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Eric Wood has career-ending neck injury; will retire


YoloinOhio

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2 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

What a roller coaster month for wood. Plays in first ever playoff game, welcomes  baby boy, realizes he needs to retire due to injury, holds press conference ....

 

Yea I can't even imagine that. From such high, highs to now having to leave the game he loves.

 

Just hope it won't effect the rest of his life.

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11 minutes ago, bills_fan said:

I still remember Eric and his wife coming to McFaddens for a NYC BBB event.  Totally cool dude.  Any NYC BBB members have any photos of that?  I cant find mine

My wife and I were there for that.  It was his rookie season and he was there with his girlfriend (who I believe he later married).  Was a great guy who just hung out and talked football with the fans there.  He couldn’t believe his luck to be playing in the NFL.  My wife and I both walked away very impressed with him and he’s been one of our favorite players ever since.

 

i just hope he’s ok going forward and can lead a normal life outside of football.

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8 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

What a roller coaster month for wood. Plays in first ever playoff game, welcomes  baby boy, realizes he needs to retire due to injury, holds press conference ....

the reality is life is just now beginning for him.

 

i truly hope he sees it this way.

 

for what is probably close to 20 years he has played football and it's been a foundation of his life - likely the most consistent part of it, too.

 

life is just beginning for him and i hope we can celebrate that for him.

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Unbelievable.

 

Very sad news to hear, but I'm grateful for Eric Wood giving us such stability at Center for so many years, and that he can walk away from this and lead a good life after football.

 

I'll never forget seeing him being carried off in the Titans game when he suffered a horrifying broken leg injury. He came back from that injury and was still a good player.

 

Thank you for all you did for us #70.

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11 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

Im glad to hear that. Of all the possible scenarios, that’s probably best. Those degenerative neck/spine things can be real MFers, but with good treatment you can still live a life. He’s so young, too, I’m glad he’s making this move, for his own sake. 

 

Cheers, Woody!

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Sad to hear.  Thanks for being a great team leader and for your work around the city Eric.  You were worthy of a first rd pick even though you never became a top 5 center and I appreciate your effort.  You’ll be missed.

 

 

that being said, I’m excited that Groy has an opportunity.  Would’ve been nice for a rookie qb to have Wood around to help him though.  

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He had a good 9-year career and made a lot of money, and I'm glad he's leaving on his own terms. He's rich, soon to be 32, in a presumably happy family situation, and has the bulk of his life in front of him.  He was a better player than a lot here gave him credit for even though he wasn't the best center in the league. He was, however, better than average and quite reliable, averaging over 13 games played per season over the course of his career. 

 

As for the Bills: I think that this is a bigger deal than many might think because he was a rock-solid center (again, not the best, but pretty good) whose general reliability made the center position one the Bills' brass figured they didn't have to worry about for a couple of years. This creates a pretty big hole for them, and they are going to need to address it early on unless they think Groy is capable of being a league-average starter. 

 

Edited by dave mcbride
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