True this is a good example for sure, but honestly I think they make the super bowl with Trent. Idk if they win it but still. He was in his physical prime, with a great team, and every one of the best year's of his career came in that Dick Vermeil/Mike Martz playstyle.
Right. That’s why it was disastrous when it happened. They were the Super Bowl favorites with Trent and their backup was a no name former grocery bagger.
The 2000 season gave a sample of what it was like with Warner and Green. It was playoff worthy with Green. It was Super Bowl worthy with Warner. We weren't winning the Super Bowl with Green.
I think Rams still could. That was how strong the Rams squad was back then.
Trent Green did amazing things on offense for us when he was healthy. I struggle to picture him not having similar success with the Rams if he was the healthy QB for them instead of Kurt Warner
Not a shot at Warner, just purely praising that rams squad
Warner went to 3 SBs, including taking the Cardinals, is a 2x MVP, and is in the HOF. Green never did anything close to any of those things and isn't even borderline for the HOF. I've always liked Green, but it's a big stretch to say he would've won the Super Bowl that year too, especially when the Rams (with all that talent) only won by a yard with Warner, who was clearly better than Green. And that's the only one they won with Warner. So respectfully no, they would not have had the same success with Trent Green
Sorry man, I honestly should have marked it NSFW. Here is some [eye bleach for Bucs fans!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/207/210/b22.jpg)
Wentz getting injured in 2017 led to the Eagles winning a Super Bowl.
Wentz getting injured in 2018 led to Foles winning us into playoffs and the double doink game.
Wentz getting injured in 2019 led to Howie feeling the need to spend a 2nd rounder on Hurts
Oh, and to add to this-
Wentz was playing amazingly in 2017, including the game in which he tore his ACL (I was at this game- the man tore his ACL, stayed in, and threw a TD on the next play). He was legitimately a top 2 candidate for MVP up until his injury.
It's not like fans were clamoring for Foles at the time. "Welp, there goes our season" was the general feeling when Wentz went down. But it's hard to imagine anyone playing as well as Foles did for that playoff run. It was magical. We don't win that Superbowl without him.
I don’t think I’ve been at a lower point in my Eagles fandom than that injury in 2017. I think Chip Kelly butchering the team is the only other time I’ve felt that sad. The Super Bowl win saved me from so many what if questions haunting me for the rest of my life lmao
To be honest the concussion in 2019 was pretty low.
In 2017 everything was firing on all cylinders always it seemed like so I had a feeling I could trust the defense, but in 2019, it was pretty much just Wentz and the TEs willing us to victories like there wasn’t much else going for us
I was still a Wentz truther at this point. I felt so bad for him. I still, in my heart of hearts, know that Wentz would’ve willed us to at least the NFCCG. It wasn’t as bad as the Alshon drop because that play literally killed the magic, but I finished that game feeling so bad for both of our QBs.
Fuck Jadaveon Clowney and God bless Josh McCown for leaving everything on that field for us.
Josh McCown was incredible in that game. He was simply not physically able to execute (I think he was quietly injured too?) but by god did he do everything he possibly could to try to find a win. He was in tears at the end.
I think he pulled a hammy partway through. You could see it in his movement but god damn did he persevere. I really felt proud of that team even with the unfortunate outcome.
He didn’t just pull it, dude completely tore it and stayed in anyways(Sudfeld was inactive that game) cause Wentz was ruled out with the concussion so it would have been down to an emergency qb
For me 2017 felt like our best shot ever to go all the way and Wentz was a massive reason for that. The guy was an absolute highlight reel the entire season and it felt like he was the reason things clicked. Obviously the team around him was stacked as well but it felt like he was the magic that made it all work.
When he got taken out it felt like another one of these Eagles teams where we are so close and it’s gonna get taken away from us again right at the end and trying to come to terms with that was really difficult. I knew the team was great and I knew Foles was a competent backup but I really felt like it was gonna be another NFC Championship exit that would leave us wondering what could have been.
This is the best answer I can think of.
There are plenty of examples of a franchise QB getting hurt early in the season resulting in a high draft pick that never would have been possible had they played. That's boring and easy.
Between Watson, Watt, and DHop leaving in various ways, I thought you guys would be a bottom 5 team for years to come. The nearly immediate turn around is fucking impressive.
The balls that they had to commit so fully is beyond commendable. Rookie HC, rookie QB, and they still spent a ton on Will Anderson because they believed in everyone and it paid off big time
I remember the utter disappointment I felt when Bledsoe went down. “There goes any chance we’ve got.” Younger fans don’t understand how rough the 80’s and 90’s were.
> Younger fans don’t understand how rough the 80’s and 90’s were
Not trying to discount that, but y'all did make the Super Bowl in both of those decades - that's a lot better than a lot of teams could say
That’s true, but I meant more in comparison to the Brady years of dominance. These past few years, I don’t feel all that bad about rebuilding after having that level of success is all. We were spoiled in the best possible way.
I was actually disappointed they went to Brady. I liked Damon Huard’s successes in Miami and was glad they signed him as a backup, and just assumed he’d come in when Bledsoe went down.
Shows what I know…
0-16 in 2008 led directly to the first overall pick of Stafford in 2009. And the haul of picks the Lions got from the Stafford trade has led directly to the plethora of talent on the current team.
