Injury Policy

The NFL's injury policy is a joke.

Last week the Minnesota Vikings got in some hot water with the NFL because defensive end Everson Griffen was inactive for their game with the Kansas City Chiefs. Griffen wasn't listed among the injured players during the preceding week so his "sudden" appearance on the game day inactive list was considered suspicious. It turns out that Griffen's late scratch was due to a hospital visit that required a heart-related test. That sounds pretty serious to me. It sounds serious enough that it shouldn't have been a surprise to not see Griffen dressed for a football game. It definitely sounds serious enough to be beyond the suspicions of the NFL even if it did happen mere hours before the start of a football game.

I guess that the NFL saw Griffen's surprise appearance on the inactive list as a competitive advantage for the Vikings. That's insane. No reality exists in which Griffen not playing gives the Vikings any sort of advantage. He's their best defensive lineman, their best pass rusher, one of their best defensive players, one of their best players on the entire roster. And he's a team leader. The Vikings are a better team with him on the field. The only team that gained a competitive advantage from Griffen being inactive was the Chiefs. So, why the concern from the NFL? Who knows? The league has so many other things out of order that spending any time on this matter was just pathetic.

The weekly injury report has been an NFL staple for much longer than I've been stomping around this planet. I always found those player injuries listed real close to the betting lines in the morning newspapers. The NFL won't admit to it but the relationship between football injuries and those betting lines has always been a close one. It's always been a funny puzzle that rule #1 for the NFL has always been to keep gambling as far away from the game as possible. The purity of the games has to be guaranteed. Yet the NFL has has never turned it's back on the attention that gambling brings to the league. That's never been more obvious than with the explosion of fantasy football. Despite what the daily fantasy clowns say fantasy football is gambling. The NFL supports this new form of gambling. The NFL even promotes it. Fantasy football enthusiasts are ravenous for injury news. They eagerly await those inactive lists so that they can get their personal rosters perfect and set on time. Was the NFL suspicious of the Vikings surprise game day actions of a week ago because of the fantasy participants that were debating whether to start the Vikings' stellar "D"? If they were, that's just sad. Not to mention misguided. The NFL's strange interest in Griffen's health wasn't out of any great concern for the Chiefs game day well-being. The Vikings opponents that day might have been a little relieved that they weren't going to have to tangle with Griffen all day but it didn't foul up their week of preparation. The Vikings defense wasn't going to change their plans. For one, they had no time. There's rarely time to prepare for sudden heart-related concerns. The NFL's great interest in this matter and many injury matters is a joke. Roger Goodell and his pack of loons have so many other things to fix, watch, and do.