Despite a 11-4 record heading into the final week of the NFL season, few teams have had a rougher time this year in terms of injuries than the New England Patriots. The constant roster churning has seemingly frustrated head coach Bill Belichick to the point that he is lashing out at the league.
''I'm in favor of total preparation for the players for the season," Belichick told reporters in a telephone conference call with Buffalo reporters. "And I think that's been changed significantly and, I would say, not necessarily for the better when you look at the injury numbers."
Belichick is hanging on to the old school philosophy that more contact and practicing during the summer can actually help players stay healthy during the brutal NFL schedule. New rules have been put into the collective bargaining agreement though that limit how many workouts coaches can run their players through.
"Personally, I think that's taking the wrong approach," he said. "You have a gap between preparation and competition level. And I think that's where you see a lot of injuries occurring. We get a lot of breakdowns. We get a lot of situations that players just aren't as prepared as they were in previous years, in my experience anyway."
The new rules haven't helped the Patriots, who have lost Rob Gronkowski, Jerod Mayo, Vince Wilfork, and Danny Amendola to injuries this year, among many others. NFL spokesman Michael Signora says Belichick's comments are misguided though.
We carefully monitor player injuries,'' Signora said. ''There is no evidence that the new work rules have had an adverse effect on the injury rate or that injuries have in fact increased.'' Some numbers back him up. According to Yahoo! Sports, there are 288 players on season-ending injured reserve right now, the lowest number since 2008. The same article notes that players who became injured but were released do not make it on the list.
Belichick's not buying the data. "When you see the number as high as they are, then I don't think that's a randomness that's been two years in a row," Belichick said. "I've got to think there's some correlation there."
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