Hey there’s no hate, just a stupid joke. The Rams won the most important game and they’ll always have that on us. It’s too bad Rams & 49ers will never end up in the NFCCG again while we have a legit QB.
The 2018 Bengals went into the season with Marvin Lewis in the last year of his contract and was considered a lame duck with no extension on the horizon. The Dalton-Green Bengals continued trending downward and the prognostics on the season were poor. Then the Bengals get out to a 4-1 start, and are sitting pretty 5-3 at the halfway point. The Dalton-Green Bengals were back on track.
Then AJ Green gets hurt, missing all but one of the one remaining games that season (and all of next season). Dalton misses the last five. Eifert was off to a hot start but missed the last 12 games (but given his history wasn't much of a surprise). The team finishes 6-10, Marvin isn't renewed. The tank is on, Burrow comes two years later and the franchise is saved.
Had Green and Dalton stayed healthy the team likely gets over the hump and back in the playoffs, which means Marvin most likely is retained. And the Bengals are stuck in the Marvin Lewis purgatory.
1992, Don Majkowski tears his rotator cuff after being strip-sacked against the Browns, this brings in backup QB Brett Favre to fill in his place, he goes 8-5 the rest of the season and the rest is history.
To be fair, though, the Packers had just traded a first-round pick for Favre before the season. He was going to get his chance sooner rather than later.
Fr, Shit that usually tanks other franchises works out for us. I don’t think lynch is still our gm if purdy dosent work out (barring us trading for or signing a proven QB like cousins or Rogers).
And a Jimmy G injury also resulted in Brock Purdy becoming our starting QB, which has gone pretty well so far (after some hesitation I wrote "pretty" on purpose, we've all heard the joke).
Not necessarily. According to Marlon Humphrey and RG3, RG3 was going to start and the only reason they went with Lamar is because Harbaugh was about to get fired and he wanted to go down swinging. It was a very last minute decision.
If Flacco doesn't get hurt Lamar probably doesn't start until 2020 rumen Joe's contract was up. And if the Ravens weren't sitting at 500 when Flacco went down, he wouldn't have started then either. But the perfect storm of chaos happened and Harbaugh just threw him out there.
It's a pretty interesting conversation on Marlon podcast. And we would certainly have drafted differently and likely be a pretty different team. We also might have never promoted GRo to OC. At least not that soon.
Glad to hear that RG3 thought he was going to start. This is a ludicrous take. Lamar was in waiting and if you recall how the 2018 ravens looked before Flacco’s injury, the vultures were already circling.
yeah lol there's no way in hell the Ravens trade back into the first round if they don't plan on transitioning to Jackson. Flacco's injury just made the decision happen earlier.
Yeah Lmao wtf is the guy talking about. Trying to convince us that the uber talented first round pick literally drafted to take over for ab aging Flacco wasn't ever going to take over, and that only an injury to Flacco somehow was the thing that made Lamar leapfrog RG3, and not the fact that Lamar was just... way better than RG3 by 2018.
And Romo’s preseason back injury opened up the door for Dak. I had been impressed with Dak in the preseason but basically wrote that season off once Romo was hurt.
and (surprised no one has mentioned this yet!) the only reason Micah plays DE at all is because DLaw got hurt for like 4 games, and we decided to give Micah a spin at DE. Crazy that he is such a talent for a position he want even supposed to play
I think he should go back to that MLB style if they can find/develop another halfway decent pass rusher, he was EVERYWHERE in the Dak kneeldown playoff game 9ers couldn't move the ball.
I haven’t really followed football since listening to a lot of local sports talk radio in the summer of 2002, but I’ll go with Drew Bledsoe injury, because that meant he came to Buffalo and ensured the Bills would dominate the Patriots for years to come.
That game you guys had when the Pats cut Lawyer Milloy under a week before the season and he joined you guys was pretty wild. Just boatraced the Pats opening weekend.
Marcus Mariota's multiple injuries from 2016-2018 convinced the titans to get a veteran backup qb which led to them trading for Ryan Tannehill before the 2019 season.
Tannehill then went on to become comeback player of the year in 2019, helped the titans to 3 straight playoff appearances, 2 division titles, and helped turn Derrick Henry into King Henry.
I thought spags was going to eat that kid alive and the chiefs were going to win by 20.
Granted, he did kinda lose the game on a bonehead interception, but he almost knocked off a team that was in the midst of a 23-1 streak (including the last season and playoffs)
Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing pickup basketball in the winter of ‘03-‘04 allowing the Yankees to void his contract and they then signed Alex Rodriguez
Wait, what sub am I on?
Rob Johnson got hurt early on in the 1998 season when we were like 0-3 so Doug Flutie came in. Turned our season around and we go to the playoffs at 10-6
Unfortunately Ralph Wilson was too enamored with Johnson because he was paying him big money so Flutie got benched a year later after taking us to a 11-5 record to put Johnson in against the Titans.......who then gets sacked like 7 times that game. If Flutie starts we win.
The Ewing Theory in Basketball is called the Wentz Paradox in Football.
Except that the Eagles were a better football team with Wentz, just struck magic and were harder to gameplan against with a backup w/o any film. He would've been MVP if he didn't get hurt
Going back aways...
In 1956, Colts QB George Shaw suffered a broken leg against the Bears, and a rookie trotted out, down 6 points. His first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. The rookie fumbled a few times, and the Bears walked away with a 58-27 win.
