way - made the point that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre is playing just as well as his did when he was winning MVPs in the 1990s playing for Green Bay.
From his team's standpoint, there is no question. Those Packers never were 10-1 in 1995 through '97, the three seasons Favre was the NFL's best player. They were 8-1 in 1996 when they went on to win the Super Bowl, so he still has work to do with the Vikes.
From a fantasy standpoint, Favre is not as good as he was during that part of his career. He's better.
"I just don't feel like I have to do it all," he said this week. "Maybe that's being a little bit older and a little bit wiser, where in '95, '96, and '97, I probably knew that, but it was hard to restrain. I always felt like I could make every play."
The only number of his that is down is a direct result of that restraint - Favre has thrown only three interceptions. Thirty-six times, coming into this season, he'd thrown at least three interceptions in a game. Thirty-six!
Favre, the NFL's offensive player of the month for November, also has shown remarkable durability. On Sunday in Arizona, he will play in his 283rd consecutive game and break Hall of Fame Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall's NFL record. It's a remarkable achievement, especially for a quarterback who often is on the business end of angry 300-pound linemen. Favre downplayed that notion, however.
"To be mentioned and to be up there with [Marshall] is pretty impressive," Favre said. "It's hard to do. I think that his position is harder, because you are hit every time. There are some times where I can hand off and watch."
Remarkably, Favre is throwing just about the same number of passes per game as he did in those MVP years. (From 1995-97, he averaged 33.9 attempts, compared with 32.5 this season.) He provided an example of the wisdom he possesses now, as opposed to when he won his second MVP as a 27-year-old.
"At 40 years old, to me it's a lot easier to question, 'Do I think I can get the edge on this bootleg?' I knew I could in '96 [even if] it wasn't always the case," he said. "I sure thought I knew it all. I think I'm using discretion better."
Three up
» Laurence Maroney, Patriots running back: Maroney's on a six-game scoring streak, but he also has lost fumbles in each of the last three. He better not drop one against the Dolphins, who have forced an NFL-low four fumbles.
» Jeremy Maclin, Eagles wide receiver: Consider him a good No. 2 if DeSean Jackson doesn't play. I like him over such guys as Mike Sims-Walker and Greg Jennings.
» Chris Redman, Falcons quarterback: He'd be more attractive if Atlanta's offensive line wasn't so banged up. Attention, Peyton Manning owners, the Falcons play at Tampa Bay in Week 17.
Three down
» Peyton Manning, Colts quarterback: Indy is close to clinching the AFC's No. 1 seed and, unlike in years past, picking up Jim Sorgi might not be the move. Sorgi has been hurt this year, and rookie Curtis Painter is likely to see some time when the Colts wrap things up.
» Steve Smith, Panthers wide receiver: Your eyes did not deceive you. Smith registered one catch Sunday for 5 yards. What in the name of Chansi Stuckey happened to this guy? Maybe Matt Moore starting in place of Jake Delhomme will help. It can't hurt, right?
» Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers quarterback: Unplug Big Ben for one more week to see that all his cobwebs have cleared. Even though the Raiders are dismal, this isn't a great matchup anyhow. Oakland's given up only 10 touchdown passes this year.
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Concussion fear taking toll on families
By Michael Silver
December 5, 2009
Jesse Warner is 17, and yet when you ask her about the sport that made her father rich and famous, she speaks with the jaded weariness of someone who has been around forever.
“Honestly, I’ve gotten kind of tired of the whole football thing in general,” Kurt Warner’s eldest daughter says. “I’m tired of the injuries, how difficult it is to go through the ups and downs, and just the whole business side of things. I’ve been dealing with it my whole life, and I’m just sort of done with it. The whole thing has been kind of exhausting.”
If you’re assuming that those are the callous words of a disaffected teenager, think again. Jesse, a freshman at New York University, has seen her dad take enough beatings – literal and figurative – that her protective instincts are on red alert, especially in the wake of the concussion he suffered two weeks ago.
