Injury Penury
 

So far, so good. Since the start of the regular season, the Saints have lost Roman Harper, but added vets Stoutmier and Bellamy, Ernie Conwell, but have Campbell, Lawrie and Miller picking up the slack. Ninkovich went down, but Eric Moore has stepped up to relieve both DE's in the rotational system. DeLoach, Croce and Scott are expected to be back to practice form to give depth to the secondary.

(Knocking on my wooden head) Can anyone remember a time when so many of the regulars from the beginning of the season were so healthy at this point in the season? Is there something that Payton's staff is doing that is helping keep this team relatively injury free?

There's got to be a corelation between the record and the lack of injuries. Am I insane to think that the next few weeks might be better than expected due to this freakish pattern?

IMHO, Payton's emphais on conditioning!!!! Look at what he did on Monday of this week. He is all about routine, and broke with routine to get them back in SHAPE on Monday.

While I was at training camp I could see this coming. Payton believes in conditioning but not to over use players. He gives them time to rest also. Having them refreshed keeps them healthy.

Re: Injury Penury
 

we had regulars at one time? and i missed it? sheesh..................

Has anyone looked into Peyton's stretching drills as a possible source of the lack of injury? For any of you who have had the honor of attending games, or preseason especially, do you get to see the players warm up? How long do the players stretch pre-game? I've always thought and been told at school that warming up and warming down properly (at least an hour) is an integral part of keeping injuries at bay.

Go Saints,
kuke

I agree that conditioning is a part of it, but one could argue that nearly all of the injuries sustained aren't so much a function of conditioning as they are of technique. How to get hit, when to get hit and how to avoid the hit. I'm sure that Payton's rotational structure for the D and most of the offense has some impact.

Harper's injury came when his own player (I watched that play several times and couldn't figure out which guy) rolled on the back of his leg. Ninkovich got twisted in a pile and Conwell got tangled in a block. None were due to lack of conditioning. Deloach, Croce and Scott's injuries may have been conditioning related, but they were injured in practice, so tough to tell without the tape.

The Ravens have a number of injuries heading into the game against the Saints. Most if not all of them were impact related. McNair, Sapp and Landry have had impact injuries and several others, like Mulitalo, were in-game stress related injuries.

Actually,

Stretching doesn't prevent injuries. I know a lot of people believe this, but warming up your muscles with blood flow (which stretching does) helps prevent those types of injuries. Adding muscle around a joint supports the conective tissue, but lifting weights or doing pushups really slowly builds muscle slower than doing fast reps with good technique. Sounds weird, but it's true. While I'm at it, people that eat huge amounts of protein thinking they'll build muscle are wasting money on food that they just poop out. Might as well throw money in the toilet becuase you get the same result. Athletes get more than enough protein in regular foods than they can utilize in a day. Carbohydrates are what you need to build muscle. There's a disclaimer on every product sold in a health store, take a look and you'll see it.

And then don't forget the "vitamins" every NFL player gets. Atleast 99% of the players are or has been on some sort of steroid. The substanse abuse program is just a bunch of bull. Pop som roids and then eat and you will get bigger, stronger and faster.

However to get back on topic. Conditioning helps to prevent injuries. You tend to get injured more when you are tired during a game. Conditioning heelps to kep you fresh thus giving you a better chance to avoid injury.

There are several key areas of the team where injuries would really hurt us. Mainly the o-line. The protection has been really good so far. any injuries to Bush or Macallister would hurt us just as much. I believe we should have kept Jammal Branch on the active roster. He is a much better rb than Stecker, although I know Stecker plays on special teams as well. Branch would have kept the inside running game more of a threat if Deuce went down (god forbid).
We seem well coached on defense and seem to have overall balance. The Saints dont seem to overrely on anyone defensively. Harper was their most promising player, so hopefully the other players will be able to step up.