Official: DMac has Sports Hernia

[PhillyGirl]

If anyone can do this, Donovan can do it

i have no doubt he can fight thru this...hes a tough bastich...but neither he nor any other qb is going to win a superbowl with this injury

As Thawk said, I guess you missed those Super Bowls when Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won them recently. And McNabb with a sports hernia is 100 times better than either of those clowns.

And yes, I believe that the Eagles defense is as good as the Ravens defense was that year and better than the Bucs defense was.

[ice grillin you]

That's credible.


Hernias can and do occur anywhere on the abdominal wall, and are given other various names such Femoral, Epigastric, Spigelian or Sports Hernia. The basic problem remains the same, the muscle container of the abdominal wall no longer holds the contents safely and securely in place. As pressure inside the abdomen pushes the abdominal contents through this defect, a bulge is created, and pain, burning or aching are experienced. These symptoms gradually increase in intensity with time as the hernia gradually enlarges.

[SunMo]

when Donovan broke his leg a couple years ago, i thought that season was over, but look what a good defense, good running game, and steady QB play did for that team while McNabb is out.

the main question is, is an injured Donovan McNabb better or worse than a healthy A.J. Feeley?

[Mad-Lad]

have some of you been taking advice from 22 year olds?  lets see how this week looks before all the doomsday talk.

[SD_Eagle5]

FYI-I talked to a Doc today and he said that 'YES' a sports hernia can get worse. Also said the same thing we've been hearing, that as long as he can cope with the pain he should be fine.

Here's my thing: the O-line needs to step up and be dominant. No more half ass effort and missed assignments. Hicks has been downright dreadful. Past injuries to McNabb usually resulted in the rest of the team picking up their play, I hope the same is done this season starting with KC. Because regardless of what any of us want, Reid is going to play McNabb until he his physically incapable of doing so.

[Diomedes]

the main question is, is an injured Donovan McNabb better or worse than a healthy A.J. Feeley?

Seems to me it's already been said: the question is..can/will the Eagles establish a strong running game?  If yes, then Donovan and the Eagles will be fine.  If no, then Donovan likely can't save the day and the Eagles are farged.

And for anyone who cares, I say that based on the fact that it is my opinion.  Eat shtein motherfargers.

[twatson]

If you want to see some really nasty stuff searcg for hernia on Google Images.  This was the only pic that I thought wouldn't cause most people to vomit.

[WEST is GOD]

You guys act like this guy is going to be 40%. This injury is NO different than what he had last week. An abdominal strain is the same thing as a sports hernia. Sports hernia is just a fancy term for it, because athletes get it. Mcnabb right now is at 80% at the worst. This type of injury will never get 100% better and 100% heal on it's own, but on a week to week basis Mcnabb will start to feel better and better. I have no doubt he can QB this team to a parade, and scramble on top of it.

This is not a real hernia. A real hernia is a rupture in the abdominal wall. This is a strain.

[SD_Eagle5]

As The Underdogs, Eagles Tackle Obstacles 




September 28, 2005


In an odd kind of way, this is a terrific situation: The Eagles are decided underdogs heading to Kansas City.
Their star quarterback has a sports hernia, which causes extreme pain in every day situations like, well, exiting his fine automobile. Rolling out with 290-pound defensive linemen chasing him and trying to fire out a pass through a maze of defenders is another challenge altogether.

Their All-Pro kicker spends his days in the athletic trainer's room trying to heal a hamstring that is torn in two places, so the Eagles are probably going with a youngster who has never before played in an NFL regular season game.

The defense is likely to be without a starting defensive tackle who leads the team in quarterback sacks. The opponent, Kansas City, is snarling mad after an embarrassing loss on Monday Night Football and has a home crowd, as loud as any in the league, that poses an intimidating presence.

What a perfect place and time to shock the world.

Hey, you would like things to be better. You would like quarterback Donovan McNabb to feel great after the best three-game start in his Eagles career. You would like him to answer questions other than ones about his variety of injuries -- from his chest to his abdominal injury (deemed a sports hernia for clarification's sake) to his shin contusion.

But things are never easy for McNabb, who has thrown four touchdowns playing on a broken ankle (vs. Arizona, 2001), battled his way through a thumb injury early in the 2003 season, been KO'd by a rib cartilage injury in the playoffs later that year and now has these trilogy of injuries to beat.

McNabb is a tough guy. Tough guys play quarterback in the NFL. You take a beating at the position and you get right back in there and play more. You stand in the pocket and you take your shots, so pain is something McNabb has accepted as part of his life.

There are many questions to ask. Let's start here.

1. Why subject McNabb to further injury? Would it be better to just have surgery now?

According to the way head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder explained it, McNabb's risk for further injury is minimal. There is a risk that his tolerance for more pain will be tested, In fact, every movement that stresses the abdominal region -- any time that McNabb opens his hips on the field, away from football, any time -- will cause pain.

McNabb will accept the pain. He will play through the injury. For how long, well, McNabb's goal is to win the Super Bowl and then undergo surgery and heal throughout the off-season.

Surgery at this point would basically end McNabb's season. The recovery time from such an injury -- typically, said Burkholder -- is 8 to 12 weeks.

The Eagles point to the experience of cornerback Sheldon Brown a couple of seasons ago, when he played an entire year with a sports hernia, and punter Dirk Johnson, who has surgery on his sports hernia just before training camp started and is still working his way back to 100 percent, as examples of players who have blocked out and pain and played through the injury.