Like her mother, Brenda, Jesse is terrified that Kurt, the Arizona Cardinals’ 38-year-old quarterback, could be staring at a future laced with challenges that their family understands all too well. Jesse’s 20-year-old brother, Zachary, has been virtually blind and developmentally disabled since infancy, when his biological father accidentally dropped him in the bathtub. Zachary, later adopted by Kurt, lives with the Warners and five other siblings and is a constant reminder of the potential perils of brain trauma.
“Because of my brother, yeah, that does change our perception of this issue, because we experience it firsthand as a family,” Jesse says. “We know exactly what a brain injury is like. It sounds stupid, but we know how important the brain is. And we obviously want my dad around as long as we can, and we don’t want him to struggle or to be in pain.”
After sitting out last week’s 20-17 loss to the Tennessee Titans, Warner – barring a recurrence of postconcussion symptoms – is expected to return for Sunday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings. That his status for such a potentially pivotal clash between division leaders is even in question is an indication of the newfound seriousness with which concussions are being treated in NFL circles. It’s a sea change that earlier this week led league commissioner Roger Goodell to implement a new policy with more stringent guidelines pertaining to concussion safety, including a requirement that players who suffer head-related trauma must be evaluated and cleared by independent medical experts.
Less than three months ago, I wrote about former NFL offensive lineman Kyle Turley’s issues with residual brain trauma and a growing concern among some medical experts that the sport may be facing a pronounced medical crisis. Since that time, there has been a great deal of momentum to address the issue – most notably a congressional hearing on the matter in October.
In recent weeks, we have seen some teams act more cautiously than in the past when dealing with concussions, holding out high-profile players such as Warner; the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger, his opponent in Super Bowl XLIII last February; Philadelphia Eagles halfback Brian Westbrook; Washington Redskins halfback Clinton Porti; and Cleveland Browns halfback Jamal Lewis, who earlier this week was placed on injured reserve, ending what he has said will be the final season of his career.
Last Sunday, seven days after getting knocked out of a game against the St. Louis Rams with a concussion, Warner was still experiencing some vision-related symptoms, prompting Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt to deactivate him against the Titans.
In a phone conversation Wednesday, Whisenhunt provided an explanation that would have been hard to imagine an NFL coach giving until very recently: “Kurt had been cleared by our doctors, but there was no point in taking the risk. Kurt wanted to play. The team wanted him to play. That drives you sometimes to make bad decisions, even about yourself. Because of the recent awareness of these types of things, you really want to take the conservative approach, and we did.”
As much as Jesse and Brenda appreciated Whisenhunt’s cautiousness, they’re still nervous about his likely return on Sunday. Whisenhunt says Warner will play if his “symptoms continue to diminish, as we expect them to.” Suffice it to say that every time Warner drops back to pass, Brenda and Jesse will be experiencing some queasiness of their own.
“When it comes down to it, as a wife, I don’t care who wins the game,” Brenda said Wednesday. “I want my husband to be healthy and walk off healthy and live a healthy life. This is the love of my life – he is my future – and I don’t want anyone messing with him. Add to that the seven kids we’re taking care of, and the whole thing is really scary. And Jesse is scared to death.”
The Warners may have a heightened sense of fear because of their experiences with Zachary, but they’re hardly alone in their concern about concussions. Cara Morey, whose husband, Sean, is a backup wideout and special-teams ace for the Cardinals, says she has already recognized changes in his behavior that she believes are related to the head trauma he has suffered during his eight-year career.
“What I stress out about at night is what it’s gonna be like in 20 years,” Cara Morey said Thursday between classes at Arizona State University, where she is working toward a master’s degree in biology and education. “I don’t even like to think about it because it’s so scary. But sometimes I find myself thinking about what he’s going to be like and how he’s going to change.”
