At some point, it might be easier to just ask which NFL players are not playing through muscle tears. In fact, this is starting to bug me. First it was Aaron Rodgers playing through a calf tear. Then it was Peyton Manning playing through a quad tear. Not to be outdone, Giants WR Odell Beckham just revealed that he played through two hamstring tears. Take that, you one-tear playing-through sissies! (Sidenote: it’s stupid to use the “junior” designation as with Odell Beckham Jr. unless the father also played football. Yeah, Steve Smith, we’re not getting you confused with your infant son.)
As I pointed out with Aaron Rodgers, this use of the term, “tear,” while medically accurate, sounds way more dramatic than it really is. All muscle strains are, to some extent, muscle tears. That’s just how they work. Maybe it’s a Grade 1 strain, meaning that the tears are on an incredibly small level. Maybe it’s a Grade 2 muscle strain in which there is some significant tearing. But usually, when people talk of, “torn muscles,” they are referring to the worst-case-scenario Grade 3 strain, which is a complete tear. These are the ones that instantly end a season and require surgery, often with complications. With Rodgers, Manning, and Beckham, we can safely assume that they suffered no more than Grade 2 strains. These injuries are significant, and I’m sure that they affected the performance of these players. Beckham was downright amazing for a healthy player, and to hear that he still wasn’t at 100% health makes you think that the ceiling is even higher for him in the future. If there even is a ceiling. Oh wait, the ceiling must be that he’s tethered to Eli, right? But really, let’s take it down a notch with this, “played through a torn muscle,” angle. It just seems a little over the top to me. If you don’t agree, just answer me this, would that New York Post headline have the same impact if it said, “Odell Beckham said he played with hamstring strain?” Doubtful.
