Quote
waterfield
In today's L.A. Times an article by Gary Klein has a quote by Snead that appears to be downplaying Gurley's injury. He may just be joking but states the players arthritic pain can by handled with Aleve. However Nproxen is used to temporarily relieve minor aches and pains due to arthritis. "Minor" is what most of us feel as we get older getting out of bed in the morning. "Minor" is not when a young athlete can hardly play in the playoffs and SB. Moreover, arthritis that sets in following a major knee surgery is never "minor". Additionally, arthritis is a degenerative disease that does not "heal" or get "better". With repeated trauma as would be common in a star running back in the NFL (i.e. every time he runs) the progression would likely follow a normal path resulting in a full knee replacement-at which point its all over for #30. Keep in mind the trauma each of us puts on our knees daily is absolutely nothing compared to a 224 lb star running back in the NFL. Snead has to be kidding if he thinks all Gurley needs is an Aleve. That's my conclusion.
==
Snead, McVay dodge questions about whether Todd Gurley has arthritisCameron DaSilva
[
theramswire.usatoday.com]
Most of the headlines coming out of Thousand Oaks for the Los Angeles Rams have been about the team’s offseason moves thus far. they’ve moved on from John Sullivan and Mark Barron, signed Eric Weddle and Dante Fowler Jr. and lost Rodger Saffold to the Tennessee Titans.
As big as all of those transactions are, there’s still a cloud hanging over the Rams’ heads: Todd Gurley’s knee. Everywhere he goes, from Ric Flair’s birthday party to an event at a local school where he gave kids backpacks and books, Gurley gets asked about his knee.
After reports surfaced that the Rams will consider stem cell treatment and that he has arthritis in his knee, there’s no lack of concern in L.A. when it comes to the team’s star running back. It doesn’t help that Les Snead and Sean McVay have remained tight-lipped on the situation, saying it’s merely wear and tear.
They hadn’t spoken to the media since the arthritis report … until Tuesday. After Weddle’s introductory press conference, Snead fielded questions from reporters, predictably ones about Gurley’s knee. Rather than setting the record straight, Snead danced around those questions and wouldn’t give a solid answer.
“What we said is he’s had a lot of carries over the last few years,” Snead said, via Lindsey Thiry of ESPN. “And so anything you hear us say, any plan is basically hey — and I would say this not just with Todd Gurley, right, it might be with our wide receivers because they’ve played a lot of snaps over the last few years — is hey, what can we do to help those guys be as fresh as possible at the end of the season.”
When Snead was asked specifically about the validity of the report suggesting Gurley has arthritis, he continued his two-step and dodged the question with a coy response. He jokingly said it would be a plus if Gurley had arthritis because that’s nothing a little Aleve can’t fix.
“That would be good then, because all you got to do is take Aleve. Right?” he replied.
After tiptoeing around the first two questions, Snead was asked to give a yes or no answer as to whether Gurley is dealing with arthritis. And again, he deflected, neither denying nor confirming the report.
“With all NFL players when it comes to trying to be fresh at the end of the year, there is an element of probably shades of gray of how fresh you are and what that reason is,” Snead said. “So I would counter your, ‘It’s either a yes or a no.’ I’m not sure you’ve ever gone through a 16-game NFL season, but if you have you probably would understand that shade of gray.”
It’s hard to blame Snead for avoiding the questions because of the additional concerns that would come if he admitted Gurley has arthritis. That diagnosis wouldn’t be a career-ender, but it would potentially change the Rams’ plans at running back moving forward.
Arthritis isn’t something that just goes away with Aleve like Snead jokingly said it would. It doesn’t get better with time. Just the opposite, actually. One doctor even said Gurley’s best years are likely behind him as a result of this potential condition.
By saying “wear and tear,” perhaps McVay and Snead are suggesting it is arthritis without actually saying it. They’re not afraid to admit something was hindering Gurley, they just won’t say exactly what it was besides him having a heavy workload and not feeling as fresh as usual.
That’s what McVay indicated again on Tuesday when he was asked about Gurley’s knee.
“I don’t know exactly medically when you categorize what arthritis is,” McVay said. “I do know that just from the amount of work that he’s had, there’s been a wear and tear on that knee.”
We may never know what’s wrong with Gurley’s knee. The Rams may never come out and say he has arthritis. Players deal with that condition every season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be reported or announced to the public. It’s especially common in players with surgically repaired knees, and given Gurley’s contract situation and usage late in the season, it makes the entire thing more precarious.
If Gurley plays as if nothing is wrong next season, very little will be made about the injury. But if he only gets 15 carries per game in 2019, those difficult questions will come up again.
