I have a question about Andre Smith

[redsbengalsbucks]

but I wouldn't put it past Doc Nick and the rest of the rusty saw gang boobs to miss it...

One more ruptured achilles and someone better get fired. Kelly and Odom, two studs who we really need, and they both go down with this brutal injury. I'd be looking at our shoes, our turf, our lower leg conditioning, anything to avoid having this happen to a 3rd guy. So far our best tight end and our best d-lineman, so next would be Leon Hall or Ced.

Agreed. I wonder if Field Turf is all it's cracked up to be.

Seems like Achilles injuries have become a bigger problem in football. My guess is it has more to do with much heavier players, that still move as quick. This causes more stress on every body part, but the Achilles tendon must be the week spot on some of these athletes.

[Pidge]

Muscles get bigger, ligaments and tendons don't.

[ArmyBengal]

Heavier players that still move as quick and cut block don't help either...

[kingwilly]

the play that caused Odom's injury was a cut-clock that he jumped to the inside of, and landed on his left foot awkwardly. all of his weight, laterally coming down on his left foot in a sidways twist. snap.

to me, Kelly's injury was the odd one. just running a route in practice. snap.

both are sad.

regarding the above.

Muscles get bigger and the tendons, ligaments do not (as much).

Kelly is geting older, and that can contribute.

Odom put on 25-35 lbs in the offseason. that extra load could do it, paired with the awkward twist and landing.

Not speculating here, as there is no proof in Odom's case, but players who *enhance* can be more prone to tendon/ligament/joint issues. Odom bulked up and now he is injured. not accusing him but some may draw their own conclusion. I see it as a weird jump and landing on one foot, with a twist and a snap.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

Not speculating here, as there is no proof in Odom's case, but players who *enhance* can be more prone to tendon/ligament/joint issues. Odom bulked up and now he is injured. not accusing him but some may draw their own conclusion.

Yeah, I was wondering when I was going to hear that one. People were speculating about Odom and the juice when he put on all the muscle in the offseason, I'm really surprised none of the talking heads raised the issue after the injury (unless I missed it).

I'm with you, to me it just looked very awkward.

[cincyhokie]

My guess that if a 300 plus pound man can hide an injury through agility drills then he has one hell of a pain tolerance! He must be a tough guy then. If the man fractured his foot (stress fracture) it's very unlikely that he was able to practice, or even walk, normally while he was hiding his injury.

Agreed. But he only made it through a couple of jog-through sessions with the team, right? I admit it would probably hurt like hell. But, then, if you told me that I had to gut it out through a couple of non-contact drills with a stress fracture to make $20+ million dollars, damn right I'd do it.

For what it's worth, I had a stress fracture in my hip, and was running on it for a few weeks, 6 miles at a crack, before it finally got pretty bad and I went to the doctor.

And I do want to reiterate - I don't specifically think this *did* happen. I just thought it was surprising that not a single eyebrow was apparently raised.

I hear you. For 20 million I'd hope I could suck it up too.

[HAPPYJAQ]

Not speculating here, as there is no proof in Odom's case, but players who *enhance* can be more prone to tendon/ligament/joint issues. Odom bulked up and now he is injured. not accusing him but some may draw their own conclusion.

Yeah, I was wondering when I was going to hear that one. People were speculating about Odom and the juice when he put on all the muscle in the offseason, I'm really surprised none of the talking heads raised the issue after the injury (unless I missed it).

I'm with you, to me it just looked very awkward.

I also agree, and will tell you that 30 pounds of muscle in 5 months is unheard of, especially from a guy who struggled in the 225-pound bench press a year ago. Anybody else have any doubts about how he'll come back from this injury next year? In DEs needing the ability to push off the legs to generate power and speed on the upfield rush, I sort of believe he'll see more time at DT in the future. Geathers, Peko, Odom and MJ might be pretty formidable front 4, though.

[Kazkal]

I think this guy can help. The question I have is how could have possibly gotten into shape with a fractured foot? They said he will start practicing this week, but it seems to me that he wouldn't have been able to get in good conditioning. Has his foot been healed a couple of weeks and he's been working out? What's the rehab process?

Well it was said to be 7-10 day injury but they were playing it safe and letting him get caught up, so I don't see whast the surprise is?

Eating healthier, working in the swimming pool. You can use exercise equipment without standing up, too. There's lots of ways to exercise/work out without putting weight on your foot.

I remember reading early on reading about him doing the under water training but could swore he's been training on the side lines for a few weeks now.