Dropping Wes Welker for Danny Amendola is looking like a worse decision every week. Is Amendola just unlucky or is there something to his constant string of injuries?
Raj: Honestly, he's just unlucky. But that doesn't mean that dropping Welker for him was justified. I mean look at Welker this season. He is unreal! And Amendola has not done a single thing since he landed in New England. It's not really his fault but he's gotta stop being fragile like glass. There has to be some reason why he gets injured.
Jason: I subscribe to the theory that some players are more prone to injury because of their body types. It's not a toughness or conditioning thing, more of a body type thing. Flexibility and recovery of joints, tendons, muscles are different for every person, and Amendola seems to be cursed with a body that won't stay healthy. At this point, I feel like Amendola may always be that kind of player who will never be healthy (ditto for Gronkowski).
Derek: I think Amendola's injuries boil down to bad luck combined with hard play. The guy plays tough as nails, but he's clearly not made out of metal. His play against Buffalo was borderline heroic. Did he perhaps play that day when the smarter move would have been to rest the groin? That's probably the case, but the Pats certainly don't win that game without him. As for last week's presumed concussion/knock-out, I can't say that Amendola did anything "dumb" other than to play hard and take a hit. Every hit in the NFL is a roll of the dice and Danny happened to have a bad outcome. It seems like his prior injuries in St. Louis were sort of the same deal. I don't know how you really fix that other than maybe having him give himself up on some plays and avoid unnecessary contact. It might keep him on the field, but at the same time, playing "soft" like that could drain the fight in him that we've come to love, albeit in small doses, this season.
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