Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams and Matthew Stafford have been one of the biggest stories of training camp and the preseason because of the quarterback’s back injury. Stafford is 37 years old and entering his 17th season in the NFL. He just missed training camp and while he was supposed to start practicing this week, he has yet to take the field. Back injuries, especially for an NFL quarterback is nothing to scoff at. While there are a lot of unknowns, it may not be a bad idea to look at other quarterbacks and how they’ve performed off of similar injuries.
When you think of gritty quarterbacks in NFL history, Matthew Stafford is one of the first that come to mind. Another one that would come up shortly after is Philip Rivers. Back in 2014, Rivers dealt with a bulging disc, a similar issue to what Stafford is facing now. Said reports at the time,
“Team sources tell ESPN that Rivers is playing with a bulging disc in his lower back that doctors fear is on the brink of being herniated. The disc caused Rivers to miss practice for the first time since 2007 even though the injury began to bother him some three weeks ago. Rivers has taken epidural injections to reduce swelling, according to sources. He hopes to avoid offseason surgery, but it is an option, according to sources.”
Like Stafford, Rivers was also on the plus side of 30 at 33 years of age. Still, Stafford is dealing with this issue at 37. In order to continue playing, Rivers had to take multiple epidural injections to deal with the pain. While the Rams denied that surgery has been discussed for Stafford up to this point, it was something that was discussed with Rivers, but was ultimately avoided.
The main point here is that Rivers was one of the toughest quarterbacks in the NFL and the bulging disc in his back was severe enough to the point that he considered shutting down his season. It’s also worth noting how the bulging disc affected Rivers’ play down the stretch.
From Weeks 1-13, Rivers was arguably a MVP candidate with the Chargers sitting at 8-4 and having thrown 25 touchdowns to just 10 interceptions. Rivers was fifth in EPA per dropback and third in success rate. That changed dramatically over the final four games. From Weeks 14-17, Rivers ranked 27th in EPA per play and 24th in success rate. Rivers threw six touchdowns to eight interceptions.
This was an injury that Rivers was managing over the final stretch of the season. For a quarterback as tough as Rivers, it caused him to miss practice and consider shutting down his season. This might be the best case scenario for Stafford.
Before Philip Rivers, there was Tony Romo.
Back in December of 2013, Romo was ruled out for the rest of the season with a back injury. It was later reported that Romo had been diagnosed...
