NFL

[NTP66]

[Silentom]

Done. For. The. Season.

[willeyeam]

no idea what that means

[Dickie Dunn]

Well that's very different than him not needing surgery on Monday.

[joopen]

no idea what that means

I am guessing fusions and/or devices in his lower back

[Morkle]

So that's it for the career right? They still haven't announced if he's had full extremity use return.

Always, always, always keep your head up.

True collision sports such as football and rugby should be avoided by all post-fusion patients. Some surgeons advocate permanently excluding ice hockey too, but many others permit participation in this highly aggressive sport after an informed discussion with the patient and family.

[NTP66]

Done. For. The. Season.

I don't see any other possible outcome, this being the least serious. I'm hopeful that this doesn't mean that his career is over, but maybe this forces him to address how he leads with his helmet on tackles.

[joopen]

Done. For. The. Season.

I don't see any other possible outcome, this being the least serious. I'm hopeful that this doesn't mean that his career is over, but maybe this forces him to address how he leads with his helmet on tackles.

I would be of the belief his career is over

[Dickie Dunn]

UPMC's website (in general, not directly related to Shazier):

Dynamic lumbar spine stabilization is a surgical technique that stabilizes the spine with flexible materials to allow for more mobility in the spine than traditional spinal fusion surgery. Dynamic spine stabilization is a growing area of lumbar spine surgery because it can reduce some of the problems inherent with metal implants, such as disc degeneration in the discs next to the fusion site.

Dynamic stabilization uses rods made of flexible materials to stabilize the affected level of the spine. The flexible portion of the rod limits motion between the vertebrae, but it does not completely eliminate movement. This technique also reduces the load on the spine’s joints and discs, which may reduce pain and improve the recovery time after your surgical procedure.

UPMC neurosurgeons recommend spinal stabilization when the movement of a damaged spinal disc causes pain or if a condition such as spondylolisthesis allows the spine to become unstable. It may also be needed if a patient undergoes surgery to remove of the normal stabilizing structures of the spine.

When the spine is unstable, excessive motion can cause the nerves adjacent to the spinal column to be pinched, leading to leg pain, numbness, and weakness. By stabilizing the spinal column, abnormal motion of the spinal segments is limited.​

Spine Universe:

The Role of Spinal Instrumentation in Spine Surgery

Although different types of spinal instrumentation are used to treat different spine conditions, the main goal of all spinal instrumentation is the same: spinal stabilization.

Traditionally, spine surgery that involved instrumentation required a large incision, cutting of your muscles and tissues, and a long recovery. However, spine surgeons today can insert instrumentation minimally invasively.

The benefits of minimally invasive spinal instrumentation are:
faster recovery
smaller incision
less cutting of muscles and tissues
less scarring, blood loss, and risk of infection
Instrumentation is often used in conjunction with decompression—a type of minimally invasive spine surgery that takes pressure off (decompresses) your spinal cord or nerve roots.

Before inserting hardware, your surgeon will remove parts of your spine that are pressing on nerves (by doing, for example, a discectomy). This helps relieve pain and other symptoms, but it can create spinal instability, which means you can be more prone to excessive movement and even injury.

Instrumentation and fusion address this by using spinal instrumentation and bone graft to stabilize your spine.
Three commonly used instruments during spine surgery—percutaneous pedicle screws, facet screws, and spinous process plates—are described below.

[tifosi77]

Jermichael Finley had a similar procedure in 2013. He was cleared to play a few months later, but it effectively ended his career, as he never played in the NFL again.

[Morkle]

I would feel that teams wouldn't assume a greater risk for a player of that kind of injury. I would have to assume the way Shazier hits, it opens it up for very dangerous situations.

[mikey]

Care to elaborate...? Is he losing major points for the whole run n shoot offense thing in your mind...?

I just think it's absurd he was a first-ballot HOFer. What did he have, like 291 TD and 233 INT? In addition to having an utterly terrible postseason record of performance?

He's 61st in career QB rating, and his interception percentage is on par with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Gus Frerotte, and Jake Delhomme.

He was fortunate in that he was passing the ball like crazy before the league as a whole moved that way, so the corresponding yardage increase was not quite as transparent as it would be today.