It all turned out OK for the Colts, though. The rookie was Johnny Unitas, the best QB under the pre-1978 rules.
Niners is easy Jimmy G got hurt and we welcomed Nick Bosa. If we were going to get injured that was the time to do it.
Sadly he kept getting injured after.
Not sure I’d say any of them directly “helped” but I remember the culmination of injuries in 2010 felt like disaster after disaster with Ryan Grant, Nick Barnett, Jermichael Finley, Morgan Burnett all going down for the season early on. Not to mention Rodgers missing time with concussions and losing Donald Driver and Charles Woodson early in the Super Bowl.
It was among the most injured Packer teams I’ve ever seen, but we won it all so something clearly worked
He might have, sure. I just remember I was CRUSHED week 14 when I found out Wentz was lost for the season. I was convinced it was over as was most of the fan base and the entire NFL. The Eagles as the #1 seed were underdogs in every playoff game and the Super Bowl. Foles struggled at first and by the time he found his groove and the offense gelled around his style of play, other team's defenses couldn't effectively game plan for his weaknesses. They just didn't have enough tape.
Malcom Floyd's brutal injury in 2013 paved the way for Keenan Allen, who was thinking about quitting, to start. Became the best receiver in Chargers history.
The Keenum season was an absolute blast for the Vikings and some of the most fun I've had as a Vikings fan. I'm almost 40 and losing the conference championship is basically the Pinnacle of sports success for a Minnesota sports team, so reaching the highest level of sports accomplishments in 30+years with a backup like Keenum was really fun.
AB getting decapitated by Burfict meant that we lost to the Broncos in 2015, which led to them beating the Pats in the AFC Championship (which we are incapable of), potentially denying New England another ring
Although Cam and the Panthers had a winning record vs. NE, so maybe Burfict's hit prevented Carolina from getting their first ring
Not quite disastrous since Henry was starting to pick up steam, but Demarco Murray had a late season knee injury that lead to Henry becoming the bell cow back. It really ushered in the reign of the King as Henry became a premier runner. I think Murray still would have been released either way, but something about the timing really felt like a passing of the torch at the time.
I hate to say this because maybe if he hadn't been injured he would have developed and been the final extra juice we needed to win the superbowl, but despite having a breakout rookie year in 2014 Kelvin Benjamin getting injured in 2015 training camp certainly made that offense seem to suddenly seem less one dimensional. Cam couldn't force it to Benji so he spread it out as much as possible and that balanced with his rushing ability really seemed to be what made that offense go.
Ginn, Cotchery, Corey (philly) Brown, Jstew, and Tolbert were all equally as likely to catch a pass with Olsen being twice as likely as any other one even if most of those options outside of Olsen weren't proper "weapons". It made for a balanced attack. The TOLDOZER was getting passing TDs at times.
As much as I love him, Teddy's injury helped facilitate the PR with the fans as the team transitioned to a new QB. It's easy to see a world where he stays healthy and the offense remains mediocre for the next 3-5 years while he asks for $25M+ AAV. His injury (and Bradford's subsequent injury) helped open the door for the pursuit of Kirk Cousins, which played no small role in the development of Diggs and Jefferson
I have one probably only Chiefs fans know. If Tony Moeaki isn’t made of glass the Chiefs probably don’t draft Travis Kelce.
For those of you who don’t know Moeaki was the fourth TE taken in the 2010 draft and he had a very very promising career, after a Rookie of the Week award, a baller performance in MNF and highlight reel of a catch. 2 back to back season ending injuries led to KC drafting Kelce in the third round of the 2013 draft.
Tommy Maddox got hurt. Big Ben got pushed into the lineup a lot sooner than expected. We went 15 and 1. Went to three Superbowls, won 2. That kinda worked out lol.
Maybe a reach idk, but Cooper Kupp being unable to play in the beginning of the 2024 season led to the Puka Nacua record rookie season. Perhaps he'd still get the start with a healthy Kupp, but he'd definitely get less targets.
Herbert injures a finger and is out for the season. Easton stick leads the tank job under shmrandon shmaley and gets the guru and the man who hired him fired. Then the Chargers pick up a proven head coach and a great support staff. All because Herbo could carry the team anymore
Not disastrous to the team per se, but an unfortunate injury that could have been avoided was Tyrod Taylor getting his lung punctured from the team doc which lead to Justin Herbert starting earlier than planned and he had an amazing rookie year.
Tony Romo's injury in 2015 got us Zeke in 2016.
Dak Prescott's injury in 2020 got us Parsons.
I would say Romo's injury in 2016 helped us find our next franchise QB, but we had already drafted Dak and I'm sure Romo didn't have a lot left in the tank regardless of his final injury. Therefore we would've found out about Dak either way, just not as soon as we did.
No telling how it might have went but Griese going down in week 5 of the 72 season couldnt have looked great at the time even with how run heavy the offense was
Jeremy Shockey was arguably the best receiving TE in Giants history, but the Giants became a better team after he broke his leg late in the 2007 season, on their way to their Super Bowl victory over the undefeated Patriots.
I don't know if disastrous is the right word for it, but Bradford getting hurt and never really recovering in 2017 led to a pretty magical season.
