A new level of respect for C-Mac from this corner. I think most of us already knew he was a gamer, given all the talk about former players' disabilities, it's clear now that he played at greater risk than most of us realized. That, from a guy who's said he loves, loves, loves playing in Baltimore.

Not surprised that these things popped up on the injury report the way that they did, though. Seems to be a page out of the How to be a Devious Head Coach manual.

If everybody in football played with nagging injuries like Ray Lewis, then the Phrase The Player is soft would never be mentioned. I like todd heap , in fact he has always been my favorite player on the team, however for what ever reason he seems to always get hurt, He has missed a significant amount of time in his career here , and although he always seems to play hard when he is on the field, you really can't count on him. Every team has injuries and you just have to keep going and play who you have available, but i truly believe that some players are injured way more then others. At some point i think you just have to cut your loses and move on. I don't know if the ravens have reach that point yet with Heap.

Interesting. I was really annoyed with Heap's ability not to play last year but that was based entirley on what the team said. Maybe the leage needs to force the team doctors to issue a report (although there are privacy rights involved with that). The Ravens repeatedly said Heap had a pulled hamstring. Nothing was ever mentioned about it being torn. Obviously, this makes a HUGE difference and explains how he missed the bulk of the season. Sorry for all the nasty coments from me Todd! Get healthy and let's see you on the field next year!

I tend to agree with your assessment here. Although, I knew that the Ravens were not being totally honest about the severity of some of these injuries all along. It's pretty easy to figure out after a player has missed game after game for weeks at a time. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if these guys could play, that they would be on the field come game time. The injuries had to be more serious than a simple pull, strain or sprain. I was never one of those Raven fans who called the players "soft" for not playing.

I suppose it has something to do with creating doubt in the other teams psyche, or in creating "competitive advantage" in under reporting these injuries.

Mike, I think this is the best piece you've ever written. More people in the media have to get it out that these guys do everything they can to get in the game. Look at the LT thing in that playoff game. He was ripped mercilessly because people thought all he had to do was "gut it out" when he was hurt more than anyone knew. Most players dont reach the NFL level without being tough and playing through pain. But aggravating a serious injury is different. Thanks for giving Heap and McAllister's side.

Great post. The information you convey would have made some fans realize just how hurt some of these guys really were. However, there are also a great many fans, who have never played a down of football, who dismiss players as soft, without having a clue about the injury, the players pain threshold, and the players will to play, assuming the worst.
Todd Heap on one leg is really not an NFL caliber player (nor is any other player), but fans want him to go out and play.

I have no comment on this.

In either case Heap is injury prone and not lived up to the money he's making. I'm not saying he's soft but he's definitely injury prone and not on the field year after year. Every time he catches the ball you hope he's going to get up either because of his effort or he can't fall properly. The reality is he's no longer mentioned as a good to great tight end because he's not in enough games.

You never believed much of what billick said except his injury reports? Looks like another fine job of covering the Ravens.

Football is a very dangerous and painful game. The general public seems to have very little understanding or respect for what these guys put themselves through just to get onto the field on game day, and literally put thier lives on the line. They do not have guaranteed contracts, and basically are assuming all the risk all the time even in practice and off season drills.

McNair took a beating in the frist Bungle game that would have crippled the average man. He got up and played through it, and now most of the fans want to run him out of town. I don't get it. There should be a little more respect and appriciation for just how difficult it is to play pro football.

I often wonder how the kid who broke his neck in my last highschool football game thinks about the game now. I was an all metro player with D-1 and pro type potential, but never wanted to play again after that game. I am still a huge fan, but doubt I could even watch a game if I was the one bieng helicoptered off the field that day.

I always thought the injury bug and the severity of those injuries played a huge role in this years record. It wasn’t all Brian & Kyle

Good call Mike. I always get tired of the way they treat injuries here. They always say a guy has an ankle sprain that then turns into him missing 12 games. I don't know why they do it exactly, but it's very unfair to the players who have to deal with fans getting on them.

So how does this bode for the argument (or accusation) that Billick was being too "soft" on the players?

