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Much has been made of all the sacks and hits RW has been taking and its a definite concern. But among other excellent traits Wilson is as tough as a 2 dollar steak. He has never had stellar protection as a pro and yet unless I am mistaken the guy hasn't missed a snap due to injury in his career. Its taken Mariota 7 games as a pro to miss time. RGIII has been decimated. Andrew Luck just missed 2 starts with some nefarious mysterious shoulder ailment. Tyrod Taylor was being called the "next Russel Wilson" and now he will miss his second in a row in only his first season as a starter so he isn't Russel Wilson I guess.Romo, Rodgers,go down the list. Not too many guys who pop back up like RW.

Either way it is a remarkable testament to his workout regimen and toughness and maybe an invisible angel on his shoulder. I fear that the hit that even Wilson cant take may come if the protection doesn't improve but the guy sure as heck can take some abuse.

Hawktawk wrote:Much has been made of all the sacks and hits RW has been taking and its a definite concern. But among other excellent traits Wilson is as tough as a 2 dollar steak. He has never had stellar protection as a pro and yet unless I am mistaken the guy hasn't missed a snap due to injury in his career. Its taken Mariota 7 games as a pro to miss time. RGIII has been decimated. Andrew Luck just missed 2 starts with some nefarious mysterious shoulder ailment. Tyrod Taylor was being called the "next Russel Wilson" and now he will miss his second in a row in only his first season as a starter so he isn't Russel Wilson I guess.Romo, Rodgers,go down the list. Not too many guys who pop back up like RW.

Either way it is a remarkable testament to his workout regimen and toughness and maybe an invisible angel on his shoulder. I fear that the hit that even Wilson cant take may come if the protection doesn't improve but the guy sure as heck can take some abuse.

Russell is short and stocky, which lends itself to being less injury prone, at least to his legs. Plus he's smart about how he plays. Not that he isn't anything you said about him.

I was just thinking about that and how someone could survive that many hits without getting hurt. The guy is getting pummeled out there and still gets up after every play. He's like the energizer bunny, he just keeps going and going. Kind of reminds me of Farve. It won't last forever and you know protection it's at the top of the check list...yet still, every sack makes me cringe!

RiverDog wrote:
Russell is short and stocky, which lends itself to being less injury prone, at least to his legs. Plus he's smart about how he plays. Not that he isn't anything you said about him.

I agree River he is very well put together, more like a running back than a prototypical QB.And he is smart about when to slide, run out of bounds etc. That being said some of the hits he is taking now are just brutal and punishing. I saw him live vs Tampa Bay in 2013 and they could have been called for 10 personal fouls they hit Wilson late/in the head/ low etc. He was obviously in a great deal of pain but we saw what happened, greatest comeback in team history.
It really is quite amazing he can play as well as he does taking this type of punishment.

I am sure most of you have heard how bad the 49ner playing field is. Wilson almost became one of its victims Thursday night when went into his QB slide and his cleats on one foot dug in. The commentator even mentioned the divot the awkward slide left. Russell very well could have suffered any where from a high ankle sprained to a pulled and/or torn tendon. He was lucky, now, that wasn't a sack but it does illustrate that every time Russell takes a hit he could be injured to the point that he could miss some games. He does avoid hits very well, but, the ODDS are that his number will come up. I am surprised that has hasn't suffered a concussion yet. I am worried about him.

I am totally confused as to why Levi Stadium has grass and not field turf? The grass has been horrid since they opened and wait till the El Nino rains make it into a swamp mud rasslin pit in time for the SB! Plus the drought now ongoing it seems would require less water as residents are being restricted and fined.

Hawktawk wrote: I agree River he is very well put together, more like a running back than a prototypical QB.And he is smart about when to slide, run out of bounds etc. That being said some of the hits he is taking now are just brutal and punishing. I saw him live vs Tampa Bay in 2013 and they could have been called for 10 personal fouls they hit Wilson late/in the head/ low etc. He was obviously in a great deal of pain but we saw what happened, greatest comeback in team history.
It really is quite amazing he can play as well as he does taking this type of punishment.

Yea, North Hawk was one of the first to comment about our neglecting the OL and the risk it is putting Russell in, and I think that the rest of us are coming around to that conclusion as well. It's a genuine concern, it's like we're throwing him into a tank of sharks and expecting him never to get bit.

