Allen Park The game of football is a stunning game that involves extreme violence. Everyone has to deal with injuries at some point. However, it seems that the Detroit Lions aren’t just experiencing an influx of injuries. They’re also experiencing a string of backinjuries specifically that has led the team to look into what they’re doing or not doing, is causing the injuries.
“It’s an excellent question, because you’re bound to at least glance at it and ask yourself”All right, do we doing something right? Do we have to make a change? Do we have something we’re not doing?” the head coach Dan Campbell said. “We’re taking a look at every aspect, and there’s nothing I am able to think of at the moment which suggests that we’ve done something could have been avoided.”
Four players on that initial roster of 53 players are suffering from back injuries. One of them, defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike, has struggled with back injuries dating back to his time as a student at The University of Washington. Detroit selected his number as a second-round pick of last year, believing that the potential of his position being a pass rusher on the interior was greater than the possibility of re-injury.
However, Onwuzurike sat out the entirety of his first training camp due to a recurring back pain. He also couldn’t complete the first padded session of the season before suffering another injury. The Lions were waiting for the injury to heal over five months hoping that Onwuzurike would be back at the right time to begin the beginning of the season. But they finally put Onwuzurike on injured reserve just before the start of the opening game. Onwuzurike is expected to miss the beginning in the new season and will miss at minimum nine weeks of practices in all.
Over the horizon, Tommy Kraemer — Detroit’s best backup guardhas suffered an back injury in the middle of training camp. He started missing training in the last week of preseason and then was forced to miss the final game before eventually being placed to injured reserve for the remainder of the week.
Halapoulivaati Vaitai, the starting right guard, suffered back discomfort the exact same time as Kraemer. He took all 29 snaps of the offensive line in the game against Pittsburgh however he twisted the back at least once during the way. He was later placed to injured reserve due to the injury, and was eventually suggested as a candidate for back surgery. He had the operation Tuesday evening in Dallas and it’s not clear if he’ll return in 2022.
“That’s to be watched,” Campbell said. “He’ll likely be out for a while here but we’re not ruling out that he’s finished for the year.”
Injuries caused by Vaitai and Kraemer caused Detroit to make deep cuts to its bench and start Logan Stenberg — who has played only four offensive minutes during his entire career on right guard in the game against Philadelphia. A finger injury sustained by right guard Jonah Jackson has worsened the situation this week and could cause Kayode Awosika, signed off Philadelphia’s practice squad, begin next Sunday’s match against Washington.
In addition the beginning cornerback Amani Oruwariye began suffering from back discomfort earlier in the week. He was able to training on Thursday and attempted to warm up alongside teammates however, he eventually informed the medical personnel that he was suffering from an issue in the lower back. He attempted to stretch for longer than five minutes, but was removed from the session and sent back to the training facility. The team didn’t train on Friday, and was being considered day-today ahead of games against the commanders.
There are four players on those on the 53-man initial list who are missing due to back injuries. This doesn’t even count the receiver Quintez Cephus who missed two weeks of camp because of an back injury that he suffered while performing an acrobatic catch.
“We’ll examine every stone and when we think it’s something I should modify or change I’ll do it,” Campbell said. “But I’m not able to say there’s anything that’s happening right now that we’ve done differently. We’re very smart about the way we train. If a person has back issues, we do not load them up upon their back. Single leg squats are the most common (and other exercises similar to that). There are a variety of exercises we do. I think we’re proficient in this area. It’s true that these are becoming more frequent.”
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