Finley......injury updates

My oldest - Junior does not play football and that is both our choice and his.  

My youngest - Sophomore  does not play and will not play under our watch.    He had a very bad concussion in 8th grade from  a car crash.   He had another concussion last year - simply from standing up too fast on the bus and banging his head.   He is a big tall kid and a good athlete.....We have gone through a lot as a family trying to get him well.

He missed most of the last three months of school his 8th grade year due to post concussion problems.   Severe headaches and dizziness.  

I watch football now and I cringe when I see a big hit.   No longer am I the wipe some dirt on it fan - and get back in there type. 

NFL needs to go the college route with the "targeting" ejection. 

Not sure where the NFL game will be in ten years.   Somewhere between tackle and flag I am guessing.

Example of NCAA "targeting" rule.    Late in first quarter star player for Ohio $tate ejected for "targeting".

Hit with his head down and above the WR's chest/numbers... who's teaching these players?

Hit the player in the middle and wrap up = No flag.

NCAA targeting enforcement is a joke. They need to revise it and have a 3 person panel review the hit after the game, and then determine a suspension. Those plays happen so bang-bang, to put that decision on a ref without the benefit of replay is too costly.

The NFL is pretty good about suspending after the fact, after the video is reviewed. They really need to ramp up the suspensions though. Fines are a joke...Merriweather should have been suspended long before the Marshall hit.

ummm....All the targeting Dq's get replay review and confirmed.   The PF cannot be overturned but the ejection can.

Trail, so glad your son is going to be okay. My son plays soccer, withe some gentle guidance from his mama. He's super fast and tall, but with a thinner build. He'd be bent in half even as a wide receiver!

That Ohio State player was doing nothing more than going for a knockout shot. He doesn't even bother using his arms. Maybe that's the key for the refs: if a guy is using his arms to wrap up and not leading with the crown of his helmet, it's okay. The OSU guy is a picture in spearing: no arms whatsoever, and then crowing about his hit afterward doesn't help his case. Rewatch that Butkus tape; every hit he was using his arms to wrap up a guy.

In hockey, they penalize a guy with multiple games, and if he's a repeat offender they really slam him with many, many games. Some guys have had their careers threatened (Matt Cooke, who's since cleaned up his act.) if they don't clean up their act.

My experience with it was fairly negative.

Fresno State had a WR ejected for supposedly targeting (he had the ball and the DB came up to tackle him, he lowered his shoulder). It was reviewed and player was ejected. The replay showed clearly the helmet didn't make contact, it was shoulder to shoulder. But the ejection was upheld and changed the course of the game as he was the #1 receiver.

The next day the conference commissioner came out and said the crew blew the call and that it wasn't even a personal foul much less an ejection-worthy offense. But it was too late...kid missed 3/4 of a game and Fresno State damn near lost because of it.

who's teaching these players?

ESPN.

I was at the Ohio State game Saturday.  That penalty and ejection was a joke.  He hit him with his shoulder and below the head.  It wasn't helmet to helmet and there shouldn't have been any penalty let alone an ejection.  That's why the fans were booing some much after seeing the replay.  Refs looked at the replay and still got it wrong. 

Feel like we need some good news so here goes: Packers TE Jermichael Finley did some walking around this morning. Great to hear.

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 21, 2013

You can watch that video and tell me it wasn't helmet to helmet?   I need to borrow your glasses.   

The fans were booing because they were drunk homers that do not know the rule.

Watching the replay the call was correct. The ejection was correct. Think the fans booing might have something to do with the game being played in Ohio State.

Roby might lower his aim next time. That's how change is supposed work.

No arms to try and tackle, leading with helmet, crown of helmet to chin area.  Watch the head snap back.  Yeah, right Packy, it was a clean hit.

That is great news for Finley.

The OSU player did not lead with his helmet.  It wasn't spearing.  The initial contact was shoulder to chest.  I'm sure the helmets touched but if you can't hit another player in the chest with your shoulder then let's play touch.   Any player who gets hit hard in the chest will have their head snap back whether there's contact to the head or not.

How about an expert opinion...

http://www.cbssports.com/colle...sus-winston-for-real

How about two experts, my left eye and my right eye. 

