azdad1978
Championship!!!!
By Darren Urban, Tribune
October 9, 2005
Gerald Hayes stood by the door to the Cardinals’ locker room after their first preseason game in August, unconcerned about the knee injury that an hour earlier forced him to be helped off the field.
"It’s fine," he said that Saturday night.
But Hayes wasn’t fine.
The team’s starting middle linebacker returned to Prescott the following Monday, watching his teammates in training camp and again insisting the injury wasn’t a big deal. By Tuesday, he was undergoing arthroscopic surgery, surgery that showed Hayes would be out long term, at least a couple of months.
The Cardinals, having penciled Hayes in as their starter since the offseason, had to adjust.
Injuries are a way of life in the NFL. The violent game will always send players to the sideline — it just depends on who, and for how long.
A single injury can be viewed through a kaleidoscope of perspectives. The front office must consider the roster. The coaching staff must consider the game plan. The player’s backup must be ready to play. And the injured player is often left to wonder what the future might hold, whether he is out two weeks, two months or a whole season.
After all, there is always another game to be played.
THE COACH
Dennis Green’s initial reaction when a player gets hurt is sympathy. But it doesn’t take long for the coach to think about the impact on the team.
"You can’t be in a position where you don’t know what you are going to do next," Green said.
That planning has been tested over the past few weeks. Of Green’s 22 projected starters going into the season, seven have changed for today’s game against Carolina — six because of injury. The Cardinals have a different quarterback, right tackle, nose tackle and two cornerbacks.
And, of course, a different middle linebacker.
"You lose a starting middle linebacker," Green said, "that’s the heart and soul of your defense."
When Hayes got hurt, Green had a choice. He could move weakside starter Orlando Huff back inside, where Huff played extensively in Seattle last season, or move Huff’s backup, James Darling, into Hayes’ spot.
Lance Mitchell, a fifthround draft pick who had been Hayes’ backup, wasn’t even considered. He was too raw.
Eventually, Green went with Darling. Huff, he decided, was not only better suited to play outside, but the change also caused the least disruption to the defense.
Hayes was going to have the starting job for the first time in his three-year career, so he was unproven. But he was considered more physical than Darling, and he also played well on special teams. The Cardinals had hoped to have him back by midseason, but last week, because his rehab had gone slowly, the team ended Hayes’ season by placing him on injured reserve.
"(Injuries) are part of the tough mental process that goes with the game of football," Green said.
THE FRONT OFFICE
When a player gets hurt, Rod Graves, the team’s vice president of football operations, first talks to Green to analyze the roster.
If the injury — and the natural roster depth — means the Cardinals have to add a player, Graves must carefully consider the options because, he said, "the coach wants to hit the ground running."
The practice squad is the initial place to look, because those players have been working with the team. Then come players who already played in the system (like cornerback Robert Tate, re-signed last week) or played in a similar system (like center Bill Conaty, an ex-Minnesota Viking signed in training camp after multiple injuries at the position).
Then comes a street free agent, a guy who may or may not have a tie to a current assistant coach or someone else in the organization.
After Hayes got hurt, the Cardinals signed veteran Lester Towns. Towns was cut by the end of camp, but when Darling went down with a knee injury for two games, Graves brought him back to fill in.
"To not prepare for (injuries) is like going into a game not thinking about special teams," Graves said. "You know that at some point, you are going to be confronted with it, so you’d better be ready."
THE REPLACEMENT
Darling wants to make it clear: As a player, you never want a job because a teammate gets hurt.
"Being Gerald’s roommate, I felt bad," Darling said. "At the same time, when someone does, that’s a door opening. I’ve got to go in, and I have to do the absolute best I can do so it’s tough to get me out of there."
Darling endured some disappointment himself over the summer. He was coming off arguably his best season, but the Cardinals signed Huff to play his spot and he was sent to the bench thinking he’d mostly play in nickel situations this year.
But he didn’t pout, and attacked his job the same as he did when he was starting.
"I have learned guys who settle for being a backup, they don’t last very long," Darling said.
