We're Not The Only Ones With Injuries....This Could Have Been Us.....

DeCastro's knee injury overshadows Steelers' win

By WILL GRAVES (AP Sports Writer) | The Associated Press – 2 hours 51 minutes ago


PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers showed flashes of brilliance on both sides of the ball in a 38-7 preseason romp over Buffalo on Saturday night, though it came at a significant cost.

Rookie offensive guard David DeCastro had to be taken off the field on a cart with what coach Mike Tomlin called a ''potentially severe'' right knee injury. DeCastro was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Sunday.

The results were not immediately available, though the Steelers said Saturday night they expected DeCastro to miss a significant amount of time.

The injury marred Pittsburgh's best game of the preseason. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger passed for 169 yards and a touchdown and led a 98-yard scoring drive in the final seconds of the first half.

The Steelers (2-1) wrap up the exhibition schedule on Thursday against Carolina (1-1).

That is sad, even though it was another team's player. I really like Decastro. He'll come back and still have a great career.

The transition from college to the pros takes it's toll on another highly regarded player.

Is it possible these guys just aren't 100% ready for the more physical nature of the NFL game or that player will take out your knees if you don't learn to protect yourself? Tough blow for Pitt.

I just figure injuries happen. Even freak stuff like the Urlacher thing.

that does suck. Bring in a new guy and he works through the preseason and looks like he is going to contribute big and then bang. Now you have a guy who is a year behind and a reshuffle of the line. Of course we reshuffle the line for purely recreational purposes, but it must suck when you HAVE to do it.

Well for those who wish we would have taken DeCastro (and I wasn't totally opposed to it myself) at least our first round pick is still playing. Knock on wood.

If we would have taken DeCastro following the injury and move of Hardin to IR the wailing and gnashing of teeth around here would have been monumental. At least one person would have lumped in Paea's problems last year and the nagging leg injury Jeffery has had to overcome and there would have been even more posts about why we can't draft and keep players healthy!

Who posted that last one anyway? You say it was ME? :4_13_13[1]:

OK, nevermind.

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Originally Posted by soulman

Tough blow for Pitt.

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You had me there. I thought you were back on the Rosanne thread

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Originally Posted by soulman

The transition from college to the pros takes it's toll on another highly regarded player.

Is it possible these guys just aren't 100% ready for the more physical nature of the NFL game or that player will take out your knees if you don't learn to protect yourself? Tough blow for Pitt.

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Up till several years ago , I had always wondered why so many college guys get injured also . But ^^^ has to be it . Wish there was a way to break them in more effectively , but it's put up or shut up so it's gonna keep happening.

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Originally Posted by soulman

Well for those who wish we would have taken DeCastro (and I wasn't totally opposed to it myself) at least our first round pick is still playing. Knock on wood.

If we would have taken DeCastro following the injury and move of Hardin to IR the wailing and gnashing of teeth around here would have been monumental. At least one person would have lumped in Paea's problems last year and the nagging leg injury Jeffery has had to overcome and there would have been even more posts about why we can't draft and keep players healthy!

Who posted that last one anyway? You say it was ME? :4_13_13[1]:

OK, nevermind.

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Wow, hadn't heard that...huge blow and sounds like it could be ACL huh? I guess I'll shut up about woulda-couldas if we had taken DeC.

BTW, the NYG had Amakumura carted off too (high ankle sprain) and they were hurting at CB to begin with. He'll be out quite a while with that. I heard Stafford hurt his hand too but not serious. Maybe that's a big reason why I wasn't so down on the recent game--I was indeed really, really glad that we got through it w/o significant injuries. I was fearing some mayhem to one of our QBs or RBs.

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Originally Posted by Blue Horse-shoe

Up till several years ago , I had always wondered why so many college guys get injured also . But ^^^ has to be it . Wish there was a way to break them in more effectively , but it's put up or shut up so it's gonna keep happening.

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Well let's follow the trail of logic.

There are fewer OTA's with less hitting going on than ever before due to the new CBA. I don't know what they do in Pitt but Lovie allows very little real "hitting" in camp so the first real test these guys get are preseason games which are full of other rookies trying to make the team and all doing equally stupid things to their bodies trying just to make the roster. It can be kind of dangerous out there from what I've read in the comments of vets. Those guys don't even want to be out there playing against that bunch. They're glad to be sitting in the second half.

Another factor could be the way these guys prepare for their transition. Even for lineman their 40 times and agility drills are a huge factor at the Combine and fat bulky guys don't run well. So they slim down and lose body fat to get faster and build upper body strength to lift more reps. I'm not a physical trainer but from what I can tell most OGs need lead in the ass and very strong legs as much or more as they need upper body strength yet their lower bodies are not being what's getting prepared for NFL play.

Basically what I'm saying is that these days these guys are getting "window dressed" to get drafted not conditioned to play NFL football. They most likely came into their final year in college better conditioned as lineman than they did coming into their first pro camp. We complain about too much emphasis being placed on drafting "athletes" instead of football players yet that precisely what the Combine measures. Athletic skills far outweigh football skills. They aren't as prepared for the physical nature of the NFL game as they need to be prior to their rookie year.

I don't know that I'm right about this but it sure seems to me there are a lot of guys getting dinged up and some very badly in these preseason games. Maybe it's lack of proper preparation or maybe it's the craziness of who they're competing against but it sure seems to be taking it's toll every year.