Week 8 Fantasy Football Injury Report : Kiko Alonso Hit on Joe Flacco

Heads 'N Tales Podcast - Talking Sports Injury Rehab, Prevention, Perseverance, Concussions & Athlete Transition

After each week of NFL football games for the 2017-2018 season, the Heads 'N Tales podcast will be posting an episode dedicated to injuries and health & safety topics surrounding the NFL. Specifically we will talk about possible prevention strategies, the rulebook, equipment and other injury buzz around the league. My co-host and strategist for these episodes will be one of my closest friends, Josh Boyd (hence the J in "JK"..I'm the K...). Josh and I grew up playing baseball together. Josh was a division-1 center fielder for Monmouth University and experienced his fair share of injuries throughout his career. Although Josh never played organized football, the dude flat-out knows the game of football and undoubtably knows more about the ins-and-outs of the sport better than I do from both a fan and x's & o's perspective. Our intention for these episodes is to spark conversations around topics that are usually brushed under the rug or only minimally covered in the hopes of making football and all sports safer for the athletes who play them.

You are currently looking at the show notes for Week 8!

Week 8 Injuries:

Jordan Reed, TE Washington, Hamstring, Guy who is ALWAYS hurt

Zach Miller, TE Chicago, Leg/Knee, Viewer Discretion Advised

Can't fault Zach Miller for not holding on to that TD. Knees are not supposed to bend that way. This looks awfulpic.twitter.com/WwtmgSPY97

— Jason McIntyre (@jasonrmcintyre) October 29, 2017

Chris Hogan, WR New England, Shoulder/Ribs/Collarbone? MRI Today

Chris Hogan's injury #Patriots #WBZ pic.twitter.com/cRRaFr9AB7

— Joe Giza (@JoeGiza) October 29, 2017

Joe Flacco, QB Baltimore, Concussion

Kiko Alonso hit on Joe Flacco has him out of the game and in concussion protocol #TNF #FinsUp #RavensFlock #MIAvsBAL pic.twitter.com/AoJmLhIMLS

— Next Man Up (@spottingboard) October 27, 2017

What do we think about this one folks?

• A. clean

• B. dirty

• C. speed of the game

• D. Other (comment your take)

  • Instagram Comments:

    • Strengthworkscf: Hard to make a decision... if Miami doesn't commit to the tackle early flacco doesn't commit to the slide. Happens so fast.

    • Evang14: I am taking C on this one. Watching it live it looked like Flacco was running full speed and made a last second choice to slide. Flacco needs to give himself up earlier to protect himself. Sliding late and the rule in general puts defenders in a tough position in my opinion. When I watch the replay Flacco appears to look towards the sideline then sees Alonso coming and tries to go down. Alonso could have tried to hold up or jump but it is moving so fast not to mention it was right at the first down marker so he is trying to stop him from moving the chains.

    • Davidbracetty: D. Concussed the shit outta him. Ps- I owe you a phone call!!

    • simpsonatc22Man this is a tough one. The defender had already committed to the hit when Flacco was going down. I’m going to say C on this. My other question/concern is that his helmet has to be buckled tighter. I realize he took a head shot but he has got to tighten that up.

    • pabloelcomodinD - Dirty. First he committed to the slide before Alonso even started his tackling process. Second he went LOW. Which if Flacco stayed upright would have been right at his knees. Another violent, unnecessary hit. He could have went over top of him if he was truly trying to tackle correctly.

    • bmartinsports:DIRTY. NAPOLEON COMPLEX

    • Pearcecourt: Brutal.

    • Chris.ord15: Dirty, even if he had already commited he should have his arms out trying to tackle flacco with good form but he was diving at him shoulder first with the intent of laying down a massive hit on the qb so even without flacco sliding he was looming to put him with excessive force it was just made worse that the slide led to head contact

    • simpsonatc22@headsntales I don’t think his helmet coming off made this any worse. It’s just something I hate to see and am constantly preaching this to my kids

    • morrissussexsportsIt's amazing that Ronnie Lott would lay three hits like this a game and it would even get a replay. I think this hit was dirty based on the current rules. But I think it does say a lot about how far we've come in Football safety that we are even talking about it.

    • Z_peach: C. Not a fan of Kiko whatsoever. But that was a late slide and a clear attempt at the first down. Penalty yes, dirty or malicious I don't think so. But if you want to talk about dirty or malicious, what are your thought about the post play pay back. Yes, I get defending your qb and teammate, but after the late hit on Kiko, once on the ground the raven lineman continues to jump on Kiko and hit this helmet off until suh removes him. Ripping a helmet of a player on the ground post play in retaliation isn't dirty?