The data dump I created last year (that took all relevant "finishes" and assigned them a score...a fast way to determine relevance to peers) rated Moon in the "average" area for HOFers.

Less cryptically, there are 28 HOF QBs. My data dump had 27 of 28 fall in the top 48 in terms of points (this includes actives that will sure be in: Manning, Brady, Brees, etc.) - the only outlier was Terry Bradshaw (71st). Further, all of the top 15 are in or will be in the HOF (Baugh, Manning, Tarkenton, Graham, Unitas, Brees, Dawson, Tittle, Favre, Montana, Brady, Marino, Herber, Jurgensen, Young). So, for a data dump, it's got a higher-than-expected degree of accuracy towards HOF candidacy...

That said, Warren Moon rates 29th on this list. With Fouts, Danowski, Warner, Namath, Lamonica ahead of him...Gabriel, Stabler, Blanda, Plum, Layne directly behind him.

By this unscientific data dump, Moon is roughly an average HOF QB...

Not definitive proof by any stretch, but just worth mentioning perhaps...

[NTP66]

Just got off phone w neurologist Dr Anthony Alessi, who consults w NFLPA, asked him what he makes of Shazier's spinal stabilization surgery. "It's not good...We're not going to see him this season. He may not play football again."

Alessi says surgery is needed when the "bones around his spinal cord are dislocated. This is a more severe injury (than a contusion.)"

"This is a much more severe situation on our hands than we thought."

Damn.

[tifosi77]

At this point, the limit of my optimism is that Shazier will be able to walk again.

[Silentom]

Man that sucks.

[willeyeam]

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/938860790337212416

#Steelers LB Ryan Shazier’s spinal surgery will necessitate months of recovery, sources say, before he considers a return to football. His season is over. A very difficult situation.

[Morkle]

Let's just see if he can walk have a normal life again. Football should be the furthest thing from his mind. Truly a great loss, and hopefully he can find positivity in this potentially life-altering injury.

[willeyeam]

Let's just see if he can walk have a normal life again. Football should be the furthest thing from his mind. Truly a great loss, and hopefully he can find positivity in this potentially life-altering injury.

I'm hoping he plays football because that would mean he recovered 100% and is doing what he loves

[Morkle]

Isn't there some arbitrary 48-hour rule with spinal injuries that they wait to see if they recover? I think with this surgery, we're downgraded to a functionality of life scenario.

[tifosi77]

You need to allow the immediate effects of the injury (like local swelling) to quiet down a bit before you can evaluate and make a treatment plan, never mind a prognosis. In Shazier's case, there was bone damage, which means there was a real risk that he might have severed his spinal cord. That, thankfully, does not appear to have happened, but I agree that this is very much a case of life quality being the primary consideration for his rehabilitation.

It obviously hurts the Steelers, and us as fans, from a football perspective. But that's seriously back-burner stuff at this stage.

[Troy Loney]

Seems like he's probably done.

[Pavel Bure]

My wife and I discuss our kids playing football probably bi-weekly. This kind of stuff just pushed us further to the no side no matter how freak of an accident.

[Morkle]

It's a very serious case of everyone either allowing him to have poor form tackling or him not listening and taking care of himself. This wasn't a surprise honestly, he consistently and continually led with the crown of his helmet. That's the real shame of this - he didn't reduce the injury on himself.

This is more tragic than freak for me, it's a real shame, and it's a real reality if you tackle the way you're not instructed to tackle.

[willeyeam]

The thing is, he's far from the only one that does it. I'd bet the majority of tackles are with heads down anymore, guys just flying like missiles and not wrapping. Hopefully this will spur some change in that regard

[joopen]

The thing is, he's far from the only one that does it. I'd bet the majority of tackles are with heads down anymore, guys just flying like missiles and not wrapping. Hopefully this will spur some change in that regard

The problem is that there is so little actual practice time to work on form tackling. The NFL barely uses pads in practice. College goes more that direction every year. Now I am sure even highschool practices are more specialized than ever. We were taught to form tackle. We were forced to yell out the word "eyes" as you were making the tackle. We did this so much so that people even ended up saying "eyes" while tackling during games. No one has "time" to teach form tackling because football is so specialized now. Also its deemed too dangerous to do full contact practices all the time.