The Detroit Lions final preseason game against the Colts is tomorrow. Today is a day off for the team, which makes it a good time for reader comments & questions.
Where is Kerby Joseph?
Jeffrey W Slager started a good discussion thread regarding Joseph’s mystery absence….
The Joseph drama has been a roller coaster since the start of camp with no endpoint in sight. Prior to camp, he made a big splash by responded to me on X with the implication that he would not be placed on the PUP list.
Not only was he in fact placed on PUP the very next day, he’s still on it, which means he’s on the verge of missing the entirety of training camp.
Early in camp, Kerby was seen working out strenuously on the side, which caused some to become optimistic. When Kerby mysteriously vanished around the second week of camp, the optimism also vanished. Dan Campbell said the absence was for a “personal” issue.
We haven’t seen Joseph in multiple weeks now, which is an unusually long time for an NFL player to be out for a personal issue. This raises the possibility that his absence is related to his knee in some way.
Did his knee flare-up?
Is he trying a new treatment in a foreign land?
Is he mentally handling his knee issue ok?
Did he get stuck in the dark while ransacking Aaron Rodgers’ cave in search of a spiritual therapy?
There’s a lot of mystery here. Of course, the hope is that any personal issue he may be having is benign.
Reader Crixcyon suggested prolotherapy, which is an injection of an irritant solution with the hopes that it stimulates the body to heal or help with pain.
There are many “experimental” or “alternative” therapies out there. Many (most?) take advantage of the placebo effect to help with pain. Unfortunately for Kerby, the knee issue is more than just a pain-control issue.
The word “improving” is about as meaningless as it gets for coachspeak. It’s a good word to serve to media that doesn’t stir up any more questions, while also saying nothing. In regards to Kerby, of course he is improving with rest. The question is whether he can improve to the point where he can handle football activities.
NFL Injury Prevention Ideas Follow-up
Earlier this week, I wrote a story with 5 ideas that could make an immediate impact in reducing NFL injuries…
Here are comments and ideas added by readers…
Con makes an important point that grass fields have problems also. For cold weather and dome teams, it might be near-impossible to provide a consistent, uniform grass field for every game. I agree with Con that the most direct way to preserve stars is to reduce playing time.
I like Crixcyon’s out-of-the-box thinking here with forcing teams into a snap count limit for starters.
I’ve been in favor of teams voluntarily rotating players more, with the possible exception of the OL and QB positions. The Lions typically play their starting safeties, cornerbacks, and linebackers close to or at 100% of snaps. More rotations would help the starters survive the season.
But it’s mentally hard for coaches to sub out starters if it decreases the chances of winning each individual game. Dan Campbell recently talked about how difficult it was for him to lower Aidan Hutchinson’s excessively-high snap counts.
Detroit Lions Rivalries Jersey Follow-up
Here is some critically-important follow-up on the Lions’ new jerseys. Initially all the pictures and videos looked like the color was white, off-white, or a very light gray - which I didn’t like as it was too similar to the current Lions whites (not to mention the Panthers whites).
Then this photo below popped up with the jersey looking very silver or medium-gray. If this is how it looks in real life, I like it a whole lot better. I still think the shoulder/sleeves are low effort, but silver with carbon fiber accents is enough of a distinctive look for me to consider getting one.
What it looks like in real-life is still a mystery though. I may have to buy one to see for myself. And I don’t mean the dress…