    • bbubz5@headsntales to that point though, leading with the shoulder is a legal hit, no? Only when leading with the helmet and leaving the ground would result in a targeting penalty. I would have to go with C, speed of the game with an unfortunate injury. I played quarterback myself, went up against @headsntales back in the day, and should know something like that has to be coming in open field like that.

    • pearcecourt@headsntales totally. Man they pissed off the Ravens. I would have said speed of the game because you can’t stop on a dime but he could have jumped over or rolled over. He hit so much harder than necessary.

    • Charliespaniard: Dirty.

    • Class_strength: Definitely C, but have to love Ryan Jensen sticking up for his qb after the play

    • michaelobrienshiftToday it is B - Dirty because he hasn’t rebooted his brain still believes it is A because of years of training.

    • nannang3Well, that second hit was purposeful.

• Facebook Comments:

  • Russell I want to say B. I cant stand the Ravens. I think the Dolphins dude was going for a low tackle to wipe the legs from Flacco, unfortunately Flacco slid and he ploughed into him. Ugly ugly situation and as much as it pains me I don't think its B

  • Derek I thought B until I saw this wide angle. At full speed the athletes are closing on each other head on at full speed and Flacco drops when they are only 5 yards apart or so. Borderline Call which is a function of the Speed of the Game. https://youtu.be/uoNcfGgebmk

  • Kathy I'm torn about this one. I first said B but after watching it several times and especially the slow motion, I think maybe C. Flacco started to slide at the same time Alonso is coming in for the tackle and is at full speed. Unfortunate that Flacco was at that vulnerable point.

  • Omar Would it be viewed differently if this was a running back and not a QB? Some quarterbacks seem like they can’t be touched anymore. It’s too hard to tell if it’s dirty or speed of the game but I bet kiko will get some fine and maybe suspension just cause it was on the QB

  • John Should have went for the sidelines as well.

  • Joelyn Dirty..he put his head down

Media Reaction:

Colin Cowherd, Fox:

• Baseball slide comparison, get down or wear a baseball in the mouth

NFL Network:

Week 7 Updates:

Luke Kuechly, LB Carolina, Active and played full game this week at TB

After returning from concussion protocol, Luke Kuechly still won’t say whether he had a concussion or not https://t.co/EooioLlHH6

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) October 29, 2017

• Makes it seem like the Panthers are purposely keeping specific diagnosis cloudy

Andrew Sendejo, S Minnesota, Suspended 1 Game (This past weekend’s game) for being a repeat violator after his hit on Mike Wallace of Baltimore discussed in last week's episode.

Vontaze Burfict, Fined 12k not suspended for kick on Pittsburgh player last week

Robert McClain, Safety Tampa Bay, Fined 24k for Helmet to Helmet hit on Buffalo WR Deonte Thompson

(Hit at 43 second mark of video)

• McClain suffered concussion on the play, Missed This week’s game vs TB

CJ Fedorowicz, TE Houston, Concussion, Played Week 1 then put on IR, UPDATE

Week 8 Illegal Hits:

Quandre Diggs, CB Detroit hit on Jesse James, TE Pittsburgh

#steelers #lions #jessejames pic.twitter.com/OGsIGyKUsN

— PsithLord (@scottpsithurism) October 30, 2017

Fletcher Cox DT PHI, Hit/Block on SF OL Joe Staley, Staley Suffered Broken Orbital Bone on Play, Cox reportedly facing suspension. Video of play not great, better video should come out with more coverage.

Here's the play in question where Staley was injured. Watch the bottom left of the screen. Staley goes flying and Cox throws his arms up. pic.twitter.com/k4cJMn76dq

— Dave Zangaro (@DZangaroNBCS) October 30, 2017 Extended conversation:

Le’Veon Bell Not Worried About Heavy Workload

• “I don’t think I run like other running backs…I don’t run into guys. I’m patient, I pick my spots. I get to the ground. I don’t think I take a lot of hits.”

• He wouldn’t be the first Steelers’ running back to know when to avoid the big hit. Franco Harris famously had a reputation for ducking out of bounds instead of embracing a big collision, allowing him to enjoy a 13 year career and, for example, lead the team in rushing at age 31.

• “If it’s 3rd and 3 or something, of course, you gotta go get it. But every carry is not like that for me. I had 35 last week, I probably had 4 or 5 last game where I’m head on head and just go at it. That’s low. A lot of games get 25 carries and 22 carries are like that. I just think I run a little different.”

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