David Wilson is a burner
That headline is suggestive to David Wilson’s speed. The headline from Dan Graziano over at the four letter is suggestive of pain, David Wilson suffers “burner”, an article which immediately quoted head coach Tom Coughlin:
"“We were all praying that it would not be an issue, that he would be able to come back and go to work,” Coughlin said. “But we’ll see.”"
Strong words from the head coach, regardless of Dan’s analysis and the alarms ringing throughout Giants Nation. Even within GMEN HQ, our on Zac Andrews (@clocktimer_) added some informative fanatic paranoia with resounding tweets such as:
Giants Nation, do you remember when Dan Connor landed on IR last season with a burner? Yeah, that brings up two things:
- Thoughts of the TV show Roseanne
- Fear about David Wilson missing the 2014 season
Neck injuries are serious in the NFL and there’s no easy way to fix them. Zac suggested:
But that isn’t really plausible in this non-marvel comic book life we live in. The sad truth is that football is a contact sport and that injuries are going to occur. Even in high school football, I watched as fellow players with talent broke legs or collarbones, or had a helmet smash over their nose, shattering it, making them look silly for weeks. Yet football is a game that is played despite the risks, for honor, for pride, not only for the players, but for whatever that team represents. With that said… sometimes players get injured, and it doesn’t make sense why their talent is taken away from them.
For players like David Wilson, as fans, you just have to possess hope that he can overcome. Believe that his “burner” is in his speed and not in his “neck”. Imagine him on the field making moves like in his rookie season, doing back-flips in the end zone. My colleague and co-editor @Adam Ganeles reminds us:
"As a rookie in 2012 Wilson averaged 5.0 YPC. He produced six 15+ yard jaunts, and 173 of 358 yards were accumulated on runs of 15 or more. Wilson was a regular breakaway threat. In 2013, prior to injury in week five, Wilson broke 13 tackles in 44 rush attempts; yet his long run was still only 18 yards. Can you imagine if he didn’t have ‘the moves’?"
Credit: NFL Game Rewind (2012, Week 5)
This season, the Giants need David Wilson’s speed and his open field excellence. They need him to develop into another great Giants first round running back, one that helps propel them to victories, a la Rodney Hampton and Ron Dayne (in that order).
However, injuries occur and sometimes what the team needs is cut short by that dramatic bastard they call reality. Later today at GMEN HQ, we will have more from Zac Andrews on the David Wilson situation. Wish him the best Big Blue Nation. He needs it.