Thread: Medical Advances, Heart gets Griffin back in game.

Medical advances, heart get Griffin back in game

Article by: MARK CRAIG , Star Tribune

The Vikings cornerback says he's been blessed by timing in healing from ACL tears that would've been career-enders decades ago.

MANKATO - The Vikings asked head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman during the offseason to put together a list of NFL defensive backs who have bounced back from tearing anterior cruciate ligaments in both knees and resumed their careers at a high level.

Sugarman said it ended up being a rather short list gleaned from the NFL's database. Short as in zero. Zip. Nobody.

I know he's not a DB, but didn't Terry Allen tear both ACL's in the early 90's when he was with us and still go on to have a decent career?

Originally Posted by "marshallvike" #1103634

I know he's not a DB, but didn't Terry Allen tear both ACL's in the early 90's when he was with us and still go on to have a decent career?

Yes he did.

However, I think RB and DB are a bit different. RB, yeah obviously you need healthy ACLs, but you're setting the pace rather than reacting to waht happens. as a DB, you need to be as quick or quicker than the guy you are covering. There are alot of slow, clumsy RB's out there, not alot of slow, clumsy DBs.

Take Willis McGahee for example, had his knee go backwards, but still managed a respectable career. harder for a DB to over come though.

I think what makes this more impressive is that it happened in back to back years. When you are recovering form a leg/knee injury, you can't run or weightlift to keep that leg strong. essentially he has gone 2 years without pushing his body like he needs to to stay in NFL shape. Crazy. absolute crazy.

this is the second time we've been dealing with really unique injuries.
first was Henderson
now Griff

These are the type of players i like on my football team, Pure heart.

It is a shame what happened to Griffin because I feel like he was really moving into special player status, but now has been set back for quite a while.
I hope to see him perform at the level he was two years ago, and from all accounts it seems we can expect that.

We need him to play so bad. Hopefully modern science can win again

If he isn't going to return 100%, I hope there's a back up plan in the depth chart.

1. We don't need a slow DB that teams will burn.

2. He's injury prone.

Ced is going to be fine, but as singer points out we need Cook, and Allen to step up. That said I think our concerns at CB will be put to rest. Cook is having a great camp, and Asher is right behind him. Cedric has been working with the first team D so barring the dang injury bug our cornerback group will be a pleasant surprise this season, I'm more concerned that we get better play from our S/SS positions.

Originally Posted by "singersp" #1103702

If he isn't going to return 100%, I hope there's a back up plan in the depth chart.

1. We don't need a slow DB that teams will burn.

2. He's injury prone.

Exactly. Playing hurt is not an excuse for poor play. If he's going to be out there starting, he needs to be able to play at a high level, otherwise don't play.

If he's only at 80% speed, that's not good enough. He's not an overly fast guy as it is, and as a corner, you need to be as fast and quick as possible to keep up with your guy. If his knee is slowing him down even a bit, that's not good.

Appreciate the effort and heart, but at the end of the day, it's about performing at a high level, not trying really hard.