The NFL's craziest injuries Part I

[Big Turk]

So after reading the practice/warmup thread about injuries and noting the situation with Richardson, I thought it would be a fun expose to go back thru history and note the craziest injuries that have happened in the NFL and try and lighten the mood here ahead of the Chiefs game since it's been a little too much down in the dumpster.

 

Top 10 list of wackiest all-time NFL injuries:

 

1) Turk Edwards(HOF-OT) Redskins, 1940: The Coin Toss Terror

 

After winning a coin toss at midfield prior to the game as team captain, Edwards excitedly turned and went to run off the field. His cleat got caught in the turf and he ended up tearing knee ligaments, ending his season, and effectively, his career.

 

2) Bill Gramatica(K) - Cardinals, 2001: The Celebratory ACL

 

After making a first quarter FG to give the Cardinals an early 3 points, an excited Gramatica jumped up in the air to celebrate with his teammates, landed and tore his ACL.

 

3) Gus Frerotte(QB) - Redskins, 1997: The Headbutt Heard Round DC

 

After scoring a touchdown, Frerotte headbutted a padded wall in joy.
Sadly, he found out the wall was a lot harder than his teammates helmets and injured his neck.
He had to go to the hospital mid-game. His wife later said, “He’s okay. Just… Gus.”

 

4) Chris Hanson(P) - Jaguars, 2003: Keep Chopping Wood Gone Wrong

 

Coach Jack Del Rio brought an axe and wood to the locker room for motivation.
Hanson took a swing, missed, and gashed his leg badly with the hatchet, landing on IR the rest of the year.
The team quietly retired that motivational tactic.

 

5) Plaxico Buress(WR) - Giants, 2008: The Nightclub Gunshot

 

Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed gun at a New York nightclub.
He was both injured and imprisoned, making it perhaps the most infamous self-inflicted NFL injury ever.

 

6) Nate Burleson(WR) - Lions, 2013: The Pizza Rescue Car Crash

 

Driving home with pizza in the passenger seat, Burleson saw it sliding off the seat.
He reached to save it… lost control of his SUV… and broke his arm in the crash.
DiGiorno later gave him a year of free pizza for his trouble.

 

7) Lamar Houston(DE) - Bears, 2014: The Sack Celebration Dance that hurt

Down 48–23 to the Patriots, Houston finally got a sack, on the backup quarterback.
He jumped to celebrate… and blew out his ACL when he landed.
Even Patriots fans cringed.

 

8 ) Jason Pierre-Paul(DE) - Giants, 2015: The Fireworks Fiasco

 

Fourth of July fireworks exploded in his hand.
He lost part of his index finger and had to completely rebuild his grip to play again.
The Giants still re-signed him later, a testament to how dominant he was even with a mangled hand.

 

9) Kellen Winslow(TE) - Browns, 2005: Motorcycle Mayhem

 

Despite a strict no-motorcycle clause in his contract, Winslow went joyriding and crashed.
He tore multiple ligaments and missed the entire season.
When reporters asked what happened, he said, “I’m a soldier.” (He was not.)

 

10) Brian Griese(QB) - Broncos, 2002: Dog Pee Slip and Slide

 

Reportedly slipped on his dog’s urine at home and sprained his ankle.

He tried to downplay it, but teammates never let him live it down.

Proof that even man’s best friend can blitz you unexpectedly.

 

Honorable Mention:

 

11) Orlando Brown(OT)- Browns, 1999: Blinded by a Flying Flag

 

During a 1999 game, Cleveland Browns tackle Orlando “Zeus” Brown was accidentally struck in the eye by a referee’s weighted penalty flag, tearing his cornea and partially blinding him.

In pain and thinking it was intentional, he shoved the ref and was suspended, but the NFL later lifted the suspension and paid him a multi-million-dollar settlement.
He missed three seasons before making an incredible comeback in 2003.

 

 

 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

3 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

So after reading the practice/warmup thread about injuries and noting the situation with Richardson, I thought it would be a fun expose to go back thru history and note the craziest injuries that have happened in the NFL and try and lighten the mood here ahead of the Chiefs game since it's been a little too much down in the dumpster.

 

Top 10 list of wackiest all-time NFL injuries:

 

1) Turk Edwards(HOF-OT) Redskins, 1940: The Coin Toss Terror

 

After winning a coin toss at midfield prior to the game as team captain, Edwards excitedly turned and went to run off the field. His cleat got caught in the turf and he ended up tearing knee ligaments, ending his season, and effectively, his career.

 

2) Bill Gramatica(K) - Cardinals, 2001: The Celebratory ACL

 

After making a first quarter FG to give the Cardinals an early 3 points, an excited Gramatica jumped up in the air to celebrate with his teammates, landed and tore his ACL.

 

3) Gus Frerotte(QB) - Redskins, 1997: The Headbutt Heard Round DC

 

After scoring a touchdown, Frerotte headbutted a padded wall in joy.
Sadly, he found out the wall was a lot harder than his teammates helmets and injured his neck.
He had to go to the hospital mid-game. His wife later said, “He’s okay. Just… Gus.”

 

4) Chris Hanson(P) - Jaguars, 2003: Keep Chopping Wood Gone Wrong

 

Coach Jack Del Rio brought an axe and wood to the locker room for motivation.
Hanson took a swing, missed, and gashed his leg badly with the hatchet, landing on IR the rest of the year.
The team quietly retired that motivational tactic.

