Failure™ Magazine

Are You Ready For Some Football Injuries?

The most bizarre injuries in NFL history.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Sports

Rac ’Em Up
On August 12, 2006, “T-Rac,” the mascot for the Tennessee Titans, hit New Orleans Saints fourth-string quarterback Adrian McPherson with a golf cart as McPherson walked onto the field for the second half of an exhibition contest between the two teams. McPherson left the field with a “bruise” and didn’t play in the game, losing a precious opportunity to make an impression on coaches and win an NFL job.

Hard-Hitting Reporter
On September 30, 2007, following a 16-3 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn was bumped by a reporter in the team’s locker room as he cleaned his ear with a cotton swab. Blackburn dropped to the floor in pain—his eardrum nearly ruptured by the invading swab—and reported a loss of hearing. Only a year earlier, Blackburn had endured a much more serious injury scare. In December 2006, he was temporarily paralyzed after injuring his neck while making a tackle during a 35-20 loss to the Washington Redskins.

Self-Inflicted Wounds
On November 23, 1997, after scoring on a one-yard run late in the first half of a game against the New York Giants, Washington Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte celebrated by head-butting a padded wall adjacent to the end zone. Redskins’ head coach Norv Turner was seen mouthing the words “What happened?” to Frerotte on the sidelines after being informed that his starting quarterback had suffered a sprained neck that required X-rays and a trip to a local hospital for evaluation.

And, on October 9, 2006, Pittsburgh Steelers’ right guard Kendall Simmons suffered a frostbite-like burn after falling asleep with a chemical ice pack on his foot while watching Monday Night Football. The Steelers held Simmons out of the team’s following game, fearful that the hideous-looking open wound would become infected.

Reality Bites
On July 26, 2003, Kindal Moorehead, a defensive tackle and fifth-round draft choice of the Carolina Panthers, awakened on the first day of the team’s training camp with a mysterious bite mark on his right firearm. Four days later he was hospitalized—kept on intravenous fluids and antibiotics for four days—after his forearm, hand and elbow became infected and swelled to outsized proportions. Team doctors believe Moorehead was bitten by a spider.

Team-Building
On June 13, 2007, Washington Redskins rookie safety LaRon Landry—the sixth overall pick in that year’s draft—took a paintball shot in the groin during a team-building outing, leaving him unable to practice when the team opened its minicamp two days later.

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