Darling’s experience and talent helped ease the Cards’ issues with Hayes’ injury. The dropoff was noticeable when Darling himself missed two weeks due to a knee ligament strain he suffered in the season opener against the Giants.
He wasn’t sure what was going to happen when Hayes came back. Now Darling knows he’ll be starting all season.
"I have been around long enough to know everybody can’t be the superstar," he said, "so when you are called upon, you have to take advantage."
THE PLAYER
Hayes had never had a starting job until Green handed him the spot this summer. An enthusiastic — and sometimes trash-talking — player, Hayes was anxious for his shot.
Then he got hurt.
"It’s just disappointment," Hayes said. "I wanted to be the starter, and it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to."
When running back Marcel Shipp got hurt during training camp last year, it was more than just depression. Shipp looked at his broken ankle, hanging grotesquely the wrong way, and feared he would never play football again.
Hayes never had the same fear, in large part because his injury was never thought to be that serious. He only had to look at teammate Anquan Boldin, who came back last season after similar surgery.
"Some guys take it better than others," Hayes said. "I prepared myself for both coming back and if I was done for the season. I see it as one more obstacle.
"It’s hard because you went through camp with these guys and you can’t be with them when you win, you can’t share the sorrows of losing."
The games go on, even when the player can’t.
"Everyone does say, ‘Injuries are part of the game,’ " Shipp said. "Then you get hurt and it’s like, ‘Damn, this wasn’t supposed to happen.’ "
Down and out
Filling in
The Cardinals currently are playing with six planned starters missing from the lineup. Below shows who’s replacing whom and why:
Starter Position Injury Expected return Replacement
Kurt Warner QB groin pull 2-3 weeks Josh McCown
Oliver Ross RT hand surgery 3-4 weeks Fred Wakefield
Russell Davis NT arm surgery out for season Ross Kolodziej
Gerald Hayes MLB knee surgery out for season James Darling
Antrel Rolle CB knee surgery out for season Raymond Walls*
David Macklin CB hamstring week to week Eric Green
* — Walls is also out with a groin injury, replaced by Robert Tate
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50144
October 9, 2005
Gerald Hayes stood by the door to the Cardinals’ locker room after their first preseason game in August, unconcerned about the knee injury that an hour earlier forced him to be helped off the field.
"It’s fine," he said that Saturday night.
But Hayes wasn’t fine.
The team’s starting middle linebacker returned to Prescott the following Monday, watching his teammates in training camp and again insisting the injury wasn’t a big deal. By Tuesday, he was undergoing arthroscopic surgery, surgery that showed Hayes would be out long term, at least a couple of months.
The Cardinals, having penciled Hayes in as their starter since the offseason, had to adjust.
Injuries are a way of life in the NFL. The violent game will always send players to the sideline — it just depends on who, and for how long.
A single injury can be viewed through a kaleidoscope of perspectives. The front office must consider the roster. The coaching staff must consider the game plan. The player’s backup must be ready to play. And the injured player is often left to wonder what the future might hold, whether he is out two weeks, two months or a whole season.
After all, there is always another game to be played.
THE COACH
Dennis Green’s initial reaction when a player gets hurt is sympathy. But it doesn’t take long for the coach to think about the impact on the team.
"You can’t be in a position where you don’t know what you are going to do next," Green said.
That planning has been tested over the past few weeks. Of Green’s 22 projected starters going into the season, seven have changed for today’s game against Carolina — six because of injury. The Cardinals have a different quarterback, right tackle, nose tackle and two cornerbacks.
And, of course, a different middle linebacker.
"You lose a starting middle linebacker," Green said, "that’s the heart and soul of your defense."
When Hayes got hurt, Green had a choice. He could move weakside starter Orlando Huff back inside, where Huff played extensively in Seattle last season, or move Huff’s backup, James Darling, into Hayes’ spot.
Lance Mitchell, a fifthround draft pick who had been Hayes’ backup, wasn’t even considered. He was too raw.
Eventually, Green went with Darling. Huff, he decided, was not only better suited to play outside, but the change also caused the least disruption to the defense.
