AROUND THE NFL
Rams look great, but can it last against gauntlet of Packers, Saints, Seahawks and Chiefs? ... With Conner doing the job, who needs Bell? ... Leagues share medical info
CAN THE LOS ANGELES RAMS GO 16-0?
NEWS:
The NFL has one remaining undefeated team, the Rams, who have 10 games remaining. And they’ve, uh, looked pretty darn good in starting 6-0.
VIEW:
Odds are, however, it won’t be long until surviving members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins — the only NFL team ever to win every game, both in the regular season and in the playoffs en route to an NFL championship — will be popping champagne corks soon. That’s what they annually do after the last undefeated team of the year has finally lost, thereby ensuring the pantheon of perfection continues to have but one tenant.
The Rams in 2018 have as loaded a roster as any team in the league, and are as well coached to boot on both sides of the ball. But after this coming Sunday’s gimme at San Francisco, get this. The Rams in consecutive weeks play: Green Bay (currently 3-2-1), at New Orleans (4-1), Seattle (3-3) and Kansas City (5-1) in Mexico City. That’s three potential game-of-theweek matchups right there.
Then, after a bye to conclude November, the Rams in December play at Detroit, at Chicago, Philadelphia, at Arizona and San Francisco.
Of their remaining 10 games, only the one at Chicago on Dec. 9 won’t be played either in hot weather or indoors. So there’s that. And the Rams already have proved they can win in the snow, after holding off the Broncos in unseasonably wintry Denver weather this past Sunday.
Considering their late-October to mid-December gauntlet, the Rams would do amazingly well to finish 14-2. If they’re 11-0 come December, we can revisit the perfection question.
DO THE STEELERS EVEN NEED BELL NOW?
NEWS: Le’Veon Bell
issetto miss his seventh paycheque of $853,000, as he continues to refuse to sign the franchise tag Pittsburgh slapped on him, which could have paid him $14.5 million guaranteed. One report said Bell might finally sign and report next week.
VIEW:
No one’s holding his breath anymore. Not fans, not teammates, not the Pittsburgh front office. Look, Bell is a fabulous, hybrid talent — a player who can catch passes and rush the football at an elite level.
Bell has less than a month now to sign and report. If he fails to do so after Nov. 13, he could not play for the Steelers or any other NFL club until next season.
It isn’t helping Bell’s position that his replacement — second-year James Conner
— seems to improve by the week, and is playing just fine, thanks. Conner ranks fifth in the league with 453 rush yards, second in rush TDs with seven, sixth in first downs rushing with 23, while he’s also sixth among running backs with 257 receiving yards.
Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner this week said of Conner, per ESPN: “I don’t know if there are any limitations to James’ game right now. He’s been open to every position we put him in, concepts (too). Whether it’s routes, concept protections, he has done a really nice job.”
NFL AND OTHER SPORTS SHARE MEDICAL INFO
NEWS:
Last Friday and Saturday the NFL, CFL, World Rugby and the Australian Football League (AFL) played joint hosts to a conference in London, England, where global sport and medical leaders shared best practices on patient care and injury prevention.
Other attendees or participants included the NHL plus the world governing bodies for hockey, soccer, basketball, cricket, skiing and equestrian.
What were among the conference’s top takeaways? In a statement provided to Postmedia, Dr. Allen Sills —the NFL’s chief medical officer — said the following:
“As collection and analysis becomes more sophisticated, professional sports leagues are using their injury data to help inform the process of making rules, much like was done with our new rules on use of helmet and kickoff during this past offseason. And while prevention is paramount when it comes to player protection, advancements in diagnosis are critical for patient care.
“From our discussions it is clear that most all other similar professional sports leagues around the world are increasing their use of video to aid in the recognition of potentially concussed players. However, similar to the NFL, others have discovered that video signs are not always reliable and should be confirmed with appropriate clinical exams by trained providers. As such, we also shared our collective experiences with newer diagnostic tools that may help with the sideline identification of potentially concussed players.”
VIEW:
Sharing best practices this way probably will help reduce sports injuries and concussions worldwide. How is that not a good thing?
It won’t be easy to entirely wipe out such despicable, continuing practices as merely spraying water on the face of a woozy player, slapping his cheeks a few times then shoving him back onto the playing surface.
The NFL knows it still has its own issues in trying to ensure all concussed players are immediately removed from its fields. Some players will always try to fool the spotters and keep on playing.
Short of continuing to make crucial tweaks and improvements to its now strict-as-any-league’s concussion diagnosis and player-removal protocols, there’s not much more the NFL can do before actually making its game more dangerous.
How’s that? Because, for example, if the NFL — or any league — were to mandate that any and all head-hit players (severe or not) had to be pulled for a concussion check, head hits would become incentivized. The less honourable would see that as an easy way of getting a rival performer yanked at crunch time.
Bottom line, the more that best concussion-care practices are shared between sports, and the more we all know this is being done, the more pressure can be applied on the feet-draggers. Thus, the faster sports can be made safer.