Correction:
I made a mistake.
I don’t think Conor’s injury happened because he took 5 years off and his body wasn’t conditioned.
Watching this replay, it looks like he’d practiced that kick countless times. You can even see him warming it up backstage.
The problem was when he tried that kick, his body was still moving forward when his foot landed.
And his leg was bent around 20 degrees.
That’s a classic mechanism for an ACL (maybe MCL) injury that we see in the literature
Sometimes elite athletes get injured because elite sports are dangerous.
Don’t let Conor’s injury overshadow the fact that Paddy had the best walkout in the sport, people talking about him not having any elite wins, came in as the UNDERDOG, and slept BSD in under a minute. The next superstar of the game was born last night
The Ravens traded two 1sts for Maxx Crosby and many considered it a great move
But the Bengals gave up one 1st for Dexter Lawrence and its an awful trade?
Im not really understanding the backlash here??
some thoughts on Lawrence to Cincy...
<buckle up>
Dexter Lawrence is a 28-year old stud
he spent most of his career playing vs elite interior OLs of the Eagles & Cowboys
he's been double-teamed at the highest rate in the NFL
he's now playing in the AFC North
Ravens lost their C
Steelers might start a 42-yr old QB
Browns have Deshaun or Shedeur
Lawrence should FEAST
the Giants were TERRIBLE when he wasn't on the field
last year, even in a "down" year for Lawrence:
Giants defense with...
Dexter Lawrence OFF the field:
#32 YPA (8.4)
#31 sack rate (4.1%)
#27 EPA/pass (+0.13)
#26 pass success (47%)
#23 pressure rate (32%)
Dexter Lawrence ON the field:
#7 pass success (40%)
#8 YPA (6.6)
#9 sack rate (7.7%)
#10 EPA/pass (+0.09)
#22 pressure rate (33%)
that was a "down" year for Dexter
the team was top-10 vs the pass when he was out there
bottom-10 when he wasn't
want a larger sample?
last 3 years:
Dexter Lawrence OFF the field:
#32 YPA (7.7)
#31 pressure rate (29%)
#31 pass success (48%)
#30 EPA/pass (+0.14)
#30 sack rate (5.5%)
Dexter Lawrence ON the field:
#8 pass success (42%)
#8 sack rate (7.4%)
#10 EPA/pass (+0.02)
#13 YPA (7.0)
#15 pressure rate (36%)
and again, the context is VITAL:
he was obviously the #1 best player on the Giants defense
every team knew it
they double teamed him at the #1 highest rate and he STILL made this big of a difference
and that was despite playing some of the NFL's top offensive lines in the NFC East as it relates tot he Eagles and Cowboys for YEARS
oh, and then there's this pretty ridiculous nugget: