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Pastimes : Football Forum (NFL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (41147)	1/24/2018 4:31:50 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	2 Recommendations Recommended By Fintas Ms. Baby Boomer Respond to of 45639

In case you were curious about how exactly Brady's hand was injured... ----- The events of the week had called that confidence into question, though, because the team that prepares for everything could not possibly have planned for the scariest handoff in recent memory. On a routine play during an afternoon practice, the 40-year-old Brady collided with running back Rex Burkhead, after which blood gushed from a wide but short gash along the webbing that connects the QB’s right thumb and forefinger. (How’d that happen, exactly? A source with knowledge of the event denies reports that Burkhead’s helmet made any impact, or that the ball pushing up against the inside of Brady’s hand caused the skin to split. So.?...) The gash would be described as serious and not serious, as a media creation and as a threat to New England’s playoff chances, as nothing more than a ruse. Momentarily, at least, even Brady wondered if his season was over, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the injury. The QB immediately bolted from practice and got X-rayed. “I thought: Out of all my plays, this season can’t end on a handoff,” he said after Sunday’s game. “I didn’t come this far to end on a handoff.” Inside that X-ray room he noted that the skin hadn’t been sliced open; rather it appeared to have pinched until it ruptured. He asked one of the Patriots’ doctors, “How does the skin split like that?” “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve never seen this before,” one physician told him, adding that the wrist usually absorbs the kind of impact he took, often leading to dislocation. If the bloody mess spooked Brady, the X-ray results—no significant bone or structural damage, and only a minor sprain in one collateral ligament—reassured all involved parties. In the end, one knowledgeable source described the opening, which required 12 stitches to close, as the result of “basically a hyperextended thumb.” But that was inside information. Last Thursday team officials announced only that Brady had missed practice, and so began a strange week of mystery hand theater. Enlarged photos of Brady’s gloved mitt at practice were analyzed like crime scene evidence. Was it boxy? Were the pics doctored? Specialists with no knowledge of the injury proffered endless and ultimately worthless speculation. (One email to SI: “I would love to connect you with . . . [the] founder of Manhattan Orthopedic Care, who is available to discuss [the] injury.”) Locker room questions shifted from the QB’s 18 years of greatness to his minute-to-minute health. Brady wore a splint fashioned for the thumb and met throughout the week with his body coach, Alex Guerrero, who prescribed a compression sleeve—made from the same material as Brady’s often-mocked “recovery pajamas”—to be worn 24/7. The injury was serious enough at first that backup Brian Hoyer believed he might play, right up until Sunday. But by the time Brady practiced on Friday—throwing the ball well, and deep, sometimes without the glove—those closest to him had been rid of all doubt. Just not publicly. On Friday, seven film crews arrived early at the Patriots’ press room for an afternoon conference, specifically to set up on what would be Brady’s right side, in hopes of a close-up. Belichick answered one question about his QB’s status with a typically curt, “It’s Friday”; one teammate, when asked how Brady looked, replied, “like Tom Brady.” In his own press conference Brady kept his red gloves on while 100-plus reporters listened to variations of, “I’m not talking about that.” si.com - Jeff