The next one

Before he was a disgraced, semi-bust, Eric Lindros was "The Next One". His scoring prowess and skills were nearly unprecedented. He had size, stick skills, a pounding physical game, and was quick to boot. He was Todd Bertuzzi without the criminal record and a hell of a lot more skills.

And then concussions happened.


Lindros went from being the most promising player in the NHL to an injury-riddled fallen star. It got so bad that his own team disgraced him on the local news by making a spectacle of the removal of his captain's "C" from his jersey. It did not go well.

I bring this up, of course, because of the Tebow injury. I've mentioned before that, because of Tebow's style of play (head down, aggressive, pounding) I was surprised that Tebow had made it as long in his career has he had without being seriously injured. It's kind of shocking that the hit the finally knocked him out would be so, well, pedestrian--quarterbacks get hit hard in the pocket like this often. After the hit he endured against Tennessee's Eric Berry, it seemed like Tebow was indestructible.

But the real tragedy here, is that it's likely that Tim Tebow will return far too early from his injury. The above hit on Eric Lindros--the one that sent him career into a tailspin of constant injuries--kept him out for 18 games (or approximately 3 weeks, best case scenario). As EDSBS pointed out, this is a brain injury and is much different than any other kind of injury. This cannot be rushed.

Worse still are the prospects for Tebow's NFL future. He was, at one time, a quarterback that people thought had no NFL future because of the way he played, but with the emergence of the wildcat and Tebow's progressing throwing skills, many changed their tune about Tebow's pro prospects. Those hopes look to be all but dashed now. With the exponential damage and ease of incurring concussions, this is a big hit for Tebow's future. Best case scenario, Tebow sits out a few weeks and is able to heal properly (unlikely, given both the pressures of college football and Tebow's own attitude) and this becomes a random event that doesn't hinder his professional career, and more importantly, ability to function as a human being.

Then again, Eric Lindros was once The Next One.

The Tebow injury

The college football landscape got a lot more interesting this week with the concussion of the Tebow Child. As you can see in the picture of him being carried off the field, Tebow is not really aware of, well, anything.

I've been talking to people about this Florida dynasty for quite some time now, and the one thing that I always return to is health; Tim Tebow, for his aggressive style of running and go-gett'um attitude has been remarkably healthy over the last two years. It's not necessarily that I want to see Tebow get injured. But I want to see what happens to this team when they lose their leader and the crux of their offense who, in some act of God, has remained healthy while running head first into linebackers for two years.

A diarist on MGoBlog did a fairly extensive analysis on the durability of the different types of quarterbacks (pro style, running back-like, dual threat). It's truly worth a read, but long story short, Tebow's style of play would put him in position to get injured only slightly more than an average quarterback. But it's the way he plays the game--head down, running through linebackers at all costs--that makes me feel otherwise. Either way, Florida is now in the midst of their SEC lineup and will, likely, be without Tebow (or Tebow as the unstoppable force he once was) for the next few games.