Move over Bucky Effin’ Dent, because there’s a new name in Boston sports infamy that just seems to get worse with age… Bernie Effin’ Pollard.
I don’t care if he didn’t deal the damaging hit that tore just about everything inside of Wes Welker’s knee inside-out – he was in the vicinity, and that’s enough for me. That means that two years in a row now, this guy has been Johnny-on-the-spot when a prominent New England Patriots player has gone down. At this point, I think the question needs to be asked – should the NFL quarantine this guy like an Ebola case? I mean, what are the odds that he’s hanging around two players that happen to have the same injury in consecutive years? What are the odds that if you walked by Pollard on the street that your ACL and MCL wouldn’t just tear, but explode out the sides of your leg? Is it some kind of weird super power – instead of super hearing or being able to control dolphins with his thoughts, he can destroy knee ligaments by sheer proximity? Is it Patriots specific? And if so, shouldn’t he be limited to one play per half – like a Madden cheat card come to life?
These are the things one thinks about when watching – once again – an indispensable piece of your favorite team get carried off into the sunset on the Injury Cart Of Doom. Is losing Wes Welker as bad as losing Tom Brady last year? In a vacuum, it’s not even a contest – a quarterback always trumps a receiver. In reality, this year? It’s close. At least with Brady down and out in the first quarter of the first game, there was time to work Plan B into effect. Now, you’re losing a significant portion of your offensive production the week before the playoffs and there’s no possibility of a trade or working the new guy in slowly. Think it isn’t a big deal? When Welker was out the first few games of the season, the offense was rancid and inconsistent. Plug him in, and things smoothed out considerably and he went on to collect 122 receptions for 1,336 yards and 4 touchdowns. Can Julian Edelman (Mini Wes) become an actual replacement instead of a patch? Ask me after next week’s game against the Ravens…
All of which calls into question whether Welker should’ve been playing at all. The Pats had the AFC East and a playoff spot tied up, with only the difference between the third and fourth seed in question for this week. Lots of Monday Morning Quarterbacks will be having a field day with this one, calling their local sports talk stations to moan how number 83 should’ve been in street clothes on the sidelines to begin with. Why risk anything in what’s really a meaningless game? Personally, I don’t buy it.
First of all, if it was a late/hard hit that knocked him out, then fine you have room to argue. But it wasn’t. This happened when he planted and tried to make a hard cut away from a defender – something Welker does a couple dozen times per game. It could’ve easily happened in Week 7 instead of Week 17 or training camp. Had it happened late in the third or fourth quarter, again, you have an argument. But it didn’t – this was the first quarter of the game. Remember, the Patriots haven’t been the picture of consistency this season – putting starters out there for at least a quarter or two actually makes a bit of sense when you consider there’s a playoff game next week. It allows starters to get some work in, then get out for some rest.
Which brings me to the second point… Somebody has to play. The NFL doesn’t allow sufficient roster space to allow a team to trot out a second team of scrubs – at some point, a starter is going to be on the field. Had the Pats had Brady, Moss, and Welker on the sideline and then suffered an injury to an offensive lineman, it could have just as much bearing on next week’s game. To put it bluntly, s*** happens. Of course, it seems to happen an awfully lot when Bernie Pollard is around… but I’ve already covered that…
The point is, despite this being a horrible loss for the Patriots, there is an upside (no, I haven’t been drinking – why do you ask?). For one thing, this means that, by necessity, Tom Brady will have to spread the ball around to more guys. Once upon a time, Brady’s favorite receiver was the open receiver, period. Now, with two guys as talented as Moss and Welker, he’s focused on them almost to the exclusion of the other guys on the field. As much as it sucks to say, Welker’s injury will force him to spread the ball around and make the defense have to guess a bit more. Sometimes, that’s all the edge you need in the playoffs. That, and a bit of luck.
Considering what happened Sunday afternoon, I’m hoping Lady Luck will swing back the other way…
