Dolphins TE Dustin Keller tore his ACL, MCL, PCL

[polamalubeast]

Adam SchefterVerified account‏@AdamSchefter
Dolphins TE Dustin Keller tore his ACL, MCL, PCL and, as if that weren't enough, dislocated his knee, per source.



https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/369141677882998786



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0emf6GH4Mw

[polamalubeast]

Three torn ligaments and a dislocated kneecap for Dustin Keller. Docs also fear nerve damage. Career is on the line.


https://twitter.com/ArmandoSalguero/status/369150318824550400

[Shoes]

Sounds like Spence's injury.

[salamander]

Ouch...

[steeldawg]

its a shame he was gonna get a lot of looks this year.

[Chidi29]

Reminds me of Leonard Weaver's injury. And he never played another down.

[KeiselPower99]

The guy that hit him said after the game he didnt want a fine or penalty so he had no choice but hit him low. I give it 3 years before any contact is ruled illegal and we have a flag football league out there.

[ALLD]

When you tear your ACL, MCL & PCL you will never play another down in the NFL. That was u-g-l-y back-to-front and side-to-side. He is going to have a limp too.

This is the year of losing tight ends in the NFL.

[Dwinsgames]

Aaron Hernandez may play before Keller ever does again :yuck2:

[Godfather]

The guy that hit him said after the game he didnt want a fine or penalty so he had no choice but hit him low. I give it 3 years before any contact is ruled illegal and we have a flag football league out there.

Thanks, Goodell.

[Chidi29]

Tell the players to stop suing the league over concussions. Because let's be honest. That is a huge driving factor (though not the only one IMO) in the rule changes.

[steeldawg]

Tell the players to stop suing the league over concussions. Because let's be honest. That is a huge driving factor (though not the only one IMO) in the rule changes.

Exactly right the players did it to themselves.

[steelreserve]

The guy that hit him said after the game he didnt want a fine or penalty so he had no choice but hit him low. I give it 3 years before any contact is ruled illegal and we have a flag football league out there.


This is the year of losing tight ends in the NFL.

Makes sense that tight ends may to be the ones who see the worst of this because of the new rules. They're usually the largest guys who can be a ballcarrier, so they're going to be the most vulnerable if someone hits them in the knee. They're out there catching short passes where lots of guys have a shot at them, and they aren't exactly known for their elusiveness or field vision after the catch. So for plays where the defender has time to line up a tackle, consider all the options, play a hand of poker, and then decide whether to hit high or low, probably a lot more tackles on TEs are going to be those kinds than on RBs or WRs.

I don't know if the rule change is actually behind any specific injury or trend in injuries - kind of like trying to say a specific hurricane was or wasn't caused by global warming - but it does kind of add up.

[BigNastyDefense]

We can thank the rule changes for this. Guys don't want to get penalized and fined for what could end up being a hit to the head, are going to hit low and cause lower body injuries.

Ask any player that's playing today, and they will tell you that they'd rather get hit in the head and miss a game or two rather than get hit low and miss a season or longer.

And many of the players suing the NFL are guys that were backups and barely played looking for a payday because they screwed the pooch and either spent the money they did make or invested it badly. I feel bad for the guys with a legitimate gripe because the league supposedly misled players about the damage that concussions could have on them later in life, and now they're dealing with serious issues.

But on the other hand, these guys had to have an inkling that getting their bell rung like that numerous times had to risk long-term effects down the road. I mean for goodness sake, it's your brain for crying out loud!!!

[steelreserve]

What really gets me are all the people complaining now that oh, it was a cheap shot, oh, it was a dirty play. No - you wanted player safety rules, here's your player safety. He should be glad that he only got a career-ending knee injury and not a concussion.

[Nadroj 20]

It was dirty. So is hitting someone in the head. What is wrong with textbook tackling??

Stick your shoulder in the mid section wrap up and drive your legs. No need to go for the knees OR the head.

[steelreserve]

It was dirty. So is hitting someone in the head. What is wrong with textbook tackling??

Stick your shoulder in the mid section wrap up and drive your legs. No need to go for the knees OR the head.

It looks to me like the safety was trying to upend him before his feet came down, like 500 other plays you see every season. If Keller hadn't had the unluckiest possible combination of landing about a millisecond before contact, AND having an awkward sideways leg plant because he was trying to do a 180-degree turn in midair, none of that would've happened.

It also looks like trying to tackle mid-body and wrap the guy up would have been precisely the one way to make sure he had a chance to run you over or slip away. Look at the direction the play moving and the position the defender is. You try a form tackle, and you're voluntarily letting him use his momentum as an advantage, or to stay standing and break your grip. Much better to try knocking him on his ass, and in that case, you don't want to go high anymore. You'll remember that James Harrison was involved in a similar play against the Broncos in the Tebow playoff game and gave the exact same explanation, although thankfully all that happened in that case was a sprain.

[Nadroj 20]

It looks to me like the safety was trying to upend him before his feet came down, like 500 other plays you see every season. If Keller hadn't had the unluckiest possible combination of landing about a millisecond before contact, AND having an awkward sideways leg plant because he was trying to do a 180-degree turn in midair, none of that would've happened.

