Yesterday I had a little twitter dialogue with Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News about NY Giants injuries. It is almost ridiculous to have meaningful and substantive dialogue in a 140 character tweet. By the time you are through with the first half sentence you are done. I think Ralph Vacchiano is one of the best beat reporters that covers the Gmen. I really do. Yet his coverage of NY Giants injuries suffers from the same mistakes and omissions that every other beat reporter is guilty of. Namely, they are not digging deep enough to get to the truth. Ralph asks Mara about injuries, Mara gives the “aww shucks, these broken bones are such bad luck,” and Vacch parrots back “luck” to all of us.
@RVacchianoNYDN Why do you use words like “jinx” and “luck” when excess injuries have been going on 6+ yrs? #NYG http://t.co/jYGsWYfQlT
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) August 11, 2015
@RVacchianoNYDN How about Walter Thurmond’s? And what about 6 consec yrs below avg injuries? Keep reporting and don’t bother investigating.
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) August 12, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js@rvacchianonydn After Coughlin is retired we’ll find out what happened, bet on it. — Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) August 12, 2015
So Walter Thurmond’s inside-the-locker-room revelation about Tom Coughlin’s antiquated Strength & Conditioning program is not a “fact-based reason?” Mind-blowing. As we noted when the story broke, it is easier to just chalk up his comments to sour grapes. When you read the Philly Bleacher Report piece, there is zero bitterness from Thurmond. In fact, the remark came out as a result of an Eagles line of questioning about 3 different head coaches. Thurmond was asked to compare Carroll, Kelly and Coughlin, so he did.
It boggles the mind that no one talks about the madness that three, count them, THREE Giants players suffered torn pectoral muscles inside of a 12 month period. So the fact that Ayers, Thurmond and Beatty all went down with pectoral muscle tears is not an issue for investigation by journalists?! That Thurmond missed 14 games, Ayers missed 4 games and Beatty is going to miss ~9 games from this one single type of soft tissue injury is a jinx and luck too? That is 27 games lost. Coughlin called Beatty’s weight room injury unfortunate. More bad luck.
That we can have an owner talk about the bad luck of broken bones does not shock me. The owner is regurgitating the same cluelessness of his coaching staff. YES, broken bones, tendons and ligaments are more to do with luck. For starters, luck should even out anyway in a 6 year period. But muscles like hamstrings, calves, quads and pectorals are soft tissue which can be stretched and prevented from causing injury if properly conditioned. In 2009 we had 7 hamstring injuries. In 2014-5 we had 3 pectoral tears. Yet there is no “fact-based reason” to explain why the Giants suffer!
Yes, let’s throw in that JPP fireworks Non-Football Injury, Ralph, just to confuse the readers some more. We’re jinxed too! (Cue the Cruz patellar tear next for more clouds of smoke.) YES, some injuries are always going to be luck. But the pectorals and muscles are not luck. Those are the reasons why the Giants exceed the averages so badly. Please show me a single team that has lost 27 starts due to pectoral injuries besides the Giants.
My attempts to interview a Physiatrist (Doctor of Rehabilitative Medicine) have thus far been unsuccessful. I am merely looking to corroborate the fitness expertise of Fabri Sion, who candidly explained the difference between muscle (soft tissue) and bone/tendon/ligament injuries.
How about a followup interview of Thurmond by a NY Giants beat writer for more depth on what he was referring to with not believing in the “sports science aspect”of new training regimes?
How about interviewing other ex-Giants who played for them and are playing with another team within the last few years?
How about asking Coughlin, Mara and Hanlon if they think that GPS and sleep studies are the “new methods” that other teams are using, or whether it might be something else like what Denver is doing? Or whether 6 consecutive years of injuries is still luck? Or whether the Giants not making the playoffs in 5 of those years (the 6th when they squeezed in at 9-7 w Tuck and Osi finally getting healthy) has any coincidental impact on performance? Or whether the rest of the NFL is adapting better to the CBA? (You might want to circle with those ex-players and ask them if their new team is doing anything differently re offseason training than the Giants, ie hired 3rd party private workout instructors to bridge the gap.) The list of questions above is the tip of the iceberg.
I believe we will get answers after Coughlin has retired. Only then will the questions start. Giants players will be asked about the new S&C coach versus the old coach. And they will all be able to glow about the new approach. The comparisons will be readily available. For now, all we have is an angry ex-Giant whose testimony is tainted because he must hate Coughlin, he must hate Reese for not giving him a new contract, he just wants to rip the Giants wherever he can 24/7 so that his character can be impeached and his contentions can be tossed aside. His injury was his own fault too, and let’s forget that Beatty and Ayers also were struck with the same uncontrollable disease. To all of this, I answer res ipsa loquitur. Maybe Thurmond’s comments were what they were… a candid observation of what is going on behind closed training doors.
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
