Listen to the latest Inside The Huddle podcast - with Brian Baldinger and Rob Ryan joining Neil Reynolds - in the player below
Saturday 26 September 2020 00:47, UK
After a week in which the NFL was ravaged by injuries to key players, Brian Baldinger told the Inside The Huddle that he fears 'we're going to see more weekends like this' after a coronavirus-impacted offseason.
Due to social-distancing protocols, players could not work out at their team's facilities, having to find alternative ways to stay in shape until training camps began in August.
However, the impact of Covid-19 resulted in the usual slate of four preseason games per side being eliminated entirely, and former NFL player Baldinger told the Inside The Huddle podcast - which you can listen to in the player above - he believes the impacted offseason is at the root of the recent injuries.
"This is a contact sport," Baldinger said. "You can do all the conditioning you want, but you're not really getting the players into contact shape - the only way to do that is to hit each other.
"I watched all of those injuries on tape; Nick Bosa went down and then like four plays later Soloman Thomas went down. You watch Saquon Barkley land on one foot and his ACL went - he has made those leaps and cuts his whole life, but he's never had an offseason where he's been hit less than this year.
"The scary part is, I think we're going to see more weekends like this. The players haven't had a chance to get into contact shape."
One of the more bizarre injuries of Week Two saw Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor suffer a punctured lung when receiving a pain-killing injection from a team doctor to aid a rib injury.
NFL Network's Steve Wyche reported that back-up QB, rookie Justin Herbert, could remain in the starting role for weeks - if not for good - because Taylor has been advised by coaches not to play until he feels "100 per cent," per a team source.
Herbert impressed in his first NFL start - completing 22 of 33 passes for 311 yards, one touchdown and one interception - in a 23-20 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Baldinger was at SoFi Stadium for the game: "It was odd," he said. "Right up to the national anthem and the coin toss, we saw him [Taylor] run into the locker room, with presumably a trainer, and he never came back out.
"The next thing you know, Justin Herbert is in there. We were all left to wonder what was going on; we really didn't have any insight into what was going on at the time.
"It's a horrible situation. I'm sure there are all kinds of legal ramifications, especially if he [Taylor] misses time or loses his job.
"If Justin Herbert goes out there and plays really well this week - and he played great last week, except for one throw, having Kansas City on the ropes - and Tyrod ends up losing his job because of this, I can't imagine all of the different things that could come back to the Chargers organisation as a result."
Also on the latest Inside The Huddle Podcast:
- Hear from Will Bryce, head of the NFL's International Pathway Program
- Reaction to the hefty fines handed out to NFL coaches for not wearing face masks
- Baldinger and former NFL coach Rob Ryan talk through the key plays of the week
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