Tim Benz: Blaming rash of NFL injuries on canceled preseason is way off

The Steelers offensive line is already chewed up. But don’t shed a tear for the Black and Gold.

Yet.

A lot of NFL teams have been bitten much harder by the injury bug. Sunday’s Week 2 led to outright fantasy league carnage.

New York Giants star running back Saquon Barkley tore an ACL against the Chicago Bears. He’ll be out for the rest of the season. Running backs Christian McCaffrey (Carolina Panthers, ankle) and Raheem Mostert (San Francisco 49ers, knee) could miss multiple weeks.

The 49ers are also dealing with injuries to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo (ankle) and All-Pro tight end George Kittle (knee). They lost star defensive lineman Nick Bosa because of an ACL, too.

New Orleans Saints All-Pro wide receiver Michael Thomas missed his team’s Monday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders with an ankle problem. During their game against the Steelers at Heinz Field, the Denver Broncos saw Courtland Sutton tear an ACL and Drew Lock injure a rotator cuff. Seattle Seahawks pass rusher Bruce Irvin tore an ACL on Sunday night versus the New England Patriots.

And that list is just scratching the surface.

Oops. I should probably turn a different phrase. At this rate, “the surface” may miss four to six weeks with that scratch.

Predictably, some in the football media are blaming this rash of injuries on the lack of preseason contests and truncated offseason workouts thanks to coronavirus restrictions.

They snort, pull on a leather helmet, buckle their chin strap and say, “These guys need preseason games to get themselves in shape!”

Don’t buy that. They are making a woefully inaccurate false equivalency.

If anything, the run of injuries to Pro Bowlers during the first two weeks builds an argument against having preseason at all. Many of the injuries we’ve seen to these stars are the result of full-contact plays during which the recipients of the injuries are blocking, tackling or getting taken to the ground.

These aren’t soft-tissue strains and pulls that could be directly connected to not being in game shape. These are injuries directly connected to the inherent physicality of the game.

Want evidence?

• Barkley got hurt somewhere between cutting to avoid a tackle or while being tackled against the Bears.

• Thomas was unassumingly rolled up on by a blindside tackle.

• Kittle was blown up in Week 1 by Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker while trying to make a catch.

• Bosa was getting blocked to the ground and his leg was wrenched awkwardly.

• McCaffery’s ankle twisted as he got tackled trying to score.

• Lock’s shoulder was injured when he got hit by Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree.

OUR BALL!!!@bud_dupree forces it out, @MikeHilton_28 picks it up!#DENvsPIT on CBS pic.twitter.com/4vmCJFOrnz

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 20, 2020

• Irvin’s right knee went out while getting blocked on a pass rush. That could’ve happened in a regular-season game, preseason game or practice.

None of those injuries has anything to do with the preseason being eliminated. If all of those guys played two or three preseason games, they’d just be exposing their risk to contact-related injuries all the more.

Consider something else before you subscribe to the “See, they need preseason!” argument. When James Conner tore his ACL in Game 1 of his 2015 season at Pitt, was that because he didn’t have a preseason?

No. College players never have a preseason. It was bad luck. The year before, he had 179 touches and played 12 games. No one ever mentions the lack of preseason as a “pre-existing condition” of NCAA football injuries because it doesn’t exist as an empty excuse.

Dr. Thomas Gill, a former team doctor for the Patriots and Boston Red Sox, was asked about this topic for Sports Illustrated’s “Monday Morning Quarterback.” Specifically, he addressed Bosa’s injury.

“For injuries like Bosa, no,” Gill texted. “That was the type that will happen regardless. If someone gets injured because someone missed a block or ran the wrong route from lack of practice, or pulled a muscle from deconditioning, then yes. But for straight traumatic injuries, no.”

Exactly. And if you want to blame Kittle’s injury on a lack of preseason because Garoppolo didn’t make a great throw, what’s the other option? The same thing happens in a preseason game, and Kittle gets hurt in a game that doesn’t count.

That’s somehow … better? Please. It’s actually way worse.

There are plenty of arguments for keeping the preseason: practice, talent evaluation, revenue and — of course, most importantly — a backdrop for RibFest at Heinz Field.

But don’t kid yourself. Protecting players from injury is not one of them. In reality, the players are put at greater risk.

You can blame covid-19 for a lot. But it didn’t ruin your fantasy team.