Hayes was going to have the starting job for the first time in his three-year career, so he was unproven. But he was considered more physical than Darling, and he also played well on special teams. The Cardinals had hoped to have him back by midseason, but last week, because his rehab had gone slowly, the team ended Hayes’ season by placing him on injured reserve.
"(Injuries) are part of the tough mental process that goes with the game of football," Green said.
THE FRONT OFFICE
When a player gets hurt, Rod Graves, the team’s vice president of football operations, first talks to Green to analyze the roster.
If the injury — and the natural roster depth — means the Cardinals have to add a player, Graves must carefully consider the options because, he said, "the coach wants to hit the ground running."
The practice squad is the initial place to look, because those players have been working with the team. Then come players who already played in the system (like cornerback Robert Tate, re-signed last week) or played in a similar system (like center Bill Conaty, an ex-Minnesota Viking signed in training camp after multiple injuries at the position).
Then comes a street free agent, a guy who may or may not have a tie to a current assistant coach or someone else in the organization.
After Hayes got hurt, the Cardinals signed veteran Lester Towns. Towns was cut by the end of camp, but when Darling went down with a knee injury for two games, Graves brought him back to fill in.
"To not prepare for (injuries) is like going into a game not thinking about special teams," Graves said. "You know that at some point, you are going to be confronted with it, so you’d better be ready."
THE REPLACEMENT
Darling wants to make it clear: As a player, you never want a job because a teammate gets hurt.
"Being Gerald’s roommate, I felt bad," Darling said. "At the same time, when someone does, that’s a door opening. I’ve got to go in, and I have to do the absolute best I can do so it’s tough to get me out of there."
Darling endured some disappointment himself over the summer. He was coming off arguably his best season, but the Cardinals signed Huff to play his spot and he was sent to the bench thinking he’d mostly play in nickel situations this year.
But he didn’t pout, and attacked his job the same as he did when he was starting.
"I have learned guys who settle for being a backup, they don’t last very long," Darling said.
Darling’s experience and talent helped ease the Cards’ issues with Hayes’ injury. The dropoff was noticeable when Darling himself missed two weeks due to a knee ligament strain he suffered in the season opener against the Giants.
He wasn’t sure what was going to happen when Hayes came back. Now Darling knows he’ll be starting all season.
"I have been around long enough to know everybody can’t be the superstar," he said, "so when you are called upon, you have to take advantage."
THE PLAYER
Hayes had never had a starting job until Green handed him the spot this summer. An enthusiastic — and sometimes trash-talking — player, Hayes was anxious for his shot.
Then he got hurt.
"It’s just disappointment," Hayes said. "I wanted to be the starter, and it didn’t happen the way I wanted it to."
When running back Marcel Shipp got hurt during training camp last year, it was more than just depression. Shipp looked at his broken ankle, hanging grotesquely the wrong way, and feared he would never play football again.
Hayes never had the same fear, in large part because his injury was never thought to be that serious. He only had to look at teammate Anquan Boldin, who came back last season after similar surgery.
"Some guys take it better than others," Hayes said. "I prepared myself for both coming back and if I was done for the season. I see it as one more obstacle.
"It’s hard because you went through camp with these guys and you can’t be with them when you win, you can’t share the sorrows of losing."
The games go on, even when the player can’t.
"Everyone does say, ‘Injuries are part of the game,’ " Shipp said. "Then you get hurt and it’s like, ‘Damn, this wasn’t supposed to happen.’ "
Down and out
Filling in
The Cardinals currently are playing with six planned starters missing from the lineup. Below shows who’s replacing whom and why:
Starter Position Injury Expected return Replacement
Kurt Warner QB groin pull 2-3 weeks Josh McCown
Oliver Ross RT hand surgery 3-4 weeks Fred Wakefield
Russell Davis NT arm surgery out for season Ross Kolodziej
Gerald Hayes MLB knee surgery out for season James Darling
Antrel Rolle CB knee surgery out for season Raymond Walls*
David Macklin CB hamstring week to week Eric Green
* — Walls is also out with a groin injury, replaced by Robert Tate
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50144