 

5) Plaxico Buress(WR) - Giants, 2008: The Nightclub Gunshot

 

Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed gun at a New York nightclub.
He was both injured and imprisoned, making it perhaps the most infamous self-inflicted NFL injury ever.

 

6) Nate Burleson(WR) - Lions, 2013: The Pizza Rescue Car Crash

 

Driving home with pizza in the passenger seat, Burleson saw it sliding off the seat.
He reached to save it… lost control of his SUV… and broke his arm in the crash.
DiGiorno later gave him a year of free pizza for his trouble.

 

7) Lamar Houston(DE) - Bears, 2014: The Sack Celebration Dance that hurt

Down 48–23 to the Patriots, Houston finally got a sack, on the backup quarterback.
He jumped to celebrate… and blew out his ACL when he landed.
Even Patriots fans cringed.

 

8 ) Jason Pierre-Paul(DE) - Giants, 2015: The Fireworks Fiasco

 

Fourth of July fireworks exploded in his hand.
He lost part of his index finger and had to completely rebuild his grip to play again.
The Giants still re-signed him later, a testament to how dominant he was even with a mangled hand.

 

9) Kellen Winslow(TE) - Browns, 2005: Motorcycle Mayhem

 

Despite a strict no-motorcycle clause in his contract, Winslow went joyriding and crashed.
He tore multiple ligaments and missed the entire season.
When reporters asked what happened, he said, “I’m a soldier.” (He was not.)

 

10) Brian Griese(QB) - Broncos, 2002: Dog Pee Slip and Slide

 

Reportedly slipped on his dog’s urine at home and sprained his ankle.

He tried to downplay it, but teammates never let him live it down.

Proof that even man’s best friend can blitz you unexpectedly.

 

Honorable Mention:

 

11) Orlando Brown(OT)- Browns, 1999: Blinded by a Flying Flag

 

During a 1999 game, Cleveland Browns tackle Orlando “Zeus” Brown was accidentally struck in the eye by a referee’s weighted penalty flag, tearing his cornea and partially blinding him.

In pain and thinking it was intentional, he shoved the ref and was suspended, but the NFL later lifted the suspension and paid him a multi-million-dollar settlement.
He missed three seasons before making an incredible comeback in 2003.

 

 

 

 

This is great! Did you compile this list yourself? Great job! 

[Process]

Some recency bias here but that 49ers LB who tore his Achilles running into the field in the Superbowl was crazy and super unfortunate 

[LEBills]

No slippery rubber mats?

[Big Turk]

18 minutes ago, Process said:

Some recency bias here but that 49ers LB who tore his Achilles running into the field in the Superbowl was crazy and super unfortunate 

 

Yeah that was one I wrestled with and probably should have added

4 minutes ago, LEBills said:

No slippery rubber mats?

 

Haha, I forgot about the Kevin Kolb incident

[Buffalo ill]

Well if we are talking about off the field injuries, multiple players have been shot.  Didn't an eagles D linemen get ran over and killed back in the 90s while in his own yard?

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, Buffalo ill said:

Well if we are talking about off the field injuries, multiple players have been shot.  Didn't an eagles D linemen get ran over and killed back in the 90s while in his own yard?

 

Feel free to add to the list...this is just what I came up with

[RobbRiddick]

Great post. I just watched some of those on YouTube after reading this. The injuries while celebrating are especially embarrassing 

[The Frankish Reich]

I remember that the Griese dog-induced injury was assumed to be a cover-up of a drunken stumble. Some of the cover stories are fantastic in the level of detail they provide ... in baseball, all-star 2B Jeff Kent famously claimed that he hurt his wrist washing his car; the real story was he took a spill on a motorcycle. Riding a motorcycle was a contract violation.

[MDH]

59 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

Great post. I just watched some of those on YouTube after reading this. The injuries while celebrating are especially embarrassing 

Every time Cook does his flip into the end zone this is my fear.  

[co_springs_billsfan]

Tyrod Taylor lung puncture when getting an injection deserves mention

[Pete]

2 minutes ago, MDH said:

Every time Cook does his flip into the end zone this is my fear.  

My Mother broke her tailbone slipping on ice way back when.  She was in agony for weeks.  There is no comfortable sleeping position when you have a broken tailbone.

[holla83]

2 minutes ago, co_springs_billsfan said:

Tyrod Taylor lung puncture when getting an injection deserves mention

Justin Herbert found out he would be starting like 15 minutes before kickoff 

[RobbRiddick]

15 minutes ago, MDH said:

Every time Cook does his flip into the end zone this is my fear.  

Agreed, although this past week I was more worried he was going to run out of bounds 

[HOUSE]

I could do 5 pages on Sammy Watkins alone.

[Buffalo03]

The Bill Gramatica one is crazy. Can you imagine tearing your ACL over making a 1st quarter FG?

[Wacka]

In pregame, a Dolphin player was dunking the football over the crossbar and landed wrong and messed up his knee for the season. I think it was in the late 80s or early 90s.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

I seem to remember a WR a few years back making wings a couple of days before a game, and getting hot sauce in his eyes.  Google reveals nothing.  It does mention a Cowboys coach having to bail on a Zoom call for a similar mishap.

[Tuco]

Patriots rookie RB Robert Edwards went to the Pro Bowl following his rookie, 1,100+ yard rushing season in 1999. Part of the week's festivities included a flag football game in which Edwards injured his knee so badly doctor's considered amputation.

 

Edwards returned to the league, but not until 2002, where he managed just 20 rushing attempts in 11 games for Miami. 

 

The Pro Bowl doesn't have flag football games anymore.