Turf Show Times
At the beginning of Rams training camp, anyone who brought up Matthew Stafford’s back injury was told to relax and that everything would be fine because the 37-year-old quarterback is “tough”. While it may be true that Stafford has played through every kind of injury, it’s becoming more commonplace by the day for people to mention that now they’re starting to get worried, especially as he starts to miss practices that he was supposed to participate in as was the case on Monday.
Even if Stafford shows up to practice on Tuesday and is a full-go, how long will he have to play without absences and reports of discomfort for fans to actually forget about the last month of reports that his back could be in shambles? Will Stafford get through Week 1? Week 2? September? The whole season?
Someone who says that he tried to play through a back injury and failed is former Seahawks and Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck. On the Colin Cowherd show on Monday, Hasselbeck says that he’s “very concerned” because he went through a back injury in 2008 and that it never got better.
And although Hasselbeck says he doesn’t know if Stafford saw Dr. Bob Watkins, we know that he has seen him…at least twice.
“I am concerned about Stafford’s back. I had one in 2008. Usually you can tell how bad a quarterback’s back is if the team sends him to California to see Dr. Bob Watkins. If they do that, you know it’s serious. It’s harder because he’s already in LA. But I am concerned. I’m definitely concerned. If you take the factors of his age and all those types of things. I hurt my back in ‘08 in a preseason game and it wasn’t that bad but it never got better. It never got better that entire year…
There’s all types of back injuries but they just don’t seem to get better quick. And if they do get better, you’ve missed all this time with heavy weight training or physicality that goes into your offseason, you’re just not the version of yourself that you normally are. So I’d be very concerned if I was a Rams fan because Stafford is valuable and it’s not a great place to be. I’ve been there.“
For context, Hasselbeck made his third Pro Bowl roster in 2007 and should have been poised for a big year in 2008 but was derailed by his back injury in the preseason. Hasselbeck had by far the worst season of his career, throwing 5 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in seven starts and missing the other nine games of 2008. The Seahawks went 1-6 in Hasselbeck’s seven starts and went from a playoff team to the basement of the NFC West, leading to the dismissal of head coach Mike Holmgren at the end of the season.
Now as Hasselbeck says, every back injury is different and Stafford’s may be the kind that doesn’t bother him nearly as...