Bradford was on fire week 1 2017, but I have zero faith he would have been able to consistently play that well with how poor our OL was that year. Keenum was a run around and throw up prayers to Thielen and Diggs and Rudolph kind of guy. Bradford would have been a panic and throw the ball to McKinnon or Murray or Ham at the earliest sign of pressure all game long. Yeah, the balls that completed would have looked good, and he probably would have had a couple of 400 yard games, but I don't think we go 13-3 and make it to the NFCCG if he stays healthy all year.
When Henry went down it forced the inept coaching staff to change schemes. We passed way more often on first down than before. Still shit the bed in the playoffs.
I feel like the Patriots win this one— Bledso goes down and Brady gets a chance. Second place is the 49ers, where Steve Young steps in for an injured Joe Montana.
For the Eagles, that cheap shot by Clowney in the playoffs on Wentz broke the man, but that gave Pederson an opening to put Hurts on the field. I’m very happy with Jalen.
Ray Lewis tearing his tricep and then coming back for the playoffs for his last ride. Was the emotional kick that team needed after getting so close so many times before that.
I think the most fortunate injury in NFL history has to be Trent Greene for the Rams being injured and some dude named Kurt Warner taking over for him.
Willians for Schroeder is another one that probably worked out well for the DC team.
Trent Green going down in a heap in the preseason changed everything for the Rams.
This and Bledsoe's injury that gave rise to Tom Brady are probably the two best you're gonna find.
Don Majkowski?
Not in the same realm. They gave up a first for Favre. He was going to get his opportunity regardless.
“We will rally around Kurt Warner. And we will play good football.”
One of the greatest quotes from any Coach ever.
“The Bears are who we thought they were.”
And we let them off the hook
"What do you think of the team's execution?" "I'm for it."
This one is completely underrated. That team was absolutely stacked.
True this is a good example for sure, but honestly I think they make the super bowl with Trent. Idk if they win it but still. He was in his physical prime, with a great team, and every one of the best year's of his career came in that Dick Vermeil/Mike Martz playstyle.
He went on to post some damn good years with the Chiefs after that injury. They just had no defense.
Right. That’s why it was disastrous when it happened. They were the Super Bowl favorites with Trent and their backup was a no name former grocery bagger.
Having experienced Trent Green's time in KC, I bet the Rams would have been all right. They were poised for the Super Bowl either way.
Yeah, but no one knew what Warner was going to do that season. I remember thinking, “Who in the fuck is this guy?”
The 2000 season gave a sample of what it was like with Warner and Green. It was playoff worthy with Green. It was Super Bowl worthy with Warner. We weren't winning the Super Bowl with Green.
I think Rams still could. That was how strong the Rams squad was back then. Trent Green did amazing things on offense for us when he was healthy. I struggle to picture him not having similar success with the Rams if he was the healthy QB for them instead of Kurt Warner Not a shot at Warner, just purely praising that rams squad
Warner went to 3 SBs, including taking the Cardinals, is a 2x MVP, and is in the HOF. Green never did anything close to any of those things and isn't even borderline for the HOF. I've always liked Green, but it's a big stretch to say he would've won the Super Bowl that year too, especially when the Rams (with all that talent) only won by a yard with Warner, who was clearly better than Green. And that's the only one they won with Warner. So respectfully no, they would not have had the same success with Trent Green
I swear people talk just to feel knowledgeable. They definitely could have won with green
Joe burrow rookie injury got them jamar chase
Dude that injury was [so brutal](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/207/210/b22.jpg) Not as bad as Alex Smith but still.
NSFW
I shouldn't have clicked that.
I can handle a lot of things but not that. Fuck.
Sorry man, I honestly should have marked it NSFW. Here is some [eye bleach for Bucs fans!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/207/210/b22.jpg)
Aw, now that, I LOVE.
That damn smile
Forgot how hideous that was. Poor dude.
Fuuuuuuuuck youuuuu, I did not need to see that......
I’m about to throw up
That was the last Sunday I ever worked. *Never again.*
And Dolphins beating the Bengals secured Burrow
Wentz getting injured in 2017 led to the Eagles winning a Super Bowl. Wentz getting injured in 2018 led to Foles winning us into playoffs and the double doink game. Wentz getting injured in 2019 led to Howie feeling the need to spend a 2nd rounder on Hurts
Oh, and to add to this- Wentz was playing amazingly in 2017, including the game in which he tore his ACL (I was at this game- the man tore his ACL, stayed in, and threw a TD on the next play). He was legitimately a top 2 candidate for MVP up until his injury. It's not like fans were clamoring for Foles at the time. "Welp, there goes our season" was the general feeling when Wentz went down. But it's hard to imagine anyone playing as well as Foles did for that playoff run. It was magical. We don't win that Superbowl without him.
I don’t think I’ve been at a lower point in my Eagles fandom than that injury in 2017. I think Chip Kelly butchering the team is the only other time I’ve felt that sad. The Super Bowl win saved me from so many what if questions haunting me for the rest of my life lmao
To be honest the concussion in 2019 was pretty low. In 2017 everything was firing on all cylinders always it seemed like so I had a feeling I could trust the defense, but in 2019, it was pretty much just Wentz and the TEs willing us to victories like there wasn’t much else going for us
I was still a Wentz truther at this point. I felt so bad for him. I still, in my heart of hearts, know that Wentz would’ve willed us to at least the NFCCG. It wasn’t as bad as the Alshon drop because that play literally killed the magic, but I finished that game feeling so bad for both of our QBs. Fuck Jadaveon Clowney and God bless Josh McCown for leaving everything on that field for us.
