JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Wait what??
-
Welcome to PurpleFlock! Be sure to sign up here so that you can chat with your fellow Ravens fans.
The 2021 Offseason Thread
- Thread starter rossihunter2
- Start date
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I do not think the injury that happened to Dobbins happens in practice. Non-contact injuries, sure, unavoidable.
ACL's happen all the time as non contact injuries. That's my point. We lost Young a few years ago due to a non contact injury and it was an ACL.
That being said, I don't disagree with Harbaugh playing the starters for one drive, especially since they haven't had time together this preseason.
All I've heard is that J.K. Dobbins tore his ACL & LCL. This is very concerning and I'm wondering if he'd even be ok for next season. I initially thought it was only the ACL.
Last edited:
The latest I saw yesterday is that there was still some concern about the LCL. More scans coming.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
Right. They're different things to me though.
Non-contact injuries aren't preventable. They're inevitable. They're results of instability in the injured area and are likely to occur regardless.
Dobbins injury wasn't a non-contact injury. It was a direct result of trauma from being physically hit in a certain area. In my opinion, you can greatly reduce the likelihood of that injury occurring by not subjecting the player to that kind of hit in a meaningless game for him. And my opinion seems to be shared by many other coaches who aren't exposing high-end players to said conditions.
I think many coaches in the league have figured out that said "reps" don't need to be achieved in preseason games. Because in preseason games against other opponents who have many players trying to make a team, they're playing as if the game is relevant, and they're out there with the intent of finishing plays and playing hard. Dobbins doesn't need that. He's not trying to make a team or trying to gain an extra yard or two in a game where he's not being evaluated on such.
well we have differing opinions and we will stick to that. Most teams have played their starters on game 3. Atleast most of the games that I watched.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I'm not suggesting they play none of their starters. Most starting players aren't so valuable that they can't ever play, regardless of who they are.
QBs are extremely limited. Several high end guys won't take a single snap in the preseason, and the one's that do and aren't in QB competitions, play like one series over the course of a month. QBs are also notoriously easier to control, because you can greatly reduce the risk of them getting hit by simply calling a super conservative play sheet, which most teams do.
I'm also not surprised that many NFL teams aren't exactly "revolutionary" in their decision making processes. The average HC is 50, and over half the league has a HC who's over 60. It's not at all surprising for them to take extended periods of time to realize mistakes they make (or never realize them at all). Half the league still thinks punting is a good thing on 4th and short around midfield.
At the end of the day, if John can justify it to himself, so be it. If he thought it was super important to watch Dobbins practice taking handoffs from Lamar on TV, then so be it.
obviously makes the recovery more difficult but i dont think the LCL adds extra time to the recovery period as far as im aware
not that im criticising him for playing starters but i do find it odd that harbs plays starters in the preseason given he's been one of the longest and loudest advocates for abolishing preseason games for a while
RL52TheGreatest
Ravens Ring of Honor
Playing starters for one drive isn't a big deal. Should certain players maybe not play at all? Sure, I could see the argument, but it's not like they're playing for very long to begin with. The Dobbins injury absolutely sucks, but it's something that could have happened on any play, pre-season or not. I have confidence in Gus carrying the load and I'm sure we'll figure out the backup situation as we go along. I'd expect EDC to sign a pass-catching back as well, preferably Gurley, so we have another option in that regard.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
And for me, its not even just like broadly categorizing "starters". I'm actually OK with our entire Oline getting reps (including Stanley), and limited snaps for the defense in some cases (though some players, like a lot of our secondary, probably shouldn't be out there much, if at all).
I just really don't understand RBs at all or what the goal is there. This isn't a competition.
I think everybody at this point would agree that the purpose of the preseason games is to watch players that are competing for roles, roster spots, etc. compete against other teams and showcase themselves. I think any coach who thinks preseason games are useful for established starters to "get reps" is antiquated and dumb. They can reach out to various coaches around the league who have long since figured out how to simulate those reps in practice.
JoeyFlex5
Hall of Famer
Man I’m worried about him ever being the same player again. That looked like a potential career changing knee injury
also worth pointing out no one had issues with us playing dobbins even without the 1s in previous games
maybe im just not seeing it the same way - like i get that it's a ACL (and maybe LCL) tear but also like that's a fairly common injury to come back from at this point and even with the hyper-extension which we see a lot when guys get rolled up on
Yep one of those where it’s gonna be hard to get back to cutting. Gonna take some extra effort there. The good thing is honestly that it happened now and not mid season. Should give him plenty of time to get back at it.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I did. I just got tired of criticizing John for like the 10th straight year for putting players in these spots and seemingly learning nothing from it.
RL52TheGreatest
Ravens Ring of Honor
Yeah, it's only an issue because of the end result. Freak injuries happen in football and we just have to deal with it. Silver lining is that this happened in pre-season so Dobbins will have more than enough time to rehab and be ready for next season. If this happened during the season then he could have been in jeopardy of missing time next year as well.
rmcjacket23
Ravens Ring of Honor
I wouldn't classify this as a freak injury. I would classify it as something that occurs during the normal course of a football season.
The issue, of course, is that it didn't actually occur during a football season.
Of course people have an issue with the end result. The end result had a ton of risk, and the other end result had literally no reward. I've never once heard anybody say "man, Dobbins is having a great year. Must have been those 4 carries he got against Washington's backups in August that really put him over the top".
If I need to, I can dust off the gameday threads from when Dobbins is getting carries in a 40-7 blowout in the 4th quarter, and a lot of users on here are losing their minds for him being in the game. Seems odd to be outraged by that, but being OK with getting 4 carries in August against backups, considering both sides have equal risk/reward outcomes.