[bigbucks24]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

One of the sportswriters I follow on Twitter recently said that the public has become numb to the fact that these guys have their bodies ripped open, have ligaments replaced or repaired and go through months, if not years, of recovery and rehab.

Yet the fans are at the point where they expect their favorite athlete to return quickly and play as if nothing happened. Sadly, this isn't always the case.

As I've mentioned several times, HGH testing has slowed recoveries to nearly a standstill. Charles is more than one year removed from his surgery yet he's clearly not 100% and at age 29, he most likely won't ever be the same player he was before this particular surgery. Fortunately, the Chiefs have players in Ware and West that take the sting out the loss of Charles.

Hopefully, Houston's recovery is without any speed bumps but considering that Phillip Gaines (age 25) is also having difficulty with his surgically repaired knee, it'll be surprising if he's able to step in and have the same kind of impact as he had in 2014 and 2015.

Maybe this puts to bed the arguments that "ACL repairs aren't what they used to be. Modern medicine and all" and "Adrian Peterson came back in 9 months. That is the new norm".