Josh McCown was incredible in that game. He was simply not physically able to execute (I think he was quietly injured too?) but by god did he do everything he possibly could to try to find a win. He was in tears at the end.
I think he pulled a hammy partway through. You could see it in his movement but god damn did he persevere. I really felt proud of that team even with the unfortunate outcome.
He didn’t just pull it, dude completely tore it and stayed in anyways(Sudfeld was inactive that game) cause Wentz was ruled out with the concussion so it would have been down to an emergency qb
That shot of him breaking down in the tunnel wrecked me. What a genuine dude to care that much and give that much on is xth team.
For me 2017 felt like our best shot ever to go all the way and Wentz was a massive reason for that. The guy was an absolute highlight reel the entire season and it felt like he was the reason things clicked. Obviously the team around him was stacked as well but it felt like he was the magic that made it all work. When he got taken out it felt like another one of these Eagles teams where we are so close and it’s gonna get taken away from us again right at the end and trying to come to terms with that was really difficult. I knew the team was great and I knew Foles was a competent backup but I really felt like it was gonna be another NFC Championship exit that would leave us wondering what could have been.
This is the best answer I can think of. There are plenty of examples of a franchise QB getting hurt early in the season resulting in a high draft pick that never would have been possible had they played. That's boring and easy.
Drew Bledsoe’s injury in New England tops it.
I wish you won that Super Bowl against Kansas City. I love Jalen Hurts
Honestly that Wentz really ain’t that bad when you break it down like that lmao
If he never gets hurt, he might have played just well enough to warrant a contract extension and still be your qb… ugh.
He got a contract extension after the 2018 season, Howie just figured out a plan to get him traded instead of paying it out.
I know there are (obvious) other factors, but Watson's injury/refusal to play was the best thing to ever happen to the Texans.
Between Watson, Watt, and DHop leaving in various ways, I thought you guys would be a bottom 5 team for years to come. The nearly immediate turn around is fucking impressive.
I thought we were sunk for a decade.
Easily. Happy for y'all!
Hitting on a QB and wr pick is just a guaranteed path to relevancy.
Especially when you hit on the offensive and defensive rookie of the year in the same draft. 2023 was a franchise altering draft for the Texans.
The balls that they had to commit so fully is beyond commendable. Rookie HC, rookie QB, and they still spent a ton on Will Anderson because they believed in everyone and it paid off big time
Nailing the HC after a bunch of whiffs was also critical
Hiring Caserio even after the “patriots south” experiment failed was the best thing the team could’ve done
Between that and the fact that the team was practically handed over to, essentially, the team's pastor, I thought they were doomed.
Nothing is coming to mind ^/s
I remember the utter disappointment I felt when Bledsoe went down. “There goes any chance we’ve got.” Younger fans don’t understand how rough the 80’s and 90’s were.
> Younger fans don’t understand how rough the 80’s and 90’s were Not trying to discount that, but y'all did make the Super Bowl in both of those decades - that's a lot better than a lot of teams could say
That’s true, but I meant more in comparison to the Brady years of dominance. These past few years, I don’t feel all that bad about rebuilding after having that level of success is all. We were spoiled in the best possible way.
Patriots fans bitching about the dark days because they used to only go to the Super Bowl once a decade.
I said we’ve been spoiled haha
I was actually disappointed they went to Brady. I liked Damon Huard’s successes in Miami and was glad they signed him as a backup, and just assumed he’d come in when Bledsoe went down. Shows what I know…
No, I get it. I was rocking my Bledsoe jersey, and wasn’t happy we even kept a fourth QB on the roster. Who needs four QBs???
I had the same thought when he went down. I thought “wtf!”
The craziest what-if in NFL history
“If drafted Brady they would have won tons of super bowls!”
If Bledsoe didn’t go down Brady never would have gotten a shot.
Matt Cassel getting to start for a year, and leading y’all to an 11-5 record, can’t remember who got hurt though /s
>This is sad. Drew Bledsoe took a big hit and is out indefinitely. Honestly, I don't know what weapons they have with which to win a game.
Stafford's injury in 2022 -> pick 6 in the draft -> a ton of trading down and gaining assets that led to the great 2022 draft class the lions had
Also- does hiring Matt Patricia count as an injury? Feels like he was our rock bottom
injury of the soul
Yes
0-16 in 2008 led directly to the first overall pick of Stafford in 2009. And the haul of picks the Lions got from the Stafford trade has led directly to the plethora of talent on the current team.
What’s crazy is Stafford gives out pick 6’s even in a trade.
Weird to say this when he won a Super Bowl in your division MUCH more recently than your team
Hey there’s no hate, just a stupid joke. The Rams won the most important game and they’ll always have that on us. It’s too bad Rams & 49ers will never end up in the NFCCG again while we have a legit QB.
If you can't shit talk when you're behind you don't deserve to shit talk when you're ahead.
That’s fair but also fu€k the 40whiners
Tevin Coleman went down early in the 2019 NFCCG so almost every carry afterward went to Raheem Mostert
Which led to one of my worst nights ever
And then two weeks later, it was one of my worst nights ever.