Wide receiver Terrell Owens had a surgical prodedure on his sports hernia years ago while he was a member of the 49ers and continues to deal with repeated bouts with abdominal pain.

It came down to this for McNabb: Play through the pain or risk ending his season right now with surgery. He chose the former, and accepted the fact that he won't be anywhere near 100 percent for the remainder of 2005.

2. How will the injury affect McNabb?

It depends on how much stress he puts on the region. McNabb and head coach Andy Reid insist that the quarterback will be fine when it comes to moving in and out of the pocket, that the game plan will not change and that McNabb can execute whatever the coach asks.  

Certainly, though, McNabb appeared to be in pain on Sunday against Oakland. He was magnificent from the pocket, though, passing for 365 yards and a pair of touchdowns and engineering a two-minute drive to set up David Akers for the game-winning field goal.

That McNabb's pocket skills are so strong is a huge plus in this story. He can sit back in the pocket and tear a defense apart. He can win games that way.

But the Eagles also like to move him out of the pocket, use him on bootlegs and rolls and scrambles if they are there. We can only wait and see how well he can move -- and determine how the injury affects his mobility and his balance and his thrust when he delivers the football.

3. Does the injury affect the way defenses play McNabb?

Could be. It remains to be seen. When asked about the possibility that the Chiefs could blitz a wounded McNabb on Sunday, he smiled and said his responsiblity would then be to make the defense pay for its aggressive approach.

Will defenses lay back in coverage and dare him to beat them with his arm, taking the chance that McNabb won't be able to run out of the pocket?

It's going to be fascinating to watch, literally, every play. That's how quickly McNabb could tweak his injury. Every hit will leave us holding our breath, for it could aggravate his chest or his sports hernia or his shin contusion.

4. Would it be better to rest McNabb until after the bye?

Not according to what Burkholder said. The only way the injury heals is through surgery, not rest. It will feel better during the down time, but once the injury is stressed, the pain returns.

"All the physicians involved in this have said his pain can get worse, it may get better, but the condition won't," said Burkholder. "It's not like he's going to have a career ending problem to his abdomen or groin and everything that happens is correctable with the surgery. So, to a point yes, the pain may get worse, he may be able to deal with the pain better too as we do more rehab and treatment."
5. What can we expect from McNabb?

We can expect him to play football. He has eight touchdown passes and two interceptions in three games. McNabb is the leader of the team and the offensive starter.

You can have the same high expectations. You can understand that he's playing in extreme pain, but that he is not in any danger of altering his career path. You can understand that he, like everyone on the team, is putting the team in front of his own interests.

The Eagles have the goal of winning the Super Bowl. That has not changed one bit, despite the obvious challenges ahead.

With McNabb hurting, with Akers out and with Walker likely to miss this game, the Eagles are the team most people out there expect to lose.

Me? I think it's a terrific chance to show what kind of team the Eagles have, what kind of confidence the team breeds. The Eagles are going to Kansas City to win a football game, obstacles and all.

[WEST is GOD]

When they are talking about rest, it's not to make Mcnabb feel better, they are talking about healing the injury. The injury won't heal without surgery, but as the weeks go on Mcnabb will feel better and better. This is something he can play with no problem, and even scramble. Some weeks it might tighten up on him, but for the most part he'll be the normal Mcnabb.

As far as hurting the Superbowl chances like some are saying? Doesn't hurt them one bit. He'll be able to do the things he normally does. Just when he does there is a chance he might feel some pain here and there. Keep the area from getting inflamed, and he'll be fine. If he does an awkward juke or something during a game though, that thing is going to be hurting like hell.

[Wingspan]

I don't understand what you're trying to communicate with the whole he wouldn't have GOTTEN THE INJURY statement. Are you saying the sternum injury transmuted into a sports hernia or he got the hernia because of the sternum gig? I'd figure a chest contusion or whatever and a hernia a close to mutually exclusive.

The Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent motherfarging Dilfer. Even injured, McNabb is still a better QB than that.

oh, i am not saying the sternum injury is in any way connected to the hernia. they are completely mutually exclusive.

i had a sports hernia in college. and i just know for an absolute fact that it can get worse. the hole may become bigger. which makes recovery times longer, and insanely uncomfortable. i am not saying it's inevitible that mcnabbs will become worse. but to say "it cant get worse from playing" is just flat out dead wrong. and i have a scar to prove it.

even if it "gets worse" he could still play through that. but the worse it gets, even just standing farging hurts.

it's more likely mcnabbs hernia pre-existed to the start of the season. they are hard to detect before they are "agravated"...it probably came from playing with dog toys in arizona.

reid fudges injury reports all the time, this one's no different.

[MURP]

suck it up and play. There is entirely too much nancy talk in this thread. 

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Most disturbing quote from Donovan in his PC today in response to a question about him being able to do some of the things that helped Plummer have success on Monday (like bootlegs, etc):

"I'll put my #16 on, and I'll be Jake Plummer on Sunday."

Yikes!

[Mad-Lad]

There is entirely too much nancy talk in this thread.

Yeah, what he said.

[WEST is GOD]

I agree as well. We can worry about it if he looks really bad out there on sunday. I expect him to be no different than the Mcnabb from the San Fran game though.