In the NCAA it doesn't matter if he led with his helmet or not. The targeting rule is about hitting high / above the numbers / leaving their feet... AKA "not tackling" but hitting for the highlight.

Correct call, and I like the rule. It is review-able - the flag doesn't get picked up, but the ejection can be reversed if I'm not mistaken.

Tony Barnhart is an expert? The guy is a writer/journalist, what he says is his opinion. The ref's on the field and the replay officials are paid to understand the rules and enforce them - and their jobs depend on their performance within this context. Barnhart's job is dependent on readers/web site clicks.

From what I can tell Barnhart did his job, but so did the officials.

how about players just learn how to ****ing tackle like they're supposed to? 

It was't helmet to helmet. It was helmet to facemask.

H5 for the win.  Yes, the ejection can be reversed, not the penalty.

MT @MikeGarafolo: #Packers TE Jermichael Finley did some walking around this morning. Great to hear.

Is it too early to break out the old Yogi Berra quote, "The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing."

Here's hoping.

Sounds like Finley's going to be OK. That's great news, but it sure doesn't sound like he's going to be playing football any time soon.

is it possible he didn't even get concussed?

to be described as in good spirits...  

Obviously not the primary concern, I agree.

MM presser today is Monday. So the stock answer to questions will be, "No News yet, still doing more testing. Will know more Wednesday"

The news on the condition of Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley continues to be positive.

NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported Monday that Finley is moving around and in good spirits one day after he was taken off the field on a stretcher after suffering a neck injury against theCleveland Browns.

Finley was injured at the conclusion of a 10-yard receptionin the fourth quarter of the Packers' 31-13 win Sunday.Browns cornerback Tashaun Gipson was flagged for leading with his helmet on the play, though replays showed Gipson hit Finley cleanly with his shoulder.

USA Today reported Finley isn't expected to require surgery, according to a person with knowledge of his condition. A source tells Rapoport that Finley, 26, likely will leave the intensive care unit Monday.

A source told USA Today it could be "weeks" before the Packers know if Finley can return to the field.

Guess I should take back the trash talk of Deion Sanders I said on Sunday, it was a shoulder hit.       

Jermichael Finley 'walking around' after neck injury - NFL.com  Updated: Oct. 21, 2013 at 03:36 p.m 

Good to hear that he's up and about, real good.

But if it is spinal stenosis, retirement may be his next move. Which would be the right move.

"Significant injury" is the phrase MM used.

Maybe, but nerve damage to the neck can be even worse.

If I had to guess, I think we've seen the last of Finley in GB.  GB is very conservative with injuries and rightfully so in the case of a neck.  I see IR in his future and an expired contract to follow.

I don't think he was head-concussed in the first place.  As I said in another thread, he was talking right after the hit, trying to move what he could to see IF he could.  He may however have a spinal concussion.  Or a nasty stinger like Driver had when he was carted off the field in...07?

2003, I mentioned it earlier in the thread. That looked like the worst head/neck injury I'd ever seen, but he only ended up missing one game. Nick Collins's injury on the other hand looked like nothing when it happened, but it ended his career. These injuries are extremely flukey. Finley could be out for a game, or his career could be over. However, I'd have to guess it will be closer to the latter.

Good to hear about Finley.  I mentioned it before, football could learn a lot about tackling from rugby.  In rugby, you are not allowed to leave your feet to tackle, so that takes care of the launching.  You also have to tackle with your arms--you can't just nail a player with your shoulder and knock them down or clothesline them.  You are required to wrap up.  Maybe if the NFL incorporated this into their rules that would do away with not only the injuries and head-hinting, but also the crappy excuse for tackling we are seeing on the field.  Yeah, there would be no more highlight hits, but isn't the NFL all about player safety these days???

Spinal contusion or compression would make sense for the loss of feeling in his extremities. I think that is the injury that ended Chmura's career - oh wait, Chmura's career ended due to a (little) head injury.

Before this gets any traction... just say no.  Redskins are trying to trade TE Fred Davis, per league source. Recovering from an ankle injury and might have been a healthy scratch yesterday.