Cara, too, has a unique perspective on the issue: Among NFL players, Sean Morey is the leading advocate for enhanced safety regarding brain-related injuries. Last month, he was selected to co-chair an NFL Players Association committee dedicated to addressing such issues. As I noted in a previous column, he is one of three current players who announced in September that they’d agreed to donate their brains after death to a Boston University medical-school program that studies severe postconcussion ailments.
Cara Morey says her husband is “obsessive about this issue; this has been his life for the last year now.” Yet Sean, whose aggressive special-teams play earned him his first Pro Bowl selection last season, is as vulnerable as most of his peers when it comes to a propensity for putting himself in risky situations. The same forces which drive players to try to stay on the field at all costs – a hypercompetitive, tough-it-out mentality; a strong desire not to let teammates down; understandable fears about job security – recently conspired to keep him from practicing what he preaches.
Somewhat amazingly, after suffering a concussion in a Nov. 1 game against the Carolina Panthers, Morey suited up and played against the Chicago Bears the following week despite having experienced dizziness and nausea. Cara, a former hockey star who played for the Canadian national team and met Sean when both were standout athletes at Brown, says she bore some of the blame for her husband’s decision.
“Honestly, it was my fault,” she insists. “He texted me [from Chicago] and said, ‘I’m a little dizzy,’ and I said, ‘I’m a little dizzy.’ [The couple’s three kids and I] had all had the H1N1 virus, and the pediatrician had told me it stays in the head for a week. He didn’t tell me there had been any big blow to the head, and when he played and still had the symptoms afterward, I realized it probably wasn’t swine flu – and I felt guilty.
“I told him, ‘Listen, if you know all this stuff and it’s hard for you to walk away, imagine how hard it is for other people.’ Obviously, it shouldn’t be the player’s decision.”
Yet the player can decide whether to report his symptoms, downplay them or try to hide them altogether.
“And with this new policy,” Cara says, “I’m scared that no one is going to report anything.”
On Wednesday, Panthers cornerback Captain Munnerlyn was held out of practice because of a concussion he’d sustained the previous Sunday. He admitted his head still ached, but Munnerlyn told reporters: “I really don’t want to accept it right now. I’m still going to try to play … because it’s football. It’s my life. I love football so much. I’ve got to go out there and help my team win.”
In a taped interview with NBC’s Bob Costas which aired before the Steelers’ loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday night, veteran wideout Hines Ward(notes) bemoaned the fact that Roethlisberger was sitting out a game with potential playoff implications, saying: “I could see some players or teammates questioning, like, ‘It’s just a concussion. I’ve played with a concussion before.’ It’s almost like a 50-50 toss-up in the locker room. … I’ve lied to a couple of doctors, saying ‘I’m straight, I feel good’ when I know that I’m not really straight.”
After widespread criticism, Ward backed off his comments and apologized to Roethlisberger, who admitted he was “hurt” by the statements. Though the sentiment may have been unwelcome, Ward was merely voicing a mentality that is obviously prominent in many NFL locker rooms – yet another reason there is so much pressure on star players like Warner to disregard personal safety for the sake of the team.
On Monday, Warner told The Arizona Republic that he had seriously considered lying to the Cardinals’ medical staff about his symptoms because of his desire to play against the Titans.
“That’s the whole key with this issue, is a player being honest, which is hard,” Warner told the newspaper. “I can tell you I wrestled with it when I was going down to that room to talk to them [before the game], saying, ‘Uh, do I want to stretch the truth a little bit? Do I not want to tell them everything so I can play?’ Because I know I could dictate that.”
Had her husband done so, Brenda says, “I would have been livid. That’s the interesting part: Here’s the ‘Christian icon,’ and he’s saying he wanted to lie. I can see him wrestling with it. That’s the competitor in him; that’s what makes him so good. It is a hard decision, and it’s going to be a hard decision each and every week.”
Because of her concern, Brenda insisted upon going to a pair of doctor’s appointments with Kurt earlier this week. At a visit with a neurologist, she learned that Kurt was suffering from nystagmus, an unintentional, jittery movement of the eyes.