It also looks like trying to tackle mid-body and wrap the guy up would have been precisely the one way to make sure he had a chance to run you over or slip away. Look at the direction the play moving and the position the defender is. You try a form tackle, and you're voluntarily letting him use his momentum as an advantage, or to stay standing and break your grip. Much better to try knocking him on his ass, and in that case, you don't want to go high anymore. You'll remember that James Harrison was involved in a similar play against the Broncos in the Tebow playoff game and gave the exact same explanation, although thankfully all that happened in that case was a sprain.

I see what you are saying but I don't think I agree with this is what you get for trying to protect players heads. It sounds like you described a situation that would have happened no matter what the league was doing about head shots.

[steelreserve]

I see what you are saying but I don't think I agree with this is what you get for trying to protect players heads. It sounds like you described a situation that would have happened no matter what the league was doing about head shots.

It definitely could have happened no matter what the rules are. Without the headshot rule though, call it a 50-50 chance that a defender in that situation goes high instead.

That doesn't necessarily mean he'd be trying for a headshot, by the way, more likely just trying to knock him down or knock the ball out. But the rule has made guys afraid of even going for a legal high hit, because what if you make a perfect, clean tackle and then accidentally bonk heads - whoops, random 15-yard penalty. I mean ... nothing to do with the headshot rule? The guy came right out and apologized, and said he's changed his game to tackle low because of too many helmet-to-helmet penalties. I don't know what else that means, unless for some reason he decided to lie about it.

It's almost like what lawyers have done in the world of business and government. People are so afraid of litigation that even if they have every right to do something and it's perfectly normal, they won't because of liability concerns. That's why I call it Lawyerball.

[fansince'76]

It definitely could have happened no matter what the rules are. Without the headshot rule though, call it a 50-50 chance that a defender in that situation goes high instead.

That doesn't necessarily mean he'd be trying for a headshot, by the way, more likely just trying to knock him down or knock the ball out. But the rule has made guys afraid of even going for a legal high hit, because what if you make a perfect, clean tackle and then accidentally bonk heads - whoops, random 15-yard penalty.

And probably at LEAST a $25K fine. And for someone like D.J. Swearinger who is currently making about $400K a season, that's a significant chunk of change. On top of that, he gets one "strike" on his record and would get tagged even harder if he is involved in a similar incident later on in the season when the games count. The seemingly arbitrary fine system in use for these things doesn't take into account that the majority of players don't make $8-$10 million a season, and that's just one more thing that exacerbates the problem.

[NCSteeler]

The big thing is that the mid section of the body is not even really a good place to aim anymore. The safety shoots for the chest-gut area the WR-TE goes up for the ball comes down ducks his head and $25k just left the safeties bank account. Hard to blame the D player for going lower, BUT in this case it clearly looks like a standard attempt to upend him before he can truck you, and as someone said completely unlucky keller touched his feet in the turf jsut before contact.

I know the players brought this one via the concussion lawsuit, but the commish could seriously review tapes and clear the defender from a fine, if the WR-TE ducks his head into the defender. I watch many games where it seems clear in slo mo that the defender was aiming midsection and got the head. I know the refs will flag it in real time, but it's absolutely shitty for the league to fine them after watching the slo mo

[Chidi29]

The big thing is that the mid section of the body is not even really a good place to aim anymore. The safety shoots for the chest-gut area the WR-TE goes up for the ball comes down ducks his head and $25k just left the safeties bank account. Hard to blame the D player for going lower, BUT in this case it clearly looks like a standard attempt to upend him before he can truck you, and as someone said completely unlucky keller touched his feet in the turf jsut before contact.

I know the players brought this one via the concussion lawsuit, but the commish could seriously review tapes and clear the defender from a fine, if the WR-TE ducks his head into the defender. I watch many games where it seems clear in slo mo that the defender was aiming midsection and got the head. I know the refs will flag it in real time, but it's absolutely shitty for the league to fine them after watching the slo mo

That is what the appeal process is for. Every player fined can appeal to the joint committee selected by the NFL and NFLPA.

[NCSteeler]

That is what the appeal process is for. Every player fined can appeal to the joint committee selected by the NFL and NFLPA.

Yet, in my opinion, in too many cases he doesn't over turn hits that should be overturned. Maybe it also time to tell the WRs they will get a concussion and a fine if they duck their head not a tackler

[steelreserve]

Yet, in my opinion, in too many cases he doesn't over turn hits that should be overturned. Maybe it also time to tell the WRs they will get a concussion and a fine if they duck their head not a tackler

Exactly. There are plenty of cases like you described that ought to be open-and-shut, chuck the fine out after watching 5 seconds of film, and yet they let the majority of them stand, or at best reduce them to, say, $7,500 when it should be nothing. Hell, I'm mad that there's even a fine in the first place for those that they need to appeal, because even a total moron can see what's happening plain as day, and no fine should have been given out.

I am not talking about Steelers players for the most part, either, by the way. There are at least 3 or 4 guys every weekend who get screwed out of a paycheck over nothing. The league office needs a healthy dose of "Too bad Brady, shut the fuck up and grow some balls."