What would the last day in Lehigh be without another Eagles injury? On Wednesday, the last day of Eagles training camp, it was announced that yet another Eagle had suffered an injury: offensive lineman Todd Herremans has a stress fracture in his foot. Head coach Andy Reid speculated that the injury was likely a "four week injury", meaning that Herremans won't take the field again until the start of the regular season.
Many are saying that this injury isn't that big of a deal because, really, who cares about preseason games anyway? Personally, this injury worries me because it means that the projected starting offensive line will not all play together until the games start to matter. Cohesiveness counts most along an offensive line, the guys in the trenches need to know what the tendencies are of the person next to them and they need to trust each other. The preseason is a time to start building that trust, but with the way the line has been banged up throughout training camp, they have barely had any time together.
Herremans isn't the only projected starter along the line that is injured, either. Each of the Andrews brothers, Stacy and Shawn, were already ruled out for the first game of the preseason. Stacy is just being sat as a precaution, but no one knows when Shawn Andrews will be back. Again, this is good for the backups because they will get time to earn a roster spot, but it's terrible for a line that has the talent to be a top line in the league if they can just get on the field together.
According to Philly.com, the complete list of players who will not play in Thursday's game against the Patriots include: DE Victor Abiamiri, OL Shawn Andrews, OL Stacy Andrews, DE Trent Cole, OL Todd Herremans, QB Kevin Kolb, DT Trevor Laws, TE Matt Schobel and RB Brian Westbrook
At least training camp is over so now we don't have to worry about which Eagle will get hurt next. Of course, now there are meaningless preseason games to be played, so cross your fingers that no one else goes down. You can bet Andy Reid will take every precaution and have the starters on the field as little as possible.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Another one bites the dust: Eagles lose Todd Herremans for preseason
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3 comments:
I was reading Matt Mosely's interview with Jason Peters where Peters downplays the importance of playing together and "chemistry." I wonder how much of that is a media thing to sell sensationalism and how much is real. If you play your position well, and I play mine well, why do I need to know your "tendencies"... I know what your position is supposed to do and I don't have any plans to compensate for you anyway, right?
Here's the article: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfceast/0-13-69/The-Jason-Peters-interview.html
Good points, but I gotta disagree. In every team sport besides baseball, you have to play WITH your teammates. That includes knowing their strengths and weaknesses and how to compensate. If the Eagles offensive line never plays together, how are they supposed to get into any kind of rhythm? It might not take them that long, but they need some time to play together and gel.
Obviously Jason Peters knows a lot more about what happens with team chemistry than I do, but his point is interesting. The best offensive lines, like the Colts, Broncos, and Chargers lines, have been together for a long period of time. Maybe a coincidence, but there has to be some kind of correlation.
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