Some quarterbacks just don't get injured and others can't take a shower without getting hurt. Peyton Manning never missed a start for something like 12 years until he had a neck injury, yet Jake Locker, a stud of an athlete, couldn't stay on the field for a full season in either college or the pros.

The key is the Seahawks being proactive.

They run a drill in practice where RW drops back 3 steps, then is pummeled by 3 D linemen who have clear shot at him.

Sound familiar?:)

All kidding aside, if the OL doesn't improve soon, the odds increase that he's gonna miss some time as the result of a sack.
It's so discouraging right now. If our offensive line were just Decent, it would make a world of difference.

Yeah but so was Zorn till his leg was broke by Gary Big hands Johnston. Our OL sucks just cause our QB can get it done doesn't offer me any comfort.

Seahawks4Ever wrote:I am sure most of you have heard how bad the 49ner playing field is. Wilson almost became one of its victims Thursday night when went into his QB slide and his cleats on one foot dug in. The commentator even mentioned the divot the awkward slide left. Russell very well could have suffered any where from a high ankle sprained to a pulled and/or torn tendon. He was lucky, now, that wasn't a sack but it does illustrate that every time Russell takes a hit he could be injured to the point that he could miss some games. He does avoid hits very well, but, the ODDS are that his number will come up. I am surprised that has hasn't suffered a concussion yet. I am worried about him.

I had the same thought about the field in Santa Clara and was irritated at Phil Sims for criticizing RW's slide. It wasn't the slide, it was that DAMNED field. They'd better fix it before the Super Bowl; it would be criminal to have someone unnecessarily hurt, a game-tying field goal missed, or any one of a 1,000 potential mishaps in a game of that magnitude because of the condition of the turf. It is bad enough in the regular season, but the Super Bowl?? I think it is very strange for the billion dollar NFL enterprise to jeopardize its money-makers with the lack of a turf standard. IMHO, the turf caused Clemmons' injury in DC during the 2012 playoffs which, IMHO again, resulted in a subsequent loss for the Hawks.

To the topic - RW is tough, he is smart (sliding, running out of bounds, making himself a smaller target etc.), and his body type all help him prevent injuries. When RGIII got that first injury back in 2012, I actually thought (as I watched the replay) that he might have trouble with injuries in his career. His body just looks like a sprain waiting to happen. The extensive medical testing required likely reveals some of the injury-prone players to management more than we know. By way of example, I dislocated my shoulder swimming and saw an orthopedic surgeon my Freshman year in college. Waaaaaaaaaaaay back then, he said I have shallow sloshy joints (say that five times fast) and predicted that I would endure injuries if I continued to participate in sports. A badly sprained ankle (with ligament damage that put me in a boot), three ACL tears, subluxations in the "good' shoulder etc....were all predicted by my physician because I'm poorly glued together. All this to say I think RW is the opposite, while RG3 and others oft injured may be more like me.

I hope that A. this thread doesn't jinx our boy, and B. that P-Rich doesn't have injury trouble throughout. This is his second ACL and he's a yungin yet.

Stay SAFE, RW! Go Hawks

It almost sounds like the field in Santa Clara is on the scale of what FedEx field on DC was like a few years ago when not only RG3, but Adrian Peterson blew out knees on.

This is one issue that makes the NFLPA such a joke as a union. They should be front and center when issues like this, ie working conditions that threaten the health of their members, becomes an issue.

I was mad too when Sims said " As a former base ball player Wilson should know how to slide better than that". WTF?? I am sure Phil Sims has seen enough of Wilson's slides to know he slides better than most QB's. One of the announcers then pointed out the divot that Russell's cleats had left to show how deeply they had dug into the turf.

Have any of you not living here in the Seattle area heard about the so-called "field turf" controversy?? There are several parents groups that have forced a couple of high schools to not use their own stadiums because they had installed field turf and these parental groups claim that the ground up tires that are used in FT can cause cancer. I know I have never heard of any CREDIBLE study that confirms these peoples fears but they don't want to listen and have actually gotten the schools to change the venues or even the postponing or even canceling of games. Can you imagine having to play at your opponents stadium when you are supposed to be the home team? Ridiculous!

As a turf management professional in the golf industry I find it amazing how poorly some of these fields are maintained. I manage 140 acres of finely mowed turf and I dont have anything ever looking as bad as Fed Ex or the big zipper every Sunday. Its a 120 yard section of turf for chrissakes, maybe a couple of practice fields and some landscape. It isn't maintained quite the same due to the high wear and tear per square foot but the knowledge, products and equipment to create flawless sports turf are readily available. Either nobody in the bean counter office is listening to the turf professionals or the coaches aren't the only ones needing to be fired.

