Brian Cushing torn ACL .. out for season

[DBCooper]

Mods will you please delete this thread, it's making me sick.

[Brisco_County]

Teams formulate plans to block him because he’s a dangerous rusher. The Texans have a lot of other dangerous rushers, however. They don’t have a lot of other inside linebackers who can run and cover the way Cushing can, and when he’s absent it’s sure to be a spot that gets targeted.

Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips loves Cushing as much as anyone. But he jumped to point out that the Texans had a great deal of defensive success against the Jets after the linebacker left the field. Tim Dobbins took Cushing’s spot in the base personnel, and Bradie James stayed on the field to assume Cushing’s role in the nickel package.

The drop off from Cushing to those guys is more significant than it is from any of the Texans other stars to their backups.

As reporters approached Dobbins to ask about his expanded role with Cushing gone, Dobbins repeatedly shook his head and said he didn’t really want to talk about it.

“I’m a small fry in this world,” he said. “We didn’t know what’s wrong with him, if he’s going to be out or not. I stay ready so I don’t ever need to get ready.”

Link

We still get pressure up front, Dobbins is an excellent run stopper, and this is still a championship caliber team.

[Texan_Bill]

Originally Posted by Trap_Star

Why didn't tebow just go up to cush and rub his knee? Selfish ******.

Godbless.

Mother ****er!!! Change your avatar and sig!!

*******************************

That out of the freaky way, and I do mean "freaky way", I still don't think the hit to Cushing's knee was with malice. I think that piece of shiate was beaten so badly that he reacted in the best way he could out of instinct....

Sucks for us losing Cushing, but intentional? No. Illegal? Yes............ And not called? YES!!!

That's not here nor there..
The "pack" is coming to town. They're pretty pissed after succumbing to the Colts, no?



Let's get our shiate together for this game...



BTW, my schedule at work had us going 5-0 with our first loss being to the Pack at home..............


PLEASE, please, please Texans prove me wrong this Sunday!!!

[gtexan02]

Who wants to see something that will make them sick to their stomach? Exhibit A:

----------------Cushing on field--------Cushing not on field
Plays---------------2,797--------------------377-----------
Opp. Comp. Pct.-----58.4--------------------65.2----------
Opp. TD-Int----------62-46------------------13-3---------
Opp. Yds/Play---------5.2--------------------5.8-----------

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/84...eason-torn-acl


He just makes us better. Thats all there is too it. Sure we can overcome this, but we are not as good of a team without him as we were with him. In no way can we be as good talent wise as we were on Monday before the game this season. Thats sad

[Texn4life]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

Who wants to see something that will make them sick to their stomach? Exhibit A:

----------------Cushing on field--------Cushing not on field
Plays---------------2,797--------------------377-----------
Opp. Comp. Pct.-----58.4--------------------65.2----------
Opp. TD-Int----------62-46------------------13-3---------
Opp. Yds/Play---------5.2--------------------5.8-----------

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/84...eason-torn-acl


He just makes us better. Thats all there is too it. Sure we can overcome this, but we are not as good of a team without him as we were with him. In no way can we be as good talent wise as we were on Monday before the game this season. Thats sad

In all fairness most of these numbers are pre-Wade so its hard to make a judgment off of them. I saw this on Sportscenter and while it looks good we don't know how this defense is going to react until we see them on the field without him for a significant amount of time.

[BullBlitz]

First, best wishes to Brian Cushing for a full and fast recovery. He is the definition of a football player and the epitome of an NFL linebacker.

Second, this is going to be a tough setback for the Texans' defense, right at the time that we are entering a tough part of schedule. We should all expect Wade to believe that he can fill the gap, but you don't just replace a Pro Bowl LB with the next man up.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Marcus

Son of a *****!!!

This means he won't be worth a sh!t next season.

Have you seen Jamal Charles lately? If it were a Lisfranc or Achilles, I'd be worried. ACL... they've come a long way in just the last 5 years... 3 years even, on how to fix it right.

[amazing80]

here is a serious question, if Cushing did roids (previously) how will this affect his recovery?

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Wolf

From this angle, you can see he is clearly behind Cushing when he makes contact. From the other gif, it looks as if it was close & he may have been in front. Cushing was just too fast for him & crossed his face faster than he anticipated.

I don't think it's a dirty play, dude just got beat by a better player.

However, the way he roled up on the back of Cushing's leg (knee) is exactly the reason players are not allowed to go for a QB's legs any more. They risk blowing an ACL....

I don't expect any new legislation from this event. Thousands of snaps/man go by without this happening. The fact that it happened now, to one of ours, is unfortunate & that's as far as it really needs to go. Sucks that we're going to lose Cushing for the rest of the year, but this is where Wade makes his money.

A little OT... did anyone complain that Watt wasn't flagged on his Sanchez sack? Totally different, but completely against the rules. Both hands made contact below the knees.

[gtexan02]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

A little OT... did anyone complain that Watt wasn't flagged on his Sanchez sack? Totally different, but completely against the rules. Both hands made contact below the knees.

