The Pile Up: Big Injuries from Week One

The first week is always the most painful, every football player knows that. It's the first time you take a full speed hit, the first time you get those deep bone bruises that just won't go away for months at a time. It's part of football and everyone knows it.

However, this first week was particularly bad for a few teams...here's a run down of the big ones and the impact they are going to have on the teams:

Tom Brady - Out for Season with Left ACL Tear. Even though Brady is the best QB in the league, I think the Pats can still make the playoffs. Are they going to win the division? No. They are however a viable wild card team, barring a Randy Moss injury...then they would be screwed.

Nate Burleson - Out for Season with Right ACL Tear. Burleson is not a top ten receiver, that's pretty obvious, he was however incredibly important to this Seattle team. They now have their top three receivers all out until at least week 4 (Deion Branch and Bobby Engram are both out with leg injuries). Who are they going to turn to? Why, Courtney Taylor and Logan Pane of course! Oh yeah, and Maurice Morris is out for two weeks and Julius Jones is going to have to handle the load all by himself. It's exactly what he wanted, probably not what Seattle wanted.

Shawne Merriman - Trying to be a bad-ass with two knee tendon tears. No he didn't injure anything further, but the dude could only last two plays before he went to the locker room and called it a day. JUST GET SURGERY, YOU NUT JOB! Who in the hell thinks they can play against NFL caliber athletes with one good knee? Stop injecting the steroids into your head...it's affecting your decision making skills. Lock it up and call it a year, you're too talented and too young to risk your career over being Johnny Bad-Ass.

Vince Manuwai and Maurice Williams - ACL Tear and Right Bicep Tear. Who are these guys? They were the former starting left and right guard for the Jacksonville Jaguars until this past week knocked them out. This is a HUGE loss for such a run-heavy team. Maybe this is why the Jags could only muster 33 rushing yards on the Titans last week. I mean they were playing against a defense who's best player (Albert Haynesworth) admitted to not playing in the game at all due to a concussion. ( http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080907/SPORTS01/80907011/1027 ) This could have huge implications on Jones-Drew and Taylor all season long. Or they could just handle business as usual...who knows.

Willis McGahee - Still recovering from surgery on this knee...



I love showing that because it's the worst knee injury I've ever seen and it happened to OSU. Folks, I said this a couple of weeks ago...be wary of McGahee's knee injury, it's probably worse than advertised. Anytime you have surgery on a knee that the above video happened to, it's going to take longer than expected to return.

I know everyone is saying he is probable for next week...B.S. I say he's lost a step, he's not as strong, and he could get injured again, very easily. Ray Rice, here we come.

Marion Barber - Marion left the Cleveland game in the third quarter (I think) after a nasty shot to the ribs but will apparently be ok. How do we know? "Because Barbarian's don't get hurt," thanks Deon Anderson.

Hopefully this doesn't keep up...