Joe Po on Andrew Luck and Priest Holmes
 

Don't be one of those guys on Monday mornings.

https://joeposnanski.substack.com/p/ignore-the-pain

Has Posnanski written any blogs about talking to men who were sexually molested by Jerry Sandusky as children, and when they asked Joe Paterno for help he said nothing to the authorities?

Great read. Thanks for posting.

I was at that game.

But they make millions herp derp, they can't possibly be in any pain with all that money herp derp.

Thank you for posting

PAChiefsDouche probably wrote one of those emails.

That is the Posnanski column I remember more than any of them, also.

I also have no idea what it has to do with Luck. QBs don't take a pounding like running backs, Priest never earned $100 million, and never quit on his teammates - in fact, he loved the game so much he came back after multiple devastating injuries.

Priest is the ****ing man, and a warrior, and knew what he signed up for, and willingly took the abuse. He knew the deal.

Andrew Luck, in comparison to guys like Priest, is soft.

I mean, the dude injured himself snowboarding. LMAO

While this blog has a good overall message, is it really fair to compare the beating QBs take to a RB getting 300+ carries a season?

Priest Holmes should be put in a room with Shawn Merriman and be allowed to kick him in the nuts as many times as he wants.

I didn't read it as trying to compare the two so much as it was just pointing out that people tend to ignore the toll that pain has on one's body and mind. Priest took a regular beating, while Luck has had some bad luck (no pun intended). But both spent a lot of their football careers in pain, and I can understand why a dude who is already set for life would be willing to walk away if he's living life in a constant state of pain.

He’s smart enough to know it’s a business and that his decision impacts thousands of people. Especially the timing of that decision.

I wonder if Luck talked to the team about him mulling retirement after the Chiefs playoff game.

If he didn’t talk to the team about this until the papers got submitted after FA, the draft and other avenues the team could prepare for his retirement, then excuse me, but **** him and **** his decision to retire right before the season starts.

If he did talk to them, them him retiring at this time isn’t a bad move...what the team did with the info was irresponsible.

That made me sad for Priest, Vermeil was trying to kill him

Yeah, I'm certainly not defending the timing of it.

Thing is, I'm guessing they knew he wasn't going to play anytime soon even if he didn't retire. He hadn't practiced at all and I'm guessing was gonna end up being put on IR anyway. So they were probably prepared to play Brissett for the year.

Timing isn't ideal, but when you know you know. If he didn't want to go thru all the injury will he play won't he play stuff thru the year, better to just pull the bandaid now and be done with it.

By a few accounts, he told the Colts that he was retiring in March, before the draft. So...the Colts front office decided to roll with Jacoby Brissett as their start.

Suck for Lawrence.

With Brissett and the talent they have, they'll be an 8/9 win team, if not better if they get a break or two.

They're in a terrible division - they may get take the division and come back to Arrowhead.
.

Shit. I forgot about that. Why do elite Colts qbs decide to leave the team the year before a loaded qb class. That city doesn't deserve good qbs.

It’s tua or Herbert this year, Lawrence the year afterward

Yes. Absolutely. Not everyone is cut from the same cloth. And any individual hit can ruin both a career and a life. One could argue that it's almost scarier being a QB when your left tackle misses an assignment and you have some guy plowing into your blindside than taking a regular pounding in front of you while running out the clock.

Yes, there's the issue of constant pounding, but there's also the issue of that one hit out of nowhere that knocks you the **** out.

It's a personal decision. And people looking down upon it are well off base in my view.

I really struggle with the articles that come out saying I should feel sorry for these dudes because they have pain.

I mean, I have arthritis in my knees and hands. Plantar faciitis and shin splints just for good measure. It certainly affects my life and my work which is at times quite physical.

I know all that is different than taking a bunch of hits, and for the most part I have managed to avoid traumatic brain injury (not totally). But you know what I've never gotten? Even close to a vet min salary.

I don't want to be a ****ing douche, but Jesus man, at this point, any fool that signs a rookie contract either knows what they're getting into or they're dense as the center of a black hole.

In this specific case, I'm not that worried about it. I mean I'd be crushed if I were an Indy fan (God for ****ing bid), but objectively, Indy gave him the contract and he didn't violate any rules, similar to if Indy had decided to cut him. Sucks, but that's the risk you take giving giant ass contracts (See: Berry, Eric)

Given the Berry and Houston contracts in recent years and that God ****ing playoff game, I have a hard time drudging up any sympathy for any involved parties.

