RR-Injuries and Playing Time

Submitted by Ziff72 on

Does anyone have any insight on  RR's rules regarding missing practice/injuries/playing time?  

It appears he has an old school mantra if you don't practice all week you can't play, based on some personnel decisions this year.  It seems that borderline guys never play.  I must say he has perplexed me all year with his "this guy might play or he should be good to go and then not play".   He seems right out of the B. Bellichick school of injury reporting.

The Mike Martin saga really perplexes me.  If there is one guy on the team that has earned the right to not practice and then try to gut it out in the games it is Martin.   If the reports of an ankle sprain are true you would think they would try to rest the ankle all week and then see if they could tape it and let him play.   Then we hear he practiced fully on Tuesday.  If he practiced fully on Tuesday I would think he is guaranteed to play, but I think we heard the same thing last week and he didn't play.  If his ankle is still in bad shape why is he practicing fully?

Shaw this year was another weird one.  If they are good enough to play a little than play them.   Shaw played sparingly early in the Illinois game then late in the game he played a bunch and looked great.   Not sure if that is a way to build toughness telling the kids if they want to play you better not wiggle your way out of practice, but I must say it is perplexing.

 

club_med

November 19th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^

This doesn't surprise me at all. In fact, I don't understand why a coach would do anything other than be as vague as possible with publicly issued injury reports. Any information advantage you can get over your opponents is only going to benefit you.

LB

November 19th, 2010 at 10:26 AM ^

the lit department would bring students over for their classes on fiction if I were the coach. I'd also put Molk in charge of interviews. If he doesn't like the question, just hit the reporter. He likes to hit people, play to his strengths!

Greg McMurtry

November 19th, 2010 at 10:46 AM ^

It seemed like he had a lingering injury, but then he'd get two carries and then not play anymore.  I would rather he just sit out all game or at least split half the reps with Smith.  Maybe those couple of carries were for him to test how he felt, I don't know, but it didn't seem to make sense.

I'm actually glad Martin sat out for Purdue and hope that he plays this week.

UAUM

November 19th, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^

I wish they would have given Martin the past two weeks off to rest his ankles.  A sprained ankle is the easiest injury to make worse.  Practicing will only make the muscle weak and give you "loose" ankles.  It's like a rubber band.  If it gets over stretched, it needs time to come back to its previous tightness.  Otherwise, it stays overstretched and has less reflex/ability to contract.

Papochronopolis

November 19th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^

I think the coaches made the right move playing him against Illinois.  He definitely made at least somewhat of a difference in that game.

Holding him out against Purdue was the right move.  We didn't need him in order to hold back their offense.

Happy Jack

November 19th, 2010 at 9:32 PM ^

IMO id rather see Martin take it easy this week if he's hurting and hopefully be close to full strength for OSU.  i understand about trying to win every game and all but to me OSU >>> Wisconsin and if he's not healthy this week try not to use him- shaw too and whoever else is banged up.

i know coaches can't really say it but to me, the OSU game is everything.  we're not going to win the big 10 title, we can't make the NC game, we won't make a BCS bowl..... but OSU would really define our year.

let me put it this way:

beat Wisc and lose to OSU =  exceeded expectations, very solid year.

lose to Wisc and beat OSU = MUPPETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE STREAK IS OVER RIOT IN THE STREETS THIS IS BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

BlueintheLou

November 19th, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^

If Martin could go "full-go" and gut it out. Believe me, RR would have let him try. I think his ankles are really holding him back to the point he knows he can't go full on to help this team.

evenyoubrutus

November 19th, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^

Okay you seem to be drawing conclusions from a lot of assumptions.  But I get your point.  Honestly, it is a little annoying to hear that one guy is going to play or is healthy and then he gets little or no snaps.  Kind of like the runningback situation, particularly earlier in the year: "There are 3 or 4 guys who will play RB for us on Saturday." Translation: "Vincent Smith will get every snap."  I would rather just not hear about personnel stuff at all than hear stuff like that.  OTOH, if he says that stuff just to mess with opponents' heads, I'll take it.

houstongolfnut

November 19th, 2010 at 11:05 AM ^

I'll be driving tomorrow during the game and I don't live in Michigan.  What's the best way to get the game via my iPhone?  Is there an app or a radio station on iheart radio?  What about mgoblue.com?

Any help appreciated.

tlh908

November 19th, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^

After watching RR pull Denard against Illinois, I would say he likes to error on the side of caution.  He would rather have healthy players in the long term than play questionable guys now. 

Shalom Lansky

November 19th, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^

are different.  You don't tough out a concussion like you might an ankle sprain.  As someone who suffered a few concussions in a short period of time that left me unable to read or think clearly for months, I can tell you that you only go back when you're ready to go full-bore.  Limited action can still have wide-spread negtive effects such as exacerbating current symptoms or causing even more concussions if you aren't fully healed from the previous incident.  With concussions you're either ready to go or you aren't, there is no middle ground.

swamyblue

November 19th, 2010 at 2:28 PM ^

Perhaps he's saving something for the last two games of the season! 

I'm really hoping Fitz breaks one!  Although he needs to learn his damn blocking assignments. We had the Denard's big runs early on.  It would be nice to see one of the backs break one off for a TD against Wiscy and/or tOSU.