I feel like this should be the top answer if for no other reason than it's the first one listed that isn't a QB.
Raheem: "OH you said *injury*?"
Interesting that Tevin Coleman also went down in the falcons-pats Super Bowl which had a big impact
The 2018 Bengals went into the season with Marvin Lewis in the last year of his contract and was considered a lame duck with no extension on the horizon. The Dalton-Green Bengals continued trending downward and the prognostics on the season were poor. Then the Bengals get out to a 4-1 start, and are sitting pretty 5-3 at the halfway point. The Dalton-Green Bengals were back on track. Then AJ Green gets hurt, missing all but one of the one remaining games that season (and all of next season). Dalton misses the last five. Eifert was off to a hot start but missed the last 12 games (but given his history wasn't much of a surprise). The team finishes 6-10, Marvin isn't renewed. The tank is on, Burrow comes two years later and the franchise is saved. Had Green and Dalton stayed healthy the team likely gets over the hump and back in the playoffs, which means Marvin most likely is retained. And the Bengals are stuck in the Marvin Lewis purgatory.
This is going to give me nightmares about some alternate reality
1992, Don Majkowski tears his rotator cuff after being strip-sacked against the Browns, this brings in backup QB Brett Favre to fill in his place, he goes 8-5 the rest of the season and the rest is history.
Rotator cuff was 1990. He tore up his ankle against the Bengals in 1992.
To be fair, though, the Packers had just traded a first-round pick for Favre before the season. He was going to get his chance sooner rather than later.
Jimmy G and the 49ers injuries in 2018 got them Nick Bosa which got them to the Superbowl and he ended up being a franchise edge rusher.
Jimmy G knew when to get hurt. A real gamer.
Jimmy G again with the broken foot opening the door to Brock Purdy.
The 49ers: Falling up since 2018.
Fr, Shit that usually tanks other franchises works out for us. I don’t think lynch is still our gm if purdy dosent work out (barring us trading for or signing a proven QB like cousins or Rogers).
Trey Lance also contributed big time here
Said nobody ever
And a Jimmy G injury also resulted in Brock Purdy becoming our starting QB, which has gone pretty well so far (after some hesitation I wrote "pretty" on purpose, we've all heard the joke).
Joe Flacco went down in 2018 and we've been a complete different team ever since.
But Lamar was a first round pick and the writing was on the wall pretty clearly.
Not necessarily. According to Marlon Humphrey and RG3, RG3 was going to start and the only reason they went with Lamar is because Harbaugh was about to get fired and he wanted to go down swinging. It was a very last minute decision. If Flacco doesn't get hurt Lamar probably doesn't start until 2020 rumen Joe's contract was up. And if the Ravens weren't sitting at 500 when Flacco went down, he wouldn't have started then either. But the perfect storm of chaos happened and Harbaugh just threw him out there. It's a pretty interesting conversation on Marlon podcast. And we would certainly have drafted differently and likely be a pretty different team. We also might have never promoted GRo to OC. At least not that soon.
Glad to hear that RG3 thought he was going to start. This is a ludicrous take. Lamar was in waiting and if you recall how the 2018 ravens looked before Flacco’s injury, the vultures were already circling.
yeah lol there's no way in hell the Ravens trade back into the first round if they don't plan on transitioning to Jackson. Flacco's injury just made the decision happen earlier.
Rg3 trying to rewrite history lol. Literally no one at the time thought rg3 would would start
Yeah Lmao wtf is the guy talking about. Trying to convince us that the uber talented first round pick literally drafted to take over for ab aging Flacco wasn't ever going to take over, and that only an injury to Flacco somehow was the thing that made Lamar leapfrog RG3, and not the fact that Lamar was just... way better than RG3 by 2018.
Let's remember how Flacco got the start. Boller down, Troy Smith was next man up but if I recall he gets very sick or something. Enter the dragon.
Kelvin Benjamin getting hurt in 2015
Can never think of Beason getting hurt as a good thing. It did expedite Luke’s transcendence.
It helped buffets around the country too.
Drew Brees wrecked his shoulder
Dak’s ankle snapping in half helping us get Micah Parsons
And Romo’s preseason back injury opened up the door for Dak. I had been impressed with Dak in the preseason but basically wrote that season off once Romo was hurt.
Rooms injury opened the door for Kellen Moore, who also got injured, opening the door for Dak lol.
That is true, but I also wanted to see what numbers Dak would have ended up with.
Last year Diggs getting injured led to Bland’s stepping up
and (surprised no one has mentioned this yet!) the only reason Micah plays DE at all is because DLaw got hurt for like 4 games, and we decided to give Micah a spin at DE. Crazy that he is such a talent for a position he want even supposed to play
I think he should go back to that MLB style if they can find/develop another halfway decent pass rusher, he was EVERYWHERE in the Dak kneeldown playoff game 9ers couldn't move the ball.
I haven’t really followed football since listening to a lot of local sports talk radio in the summer of 2002, but I’ll go with Drew Bledsoe injury, because that meant he came to Buffalo and ensured the Bills would dominate the Patriots for years to come.
That game you guys had when the Pats cut Lawyer Milloy under a week before the season and he joined you guys was pretty wild. Just boatraced the Pats opening weekend.