Seahawks4Ever wrote:Have any of you not living here in the Seattle area heard about the so-called "field turf" controversy?? There are several parents groups that have forced a couple of high schools to not use their own stadiums because they had installed field turf and these parental groups claim that the ground up tires that are used in FT can cause cancer. I know I have never heard of any CREDIBLE study that confirms these peoples fears but they don't want to listen and have actually gotten the schools to change the venues or even the postponing or even canceling of games. Can you imagine having to play at your opponents stadium when you are supposed to be the home team? Ridiculous!

Yes, I've heard of the controversy. It's a subject that needs further study, but I agree with you, the parents groups are over reacting without any facts. Field Turf is going to prevent injuries, especially in the Seattle area when the UV rays virtually disappear and natural turf can't grow to repair itself, not to mention the rain. Even if there is some long term risks, I doubt that the very small amount of time they spend on the turf is going to make a big enough difference to where it would outweigh the difference in injuries, concussions, etc., of Field Turf vs. natural grass.

If parents are that concerned about the well being of their kids, then they shouldn't let them drive a car or ride in one driven by another teen until after they get out of high school.

Richardson is back that should help.

Seahawks4Ever wrote:
Have any of you not living here in the Seattle area heard about the so-called "field turf" controversy?? There are several parents groups that have forced a couple of high schools to not use their own stadiums because they had installed field turf and these parental groups claim that the ground up tires that are used in FT can cause cancer. I know I have never heard of any CREDIBLE study that confirms these peoples fears but they don't want to listen and have actually gotten the schools to change the venues or even the postponing or even canceling of games. Can you imagine having to play at your opponents stadium when you are supposed to be the home team? Ridiculous!

I have heard about it but would certainly like to see studies to support this claim. It would be hard for me to believe that the little exposure they are getting to this type of turf would have that big of an impact, especially if the teams aren't even practicing on those types of fields. With that being said the controversy is good IMO as it hopefully will force somebody to study it. IMO there are a ton of chemicals entering our bodies all of the time and the more we can study their impact, the better. As a parent of young children with a wife who is always doing her best to be informed it is shocking how many chemicals/herbicides/pesticides we are allowing our children to consume, although that is another conversation all together.

As far as this current debate goes I am not a huge fan of field turf. It is certainly reliable and looks nice, but I would rather play on the old turf myself. With the dry autumns we have been having the past few years all of the high schools in our league have fields that still work perfectly fine, although I admit with a week or two of heavy rain most turn to crap pretty quickly. There is also the cost to consider. I have heard it argued that in the long run having field turf saves you money, but I seriously doubt that as a turf field can cost around 3-5 mil to install and usually need to be re-done after 8-10 years. It costs our district maybe $35,000 (at most) to maintain our field for a year so after 10 years or so we might have $400,000 invested into that field. IMO they are a scam.

Have any of you not living here in the Seattle area heard about the so-called "field turf" controversy?? There are several parents groups that have forced a couple of high schools to not use their own stadiums because they had installed field turf and these parental groups claim that the ground up tires that are used in FT can cause cancer.

I don't know where they got that idea, but I'll be very surprised if there's any validity to it beyond maybe a single study indicating some chemical used to manufacture tires might cause cancer in rats when they're forced to drink it 24/7.

I have trouble faulting parents' over-protectiveness, though- there's no way I'd sue in a case like this (unless it's far more well-established than I'm thinking), but my wife and I are pretty over-protective of our daughters, too, so if something about the field got me spooked, I'd probably have them avoid it one way or the other.

There is no way spending 3 hrs on most any surface would have any impact on your health.

Here's the best article I could find on the subject.

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/artifi ... ys-n220166

It can be more than just a couple of hours of exposure. One of the issues is that the tiny rubber granules can get embedded in skin or ingested.

It is a concern that should be looked into. There are an estimated 11,000 fields across the country that use this type of playing surface.

Hawktawk wrote:There is no way spending 3 hrs on most any surface would have any impact on your health.

This is far from the truth but I won't get into it.

Here's the best article I could find on the subject.

Kinda confirms- there is no data indicating a problem, just "science of small numbers" stuff plus the manufacturing chemicals giving people the willies.

I don't see anything wrong with asking them to study it more deeply, though, although I can't imagine the complexity that's going to be required to get anything meaningful out of it.