Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter pulled in to work on his day off last week, and to his amazement had to hunt for a parking spot in the players lot.
Porter estimated that more than half the team was at the complex on their regular Tuesday off receiving therapy for nagging injuries or lifting weights, and he admitted that’s been the norm on off days.
“You would have thought it was a practice,”
Porter said.
The high level of player participation off-day maintenance work has been a growing trend, and numerous players believe that approach has enabled the Dolphins to become the NFL’s healthiest team.
Every week of the regular season NFL teams are required to release a daily injury report. So far the Dolphins have only lost one player — right guard Donald Thomas — to a season-ending injury. Only one player — cornerback Michael Lehan — has been listed on the injury report, and that was only for one day in the opening week.
That means after three physical contests, despite numerous players battling neck stingers (safety Chris Crocker), ankle sprains (Lehan and guard Shawn Murphy) and hamstring pulls (linebacker Reggie Torbor), only one player has missed one practice.
“It’s nothing special they put in the treatment. The shock [treatment] ain’t got no better. The ice hasn’t gotten any colder, and the hot tub definitely hasn’t gotten hotter. It’s [starts] up top. You just know that being injured you’re not going to be here,”
Porter said, referring to the constant churning of the roster by team vice president Bill Parcells and General Manager Jeff Ireland.
“It’s that whip being cracked up top. It doesn’t allow you to sit up there and be hurt,”
said Porter, who receives regular treatment for a lingering back injury that limited his participation during the exhibition season. “It’s been proven you come here and the locker will be empty next to you. Those little injuries you think you can nurse for three or four days they tend to get healed in the next day.”
What a drastic change from 2007, when the Dolphins placed 15 players on the injured reserve, and nine of the team’s 24 starters from that season-opener missed at least one game because of injury.
According to Parcells, the lengthy injury report was one of the most troubling things he inherited when he arrived. He vowed to rectify it, and apparently has.
Numerous players, from Vonnie Holliday to Porter, say the rehab work injured players are assigned is more grueling than the day’s actual practice. As a result nicked-up players are more inclined to practice.
While coach Tony Sparano credits the offseason program for the team’s healthy roster, it should be noted that another of Parcells’ proteges, Saints coach Sean Payton, copied his mentor’s weightlifting and conditioning regimen in the offseason, yet New Orleans has been decimated by injuries.
Sparano admitted the team’s lucky streak will be put to the test.
“We have 13 weeks of football to go here in a row,”
Sparano said. “We’re going to find out just how good our offseason was.”
Reid improves
Sparano said the health of assistant coach Jim Reid is improving but that the outside linebackers coach will remain in the hospital for “a little while”
after undergoing an undisclosed surgical procedure last week.