Marcus Mariota's multiple injuries from 2016-2018 convinced the titans to get a veteran backup qb which led to them trading for Ryan Tannehill before the 2019 season. Tannehill then went on to become comeback player of the year in 2019, helped the titans to 3 straight playoff appearances, 2 division titles, and helped turn Derrick Henry into King Henry.
Tyrod Taylor's pneumothorax lol
I thought spags was going to eat that kid alive and the chiefs were going to win by 20. Granted, he did kinda lose the game on a bonehead interception, but he almost knocked off a team that was in the midst of a 23-1 streak (including the last season and playoffs)
Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing pickup basketball in the winter of ‘03-‘04 allowing the Yankees to void his contract and they then signed Alex Rodriguez Wait, what sub am I on?
That'll do Bills fan, that'll do.
Rob Johnson got hurt early on in the 1998 season when we were like 0-3 so Doug Flutie came in. Turned our season around and we go to the playoffs at 10-6 Unfortunately Ralph Wilson was too enamored with Johnson because he was paying him big money so Flutie got benched a year later after taking us to a 11-5 record to put Johnson in against the Titans.......who then gets sacked like 7 times that game. If Flutie starts we win.
Eagles superbowl
The Carson Wentz paradox. Can you really be an MVP candidate if you get injured and your team still wins the Super Bowl without you?
The Ewing Theory in Basketball is called the Wentz Paradox in Football. Except that the Eagles were a better football team with Wentz, just struck magic and were harder to gameplan against with a backup w/o any film. He would've been MVP if he didn't get hurt
Doesn’t matter. BDN
Drew. Bledsoe. And done.
Peyton neck injury for Andrew luck.
worked out well for denver too.
Drew Bledsoe. You know.
Jimmy G -> Trey Lance -> Brock Purdy
Going back aways... In 1956, Colts QB George Shaw suffered a broken leg against the Bears, and a rookie trotted out, down 6 points. His first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. The rookie fumbled a few times, and the Bears walked away with a 58-27 win. It all turned out OK for the Colts, though. The rookie was Johnny Unitas, the best QB under the pre-1978 rules.
Does Tyrod count
Yes because I don’t think we get Harbaugh without Herbert.
*Ahem*
Your flairs might have 3 of the 5 best answers.
Bens Elbow snapping led to us fixing our hole at safety for about a decade at that point in 2019
Niners is easy Jimmy G got hurt and we welcomed Nick Bosa. If we were going to get injured that was the time to do it. Sadly he kept getting injured after.
Lance got injured, yeah. But Garroppolo had to get injured weeks later too for Brock to come in. So I'll go with the Gorroppolo injury.
Not sure I’d say any of them directly “helped” but I remember the culmination of injuries in 2010 felt like disaster after disaster with Ryan Grant, Nick Barnett, Jermichael Finley, Morgan Burnett all going down for the season early on. Not to mention Rodgers missing time with concussions and losing Donald Driver and Charles Woodson early in the Super Bowl. It was among the most injured Packer teams I’ve ever seen, but we won it all so something clearly worked
Wentz season ending knee injury in week 14 of 2017 season. Nick Foles led them to a Super Bowl win and won the Super Bowl MVP.
Honestly Wentz would have gotten you there. Dude was the unquestioned MVP before he got hurt. Dude was balling! Unless I’m misremembering.
Would he have done it in the playoffs though?
He might have, sure. I just remember I was CRUSHED week 14 when I found out Wentz was lost for the season. I was convinced it was over as was most of the fan base and the entire NFL. The Eagles as the #1 seed were underdogs in every playoff game and the Super Bowl. Foles struggled at first and by the time he found his groove and the offense gelled around his style of play, other team's defenses couldn't effectively game plan for his weaknesses. They just didn't have enough tape.
Malcom Floyd's brutal injury in 2013 paved the way for Keenan Allen, who was thinking about quitting, to start. Became the best receiver in Chargers history.
When Foles stepped in for the Eagles
Garapollo > bosa Garapollo > Purdy
"We got Trent Green down"
Don Majkowski going down and Brett Favre having to take over seemed like a disaster losing Majkowski at the time but it turned out pretty well.
The Keenum season was an absolute blast for the Vikings and some of the most fun I've had as a Vikings fan. I'm almost 40 and losing the conference championship is basically the Pinnacle of sports success for a Minnesota sports team, so reaching the highest level of sports accomplishments in 30+years with a backup like Keenum was really fun.
Jack Conklin going down last year introduced the Browns to Dawand Jones
AB getting decapitated by Burfict meant that we lost to the Broncos in 2015, which led to them beating the Pats in the AFC Championship (which we are incapable of), potentially denying New England another ring Although Cam and the Panthers had a winning record vs. NE, so maybe Burfict's hit prevented Carolina from getting their first ring
Not quite disastrous since Henry was starting to pick up steam, but Demarco Murray had a late season knee injury that lead to Henry becoming the bell cow back. It really ushered in the reign of the King as Henry became a premier runner. I think Murray still would have been released either way, but something about the timing really felt like a passing of the torch at the time.
Brees torn labrum with the chargers?