And there's the hit Holmes took from a roided up Merriman that, for all intents and purposes, ended his career.

He should've retired right then.

Totally agree with everything here, but the issue isn't sympathy or no sympathy.

It's
A/ Luck is a ****ing pussy who let his team down. OR
B/ The NFL is a violent sport and people have varied experiences. Luck has been beaten down and doesn't see the value of playing anymore in light of his own personal cost/benefit analysis.

Yeah, I mean, if i had made 100 however million he has at 29 and was able to walk away from my job and do whatever i wanted, that would be pretty tough to do. Especially if i knew that my head wasn't really in it and if i kept playing, i may not be able to function at 55.

Maybe he made so much money at the time, they couldn't surround him with a decent OL. LMAO :LOL: :thumb: It's the Colts, all the way.

That’s fair. I just read all that noise and it hits me like feel bad for these dudes they have it sooooo bad.

EDIT: I’ll admit I didn’t read the whole article. If I’m off base I apologize. If so, just apply my comments to the myriad of other “poor poor athletes” articles out there

No one is asking the fans to feel sorry for them. Luck, and the others that retired early, gave a legit reason for retiring in the face of idiot fans booing them and asking why while calling them dumbasses.

And how many times have those same fans said "if you dont like it, quit". Well, they did. And the player still gets roasted and called a pussy, because fans think they are owed something.

No argument that many fans are morons.

Nah, no need to apologize at all. It's an odd question to be posing. Football had once been such a grueling, blue collar sport. But now everyone recognizes the real dangers in it while it also leads to wealth beyond what most people can imagine. Where is the line drawn?

That's what every NFL player is dealing with right now. Other sports which are less debilitating have contracts that guarantee money while the NFL goes the opposite direction. That's why I find it hard to ever side with anyone but the players.

whoaaaaaaaaa

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Football doesn’t care about players. Players are starting to realize that more and more. The game gets what it needs from you then moves on. Now that players are getting what they need from the game and moving on it’s ****ing up the ecosystem</p>&mdash; Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) <a href="https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/1165642487718760451?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

i'm not sure i agree with that, either

the game never moves on from people like andrew luck

they still reap the benefits of their celebrity long after retirement

Thats 2 different things.

It's not about getting stuff from it, financially or whatever.

The game always moves on. These guys break down and once they can't play, we move on.

I'm not sure that's true.

We still see Montana jerseys at Arrowhead.

We'll show up to buy their autograph.

We'll buy their book, go see a movie they're in, buy art featuring them.

Ring of honor? Hall of fame? Broadcast careers? Private training facilities? 250k for a goddamn speech?

Game doesn't move on from everyone.

It would suck to be the guy making vet minimum and get ghosted by Andy Luck, though.

I feel bad for that guy a lot more than I'll ever feel bad for Andrew Luck for a few boos.

I'm not sure anyone has asked for your sympathy.

No one is asking you to feel bad for Andrew Luck. And did you watch his press conference? He doesn't seem like the guy who feels good about the decision or the guy who wants you to feel sympathy for him. It strikes me that he played the 2016 season injured and was mediocre and that tore at his fiber. He vowed never to do that again. And this season he realized he was in for another year at 75% at best and just decided it wasn't worth it.

I'm sure he feels terrible about the mediocre players he could've elevated. But that's a weird line to draw.

Yeah, no problem with AL, BUT **** THE COLTS!!!!

I just don’t like that the NFL got robbed of one of its best QBs. That’s not good at all for competitive balance.

I’d rather my team compete against the best rather than mediocre talent.

Nope. The best are those that have the will to play. This isn't like Luck's ACL exploded. He chose not to push it.

No one will be crying tears for Mahomes if he tweaks his hamstring.

I don't think sympathy is the point.

This is untrue. No one knew about this until last Monday, when he came in and requested a meeting with Irsay.

Luck got hit less than any other qb last season and his entire offensive line is back and healthy this year.

I think this is less about the punishment he would have taken going forward and more about a promise he made himself in 2016.

As a man, I can respect that.

As a FAN, it freakin blows.