How was that possibly illegal? He tripped him by grabbing his foot

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

How was that possibly illegal? He tripped him by grabbing his foot

No defensive player who has an unrestricted path to the quarterback may hit him flagrantly in the area of the knee(s) or below when approaching in any direction.

There may be some debate about "unrestricted path" but knees & below is pretty clear.

[CloakNNNdagger]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

Owen Daniels has had three torn ACLs in his career. He took a while to come back after the most recent one, but he did recover.

Adrian Peterson tore both an ACL and MCL on Dec. 24, 2011, and he's back to playing now. They say it's almost inhuman for someone to recover from that as quickly as he has though.

Jamaal Charles tore his ACL last year in week 2 and he's back to what appears to be 100%.

Rashad Mendenhall tore his ACL last year just before the playoffs. He didn't start playing much until week 5 of this season, but he looked good in his first game.

Terrell Suggs tore his in May, but expects to be playing for the Ravens in November. Only a 6 month recovery, which is aggressive.

I don't think we need to worry about Cushing coming back next year, he will have 9-10 months before meaningful practices start. He's a warrior, and I'm sure he will train extremely hard and make himself ready to return ASAP. It just won't happen until next year

[Suggs as has already been mentioned was an Achilles rupture]

ACL rupture post surgical repair, return to play recovery and return performance level expectations have been elevated just in the last decade. Six to nine months is an expected return to play for an NFL player. However, there is still great variation in those parameters seen. There have been very few NFL-oriented studies on this injury. There was a 2009 study that concluded that Dlinemen and LBs were most affected with return performance level. Another concluded that those players having 2-4 years NFL experience were more likely to return to previous level as compared to those with more than 4 years. There was the conclusion that wear and tear led to lesser return performance (the better recovery in college players). Variance could be accounted for by other not uncommonly encountered simultaneous injury factors of the MCL, PCL, LCL, meniscus, patellar disease or arthritis. Although examples of high-profile RBs are commonly presented, there are many RBs that never got the chance to achieve high-profile status before their early careers were cut short. Not only have improved surgical techniques made this injury far from hopeless today, but the rehab regimens have probably had even more to do with the success. Being able to build the supportive upper leg muscles to the point that they can themselves lend stabilization to the knee. Many of you may not be aware of this (I know Kubiak would be), but John Elway, after sustaining a complete rupture of his ACL, ended up playing his entire college and NFL career without an ACL in his left knee. He wore a brace. But his secret was that he had absolutely massive upper leg muscles virtually substituting his ACL, and, of course, he was not an RB.


After brilliant careers with Broncos ... - The Denver Post ....READ THE REST

Each is headed for knee replacement surgery, Elway sooner than Davis, but both make light of their physical issues, having conditioned themselves to live with the long- term effects. They made millions playing football and knew the risks.

Said Elway, "Other than the lobotomy, everything else is good."

Not exactly.

Elway initially injured his knee in high school, and surgeons removed his anterior cruciate ligament. By the time he retired, he had had five knee operations, guaranteeing himself a post-career lifetime of problems.

"I knew what I was getting into," he said.

Living with pain

So why put yourself through it? In Elway's case, he had a legacy to fulfill. He was the top-rated player in the country in high school and the No. 1 pick in the 1983 NFL draft. He contemplated retirement in his early 30s, but refused to bow to the pain - and the frustration of playing in Dan Reeves' offense - until he won a Super Bowl.

"Just ask Dan," said Elway, 47. "I have a hard head."

And a bum knee.

"It continues to get worse," he said. "I don't have an ACL and now I don't have any cartilage on the outside. That's the reason I have to watch it. It's starting to go in. If it goes too far, it's going to be tough to put a new knee in. It gets too deformed."

Davis, who has launched a second career as an NFL Network analyst, finds himself in a similar predicament. The doctors have told him it's when, not if, he has knee replacement surgery. At 34, he wants to hold off as long as possible, what with artificial knees having a typical shelf life of 15-20 years.

In the interim, he makes daily concessions to his left knee, on which doctors performed microfracture surgery during his latter years with the Broncos. His right knee, the one he injured in 1999 when Matt Lepsis fell on him during an interception return, is fine, but the left one is getting worse.

He takes aspirin to dull the pain. He sleeps with a pillow between his legs to ease the discomfort.

"I feel like I'm 50," said Davis, who in 1998 became the fourth player in NFL history to run for 2,000 yards in a season. "I wouldn't change (my career) for the world, but it's tough. I was like everybody else. Most people say, 'It's not going to happen to me. I'm not going to have to deal with that."'

For those of you interested, here is an abstract of the most recent July 2010 study reviewing ACL injury in NFL players:



Return to Play After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in National Football League Athletes

Background: Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a common and potentially career-threatening injury in the National Football League (NFL). The return to play (RTP) percentage and the factors affecting RTP after ACL reconstruction in NFL players are not well defined.