“I said, ‘Really? I didn’t know that,’ ” Brenda recalls. “I knew exactly what the doctor was talking about, though, because Zach’s eyes do that all the time.”
In Brenda’s eyes, the shared symptoms between her husband and son are hardly coincidental.
“Zachary’s occipital lobe is damaged,” Brenda says, referring to the brain’s visual processing center found in the back of the head. “That’s why he’s blind – if you took his eyes out and put them in the body of a person whose brain was undamaged, they’d be able to see. Kurt’s got vision problems right now because the back of his brain was rattled. How ironic – and how scary?”
Not surprisingly, Brenda says that when her husband decides it’s time to retire, “I’ll welcome it. And the moment he says he’s going back in [after the most recent injury], I’ll start praying. I don’t view the game the way everyone else does: Every play, I just watch to see if he gets up. He throws the ball and everyone’s looking at Larry [Fitzgerald] to see if he catches it, and I’m watching Kurt, saying, ‘Get up. Get up.’ ”
Cara, who sits in front of Brenda during Cardinals home games, also has an unconventional viewing perspective.
“Before I knew about the long-term consequences, this issue didn’t bother me as much,” she says. “I played hockey and got a few concussions, and I never thought much of it. Now, after everything Sean has told me about, I don’t even watch the game the same way anymore. Now I watch him to see the way he’s making the tackle or block – is he using his hands or is he using his head?”
In September, when I asked Sean Morey how many concussions he’d suffered during his career, he answered: “More than I’d care to admit.”
What concerns Cara is that she believes that, even at this early stage, she has observed the cumulative impact.
“He already has some residual effects, and you can tell because in the offseason he gets better,” she says. “These things [concussions] make you a little bit moody. They really do. I’ve seen it change for the worse over the years. He gets moody and grumpy after games. He’ll say, ‘I just feel edgy.’
“Sometimes he’ll get down for a while. His energy’s down. I’m not gonna say he’s depressed; he’s just a little off. He can’t remember things as well. I tell myself, ‘Well, I can’t either. We’re aging.’ I try to come up with any reason besides [brain trauma] as an explanation. It’s my defense mechanism. I try to brush it off.”
Brenda says she doesn’t notice any difference in her husband other than pronounced neck stiffness – when he unconsciously rubs the area, she figures it’s a byproduct of the head trauma he suffered last month. Before that incident, according to Kurt, he hadn’t suffered a concussion since 2003.
Says Jesse, who was 11 at the time: “Back then, I only vaguely remember him getting hurt. I don’t think I really understood what a concussion would mean in the long run, so I wasn’t really as worried as I am now.”
When I spoke to Jesse on Wednesday, she sounded totally exasperated by the notion that other people – acquaintances in college or talking heads on TV – were freely weighing in on her father’s welfare.
“People think they’re medical experts,” Jesse says. “There’s so much politics and stuff that goes on that they don’t understand. I trust my dad’s judgment, and I feel like he tries really hard to protect himself. I don’t think he’d play when he shouldn’t play just to win a game; I don’t think it’s that important to him. When people talk about whether he should play or not, they don’t realize that it takes on a completely different meaning for us, the people who depend on him.”
Jesse isn’t sure if she’ll tune into Sunday night’s game.
“I’m not very good at watching football,” she says. “I get very distracted.”
Instead, she often relies on her mom to text her with any pertinent updates. But what’s frustrating to Brenda – and, realistically, to hundreds of players’ loved ones across the league – is that so much about this serious issue remains a mystery.
“Players want to know what the future holds; we all do,” Brenda says.
“But the doctors can’t tell them that. There’s so much they don’t know about the brain. Until then, it’s just scary to think you’re playing a game that you love and getting millions of dollars, yet exposing yourself to that risk.
“A lot of people think it’s worth it. There are lots of perks: You get backstage tickets to concerts and special passes at Disney World and a bunch of other exciting things, and of course you get a great lifestyle. But no amount of money is worth it if you’re not healthy enough to live a decent life.”
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