Maybe he appeared "soft" on them, i.e., no foul weather practices, extra days off, etc...because of the injuries, eh?

Funny how you only blame Billick for that. I should think that the folks upstairs had something to do with that strategy as well.

Putting some perspective on injuries was needed. We only know as much as we hear, yet players continuously get judged from outside. Those players mentioned have nothing to prove to any of us.

This is one thing about the Ravens organization that has always irriated me. Does the Ravens front office think that the fans are not capable of understanding injuries? Please be honest with us. It's football and we know that players get hurt. Don't string us along thinking a player may be able to come back to the lineup week after week. If a player is injured and will be out for the rest of the season tell us so we can move onto the next plan/player.

Actually, I have long suspected that injuries were routinely downplayed during the Billick years. Guys that came back sooner than they probably should have, or played with injuries that were obviously hampering their abilities, got kept - while guys who stayed out until they healed were cut. Cases in point - Brandon Stokely, who was somehow always in Billick's doghouse but became very productive when he moved to Indy, and Chris Redman, who sustained a back injury and never really got the chance to come back because he wasn't ready to play when Coach Billick felt he should have been.

I'm not saying that Redman would have been the answer, but I do believe that Billick killed his career.

This most definitly makes me happy the Brian Billick was fired. If he was stringing along the fans of Baltimore by making us believe that these injuries were just temporary, when he could have put these players on IR and maybe tried to bolster the team with some free agents and let these Pro-Bowl caliber players heal properly, this is terrible mismanagement.

Heap is soft? He consistently lead the team in catches - by catching passes accross the middle. He was doing one of the most dangerous jobs in a physically challenging game. TO be injured playing like he has does not make Heap injury prone - it is a tribute to his willingness to risk the injuries that are a natural part of his position.

Look tony G of the chiefs never misses a game and they throw the ball to him more then the ravens throw the ball to heap. I am tired of everybody picking up or making excuses for Players. Don't get me wrong i like todd heap a lot , he is one of my favorite players on the team but at some players are more injury prone then others and he seems to be that player. He has missed serious time since he has been on the ravens and you can't deny that fact.

Should we be surprised that the spin doctors at the Castle misconstrued injuries for so long? Compu Coach loves mind games and he obviously played them with Toddy Ball game's injury.

With that being said, Heap is a glassman. The guy gets injured seemingly every year. Give him one more year but draft a tight end in the 2nd or 3rd round.

This just shows us how they try to play their hearts of during the pain! Just becuase we cant see it does mean its not happening!

OLD PLAYERS=NO CAP ROOM=INJURIES
1. Tennessee 39 $40.85 million
2. San Diego 44 $33.03 million
3. Jacksonville 43 $32.69 million
4. Buffalo 49 $32.05 million
5. New Orleans 39 $31.69 million
6. Cincinnati 48 $31.45 million
7. San Francisco 48 $30.91 million
8. Cleveland42$30.31 million
9. Arizona 34 $30.27 million
10.N.Y. Jets 45 $27.72 million
11.Oakland 40 $25.98 million
12.Tampa Bay 48$25.90 million
13.Miami 48 $25.56 million
14.N.Y. Giants 49 $24.47 million
15.Detroit 42 $23.50 million
16.Houston 43 $22.91 million
17.Dallas 40 $20.61 million
18.Kansas City 44 $20.27 million
19.Chicago 52 $19.80 million
20.Pittsburgh 43 $18.61 million
21.Green Bay 48 $18.37 million
22.Philadelphia 49 $17.17 million
23.Denver 49 $16.77 million
24.Minnesota 49 $14.88 million
25.New England 41 $10.93 million
26.St. Louis 45 $9.61 million
27.Seattle 44 $9.55 million
28.Indianapolis 48 $8.49 million
29.Carolina 35 $6.05 million
30.Atlanta 52 $5.79 million*
31.Baltimore42 $5.00 million
32.Washington 45 -$20.72 million

I aint gonna insult yall by calling this a love-in, but this IS the best single board page I have read, and its been quite a while. Lots of measured posts, all in reaction to a single issue. Credit where credit is due, and that includes a oft-insulted Mike Preston who provided the platform.