Yayo's Take 09.27.06: Injury Edition
Posted by J. Yayo Hernandez on 09.27.2006
Seahawks are cursed, Simms needs a nurse, and Warner is still first!
1. The Madden curse got busy with the Superbowl loser curse and gave birth to a cracked foot!!!
The NFL's reigning MVP, Shaun Alexander, will be out for the next few weeks due to a crack and a displaced fracture in his foot. Alexander was injured sometime during the Seahawks' 42-30 win over the New York Giants on Sunday. He went into that game nursing soreness in his foot from a bone bruise and ran for 47 yards on 20 carries until he sat out the fourth quarter, which began with Seattle leading 42-3. Alexander missed practices last Wednesday and Thursday because of the bone bruise from the season opener at Detroit, which led to the small crack, Holmgren said. Holgrem went on to say "I don't think it will be real lengthy".
Now, it's Maurice Morris instead of Alexander. The second-round draft choice in 2002 from Oregon rushed 15 times for 18 yards against the Giants on Sunday. Assuming the Seahawks take Alexander's recovery slow, some estimates have Morris starting for at least four weeks. Morris had one season, 2005, in which he carried the ball more then 40 times. In that season Morris started two games and had a 4.8 yards per carry average. The future may not be so kind to Morris.
In week 4 the Seahawks travel to Chicago who are only allowing 82 yards per game rushing (seventh in the NFL). Week 5 is a bye week and Seattle comes back to play at the newly defensive minded St. Louis Rams in week 6 (although they are allowing 129.7 yards per game which is 23rd in the NFL). In week 7 the Seahawks are at home playing against Minnesota's 10th ranked defense against the run (87 yards per game allowed).
Morris is no Alexander and Alexander seems to have been running into trouble in the early going of this season. In week 1 Alexander had 19 carries for 51 yards/ 2.7 ypc against the 6th ranked Detroit rushing defense. In week 2 he had 89 yards on 26 carries/ 3.4 ypc against the 18th ranked Arizona rush defense. And last week he had 20 carries for 47 yards/ 2.4 ypc against the 13th ranked rush defense of the New York Giants. For the season Seattle is averaging 3.3 yards per carry, ranked 23rd in NFL. Part of this may be attributed to Alexander's injury, but some of this also has to be blamed on the departure of Steve Hutchinson. Even with the addition of Deion Branch I don't think the Seahawks will be able to revisit the Superbowl if they do not improve their paltry run offense.
On a side note I have included below who I hope is on the cover of next year's Madden game:
Bam!
2. Simms out, Bucs fans weep openly.
Tampa Bay quarterback Chris Simms is out indefinitely after having his spleen removed. However, the Buccaneers have not ruled out his playing again this season. "We're going to do what our doctors deem is the right thing to do," coach Jon Gruden said Monday, adding he visited Simms in the hospital and found him in good spirits. If I were Chris Simms I wouldn't be in any rush to come back and play. The recuperation time for a normal person is four to six weeks, though it's unclear how long it might take to heal enough to play football. And with the Bucs rushing game being so anemic with Cadillac Williams playing more like a Pinto (42 carries for 107 yards/ 2.5 ypc) and the town was already calling for his head, Simms should reconsider.
I'd let rookie Bruce Gradkowski play and fail. Then they could replace him with Tim Rattay who will play and fail. The Bucs are currently looking for a backup in free agency (possibly Jay "Dumbo" Fiedler) or to trade for Raiders third-stringer Marques Tuiasosopo until Luke McCown comes off the physically unable to perform list. Then any one of them can start and fail. The Bucs have a bye next weekend, giving Gruden extra time to get Gradkowski ready for his first pro start at New Orleans.
3. Did Dennis Green make the right decision keeping Kurt Warner the starter?
"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green said. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."
Speculation arose after Green's noncommittal comments in the wake of Warner's awful performance in Sunday's 16-14 home loss to the St. Louis Rams. The 35-year-old quarterback was intercepted three times -- once with the team at the Rams 1-yard line and another at the St. Louis 14. To cap it off, Warner fumbled a snap at the Rams 18 with 1:46 to play as Arizona was positioning itself for a winning field goal. Warner has fumbled five times, losing two of them, and thrown four interceptions in the last two games.
Warner was NFC offensive player of the week after Arizona's season-opening victory over San Francisco, but the offense has produced just 24 points in subsequent losses at Seattle and against the Rams. Warner and center Alex Stepanovich have had problems with the snap at times, even in pregame warmups. Although he was seen jawing at his center after the fumble, Warner told reporters the snap was good. Rumors have also risen that Stepanovich may be benched soon, but no announcement has been made as of yet.
And I think Green made the right decision. Yes leaving Warner in may produce more losses, but it's better to let Warner get beat up then to throw Leinart to the wolves. This week the Cardinals play at Atlanta in what will likely be a very angry Falcons defense. The Falcons pass defense has yet to surrender a touchdown (Chicago and Kansas City being the other two) and is allowing less then 60% completion rate. Their four interceptions also has them tied for sixth in the NFL. In all honesty the best place to start Leinart would be in week 8 against the porous pass defense of the Packers. If the Cardinals are lucky they will have picked up two wins in this span (at Atlanta, Kansas City, Chicago, at Oakland) and set up Leinart to lead them into the playoffs. Of their remaining opponents St. Louis (week 13) and San Diego (week 17 – depending on if starters are benched due to playoffs), both road games, would provide the most resistance to Leinart.
The Hook and Lateral
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