Purpose: To determine the actual rate of return to professional football play in the NFL after ACL reconstruction surgery and to determine what factors can predict ability to RTP. We hypothesize that the RTP percentage in this unique patient population will differ from previously reported populations.

Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4.

Methods: Forty-nine NFL athletes who had undergone primary ACL reconstruction at our institution were followed to determine their RTP percentages and factors predicting RTP.

Results: Sixty-three percent (31 of 49) of NFL athletes returned to NFL game play at an average of 10.8 months after surgery. Age at time of surgery, position, and the type and number of procedures were not significantly different between those who did and did not return to play. The average number of games before surgery was 51 for those who did return to play and 28 for those who did not (P = .039). The odds ratio favoring RTP was 5.5 (P = .016) for those players who had more than 4 years of NFL experience before surgery. The average NFL draft round was 3.4 for the group who returned to play and 6.4 for those who did not (P < .001). The odds ratio favoring RTP was 12.2 (P < .001) for those players drafted in the first 4 rounds of the NFL draft compared with those drafted after the fourth round.

Conclusions: The RTP rates after ACL reconstruction in NFL football players are lower than previously perceived. More experienced and established athletes are more likely to return to competition at the same level after this procedure than those with less professional experience. Being selected in the first 4 rounds of the NFL draft was highly predictive of RTP.

This post is simply to present that Cushing has a very good chance of returning to play, and very possibly eventually to pre-injury level..........but nothing in ACL tear is entirely predictable. What we do know is that Cushing will put in elite-level effort in his rehab to give him the best chance to return to Reliant as the elite player we will recognize.

[gtexan02]

Originally Posted by CloakNNNdagger

This post is simply to present that Cushing has a very good chance of returning to play, and very possibly eventually to pre-injury level..........but nothing in ACL tear is entirely predictable. What we do know is that Cushing will put in elite-level effort in his rehab to give him the best chance to return to Reliant as the elite player we will recognize.

Lets just keep our fingers crossed that he doesn't overtrain...

[GP]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

There may be some debate about "unrestricted path" but knees & below is pretty clear.

At the time of that play, I figured Watt would get flagged for hitting the QB below the knees.

The refs must have thought that a hand swiping the foot is not the same as it would be if that same defender is tackling his full body weight INTO the QB's legs.

Still, I really REALLY thought he would get a flag there on that play. Maybe it was a make-up call or something? I dunno.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by cloaknnndagger

this post is simply to present that cushing has a very good chance of returning to play, and very possibly eventually to pre-injury level..........but nothing in acl tear is entirely predictable. What we do know is that cushing will put in elite-level effort in his rehab to give him the best chance to return to reliant as the elite player we will recognize.

msr

[TexansFanatic]

Originally Posted by Dutchrudder

Owen Daniels has had three torn ACLs in his career.

This is the second time I've seen that posted on this board, but I can't find evidence that he's had more than two ACL tears. Once in high school and once in 2009.

From Chronicle, November 1, 2009:

Daniels, who suffered a torn ACL as a senior in high school, was hurt on a third-down incompletion on the Texans' second series of the game.

LINK

[False Start]

I'm just pissed, and bummed the F out.

[76Texan]

Originally Posted by gtexan02

How was that possibly illegal? He tripped him by grabbing his foot

Originally Posted by GP

At the time of that play, I figured Watt would get flagged for hitting the QB below the knees.

The refs must have thought that a hand swiping the foot is not the same as it would be if that same defender is tackling his full body weight INTO the QB's legs.

Still, I really REALLY thought he would get a flag there on that play. Maybe it was a make-up call or something? I dunno.

I think Fidd read the rule incorrectly.

It wasn't a "malicious" hit below the knee.

The defender is allowed to swipe at the quarterback's feet.

...

http://static.nfl.com/static/content...er_Conduct.pdf

HITTING PASSER’S KNEE
(5) A rushing defender is prohibited from forcibly hitting in the knee area or below a passer who has one
or both feet on the ground, even if the initial contact is above the knee. It is not a foul if the defender is
blocked (or fouled) into the passer and has no opportunity to avoid him;
Note 1: A defender cannot initiate a roll or lunge and forcibly hit the passer in the knee area or below, even if he
is being contacted by another player.
Note 2: It is not a foul if the defender swipes, wraps, or grabs a passer in the knee area or below in an attempt to tackle him.

[MEGA SWATT]

Clay Matthews - LB 52 GB

• If the NFL really wants to increase player safety, start protecting players on BOTH sides of the ball.
  
• Where is the NFL's protection on blocks below the waist like that on Cushing. Double standard!

[Jackie Chiles]

Originally Posted by TexansFanatic

This is the second time I've seen that posted on this board, but I can't find evidence that he's had more than two ACL tears. Once in high school and once in 2009.

From Chronicle, November 1, 2009:


LINK

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/p...torical/409170

Scroll down to the Injury Report section.

"2000: Only played in two games during his high school senior year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

2002: Suffered left knee torn anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in a December scrimmage. "