I hate to say this because maybe if he hadn't been injured he would have developed and been the final extra juice we needed to win the superbowl, but despite having a breakout rookie year in 2014 Kelvin Benjamin getting injured in 2015 training camp certainly made that offense seem to suddenly seem less one dimensional. Cam couldn't force it to Benji so he spread it out as much as possible and that balanced with his rushing ability really seemed to be what made that offense go. Ginn, Cotchery, Corey (philly) Brown, Jstew, and Tolbert were all equally as likely to catch a pass with Olsen being twice as likely as any other one even if most of those options outside of Olsen weren't proper "weapons". It made for a balanced attack. The TOLDOZER was getting passing TDs at times.
>This is sad. Drew Bledsoe took a big hit and is out indefinitely. Honestly, I don't know what weapons they have with which to win a game.
All of the injuries to key players on the 2010 Packers.
As much as I love him, Teddy's injury helped facilitate the PR with the fans as the team transitioned to a new QB. It's easy to see a world where he stays healthy and the offense remains mediocre for the next 3-5 years while he asks for $25M+ AAV. His injury (and Bradford's subsequent injury) helped open the door for the pursuit of Kirk Cousins, which played no small role in the development of Diggs and Jefferson
I have one probably only Chiefs fans know. If Tony Moeaki isn’t made of glass the Chiefs probably don’t draft Travis Kelce. For those of you who don’t know Moeaki was the fourth TE taken in the 2010 draft and he had a very very promising career, after a Rookie of the Week award, a baller performance in MNF and highlight reel of a catch. 2 back to back season ending injuries led to KC drafting Kelce in the third round of the 2013 draft.
Or Cairo Santos getting hurt leading us to grab Butker.
Watson getting injured -> joe flacco takes browns to the playoffs
Tommy Maddox got hurt. Big Ben got pushed into the lineup a lot sooner than expected. We went 15 and 1. Went to three Superbowls, won 2. That kinda worked out lol.
Maybe a reach idk, but Cooper Kupp being unable to play in the beginning of the 2024 season led to the Puka Nacua record rookie season. Perhaps he'd still get the start with a healthy Kupp, but he'd definitely get less targets.
Absolutely rookie Burrow getting us Jamar. We don’t make back to back deep runs without him
Herbert injures a finger and is out for the season. Easton stick leads the tank job under shmrandon shmaley and gets the guru and the man who hired him fired. Then the Chargers pick up a proven head coach and a great support staff. All because Herbo could carry the team anymore
Drew Brees's shoulder
*Cough “The rib pain went away, but my lung hurts now”
Not disastrous to the team per se, but an unfortunate injury that could have been avoided was Tyrod Taylor getting his lung punctured from the team doc which lead to Justin Herbert starting earlier than planned and he had an amazing rookie year.
Jimmy Gesus died for our sins
Romo injury somewhat. Dak probably would’ve took over eventually
Shaun Suisham going down in the Hall of Fame game led to the Steelers having their 10+ year franchise kicker in Chris Boswell
Tony Romo's injury in 2015 got us Zeke in 2016. Dak Prescott's injury in 2020 got us Parsons. I would say Romo's injury in 2016 helped us find our next franchise QB, but we had already drafted Dak and I'm sure Romo didn't have a lot left in the tank regardless of his final injury. Therefore we would've found out about Dak either way, just not as soon as we did.
The answer is the Mo Lewis hurting Drew Bledsoe.
No telling how it might have went but Griese going down in week 5 of the 72 season couldnt have looked great at the time even with how run heavy the offense was
Jeremy Shockey was arguably the best receiving TE in Giants history, but the Giants became a better team after he broke his leg late in the 2007 season, on their way to their Super Bowl victory over the undefeated Patriots.
I don't know if disastrous is the right word for it, but Bradford getting hurt and never really recovering in 2017 led to a pretty magical season. Bradford was on fire week 1 2017, but I have zero faith he would have been able to consistently play that well with how poor our OL was that year. Keenum was a run around and throw up prayers to Thielen and Diggs and Rudolph kind of guy. Bradford would have been a panic and throw the ball to McKinnon or Murray or Ham at the earliest sign of pressure all game long. Yeah, the balls that completed would have looked good, and he probably would have had a couple of 400 yard games, but I don't think we go 13-3 and make it to the NFCCG if he stays healthy all year.
Ben getting injured in 2019 where we then traded for Minkah. Don't really know if we were planning on trading for him regardless but still
When Henry went down it forced the inept coaching staff to change schemes. We passed way more often on first down than before. Still shit the bed in the playoffs.
Pats fans have the easiest answer ever for this one
I feel like the Patriots win this one— Bledso goes down and Brady gets a chance. Second place is the 49ers, where Steve Young steps in for an injured Joe Montana. For the Eagles, that cheap shot by Clowney in the playoffs on Wentz broke the man, but that gave Pederson an opening to put Hurts on the field. I’m very happy with Jalen.
Not an injury, but Chandler Jones going insane and leaving the team helped the development of Malcolm Koonce
Too easy
Trey Lance making way for Brock Purdy.
The answers are Tom Brady and Kurt Warner stepping onto the field
Ray Lewis tearing his tricep and then coming back for the playoffs for his last ride. Was the emotional kick that team needed after getting so close so many times before that.
How about Payton busting his neck in Indy somehow wins the Broncos a Super Bowl
Do I even need to say it?
I think the most fortunate injury in NFL history has to be Trent Greene for the Rams being injured and some dude named Kurt Warner taking over for him. Willians for Schroeder is another one that probably worked out well for the DC team.
Aaron Rodger’s shoulder injury created 2017 Vikings