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Kuehl Hit By Giants ST "Jinx"?
Topic Started: Aug 26 2003, 07:21 AM (76 Views)
BlueHeart
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Injured Long Snapper Hit by Giants 'Jinx'
By LYNN ZINSER


EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., Aug. 25 - The Giants' long snapper Ryan Kuehl stood on the sideline at practice today, with a long splint running the length of his right arm and a befuddled look on his face.

He did not want to buy into the theory that playing on special teams with the Giants comes with a curse, but if anybody is proof that they have become the Bermuda Triangle for long snappers, Kuehl is it.

He said that he had never been injured in six previous N.F.L seasons, even when he played defensive tackle. For the past four years, he has had the relatively cushy job of long snapping for Cleveland.

In the off-season, the Giants signed him to a five-year, $3.6 million contract to solve their snapping problems. Then, two weeks into training camp, a shooting pain coursed through Kuehl's right arm. The injury is listed as elbow tendinitis, but it is actually a nerve problem, and a mysterious one at that.

"I've never had any arm issues - I've never had anything - ever," Kuehl said. "A couple of concussions, a couple of sprained ankles in all my years in the league. This is all very foreign to me. I'm scar-free and that's the way I want to keep it."

He is not, however, splint-free.

As bad as he feels, the Giants are feeling downright jinxed. Not only did last season end on a wayward snap in the final seconds of the wild-card playoff game against San Francisco, but the offending snapper, Trey Junkin, was the fifth one the team had used during the season. Add two more the Giants had tried in the preseason, and a total of seven players could not get the job done.

"Do we have a special teams jinx or black cloud around here?" Coach Jim Fassel said.

What is worse is Kuehl's backup, Nick Griesen, pulled a hamstring in Saturday's game against the Jets. And Chris Bober, the regular center who can fill in on long snaps, sustained a bruised rib.

Fassel spent today scouring the league for a snapper who might become available as teams make their first cuts.

It also complicates his job because if Fassel has to keep Kuehl on the roster, plus another snapper, it costs him another roster spot. Fassel cannot fathom what he did to deserve this.

Kuehl had dressed for the game in case of an emergency - he thought his arm had improved enough that he could snap in the game - and that emergency arose when Griesen and Bober were injured.

He went into the game to snap in the fourth quarter, and the pain hit him full-force again.

"Nerves are funny things," Kuehl said. "One of the team doctors said it's not like a broken leg where you can look at an X-ray, see what's wrong and fix it. It's a little more murky than that."

If that were not quite enough, the kicker the Giants signed in the off-season to help improve the special teams - Mike Hollis - hurt his back against the Jets trying to make a tackle. He was held out of practice and will have a magnetic resonance imaging scan.

"Everybody seems to be dropping like flies here lately," Matt Bryant, the Giants' other kicker, said.

Hollis's injury is part of the game; kickers occasionally have to throw their bodies in front of much larger men.

And Kuehl's injury is part of the game, too. Snappers and kickers and punters perform specific skills and each practices that skill repeatedly. The danger is wearing out or overusing certain muscles and nerves.

In a way, Kuehl is no different from someone who uses a computer every day and gets a repetitive-strain injury.

"It's a matter of the repetitions, doing it over and over," Bryant said. "You've got to know your body and watch yourself. It's just like anything else, like driving a car. You use up your tires, you need to get new tires. Unfortunately for us, we can't change what we have. It's all we've got, so we have to watch out."

Kuehl's injury has spawned jokes about bringing back Junkin from retirement. But Kuehl has other ideas.

He wants nothing to do with a curse. He wants to do his job and make himself invisible, which is what long snappers are when they are healthy and successful.

"When you have something like this, you're the new guy and people are looking at you funny, saying what's wrong with this guy?" Kuehl said. "The point is, I was brought in to do a job and that's what I want to do."
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Rick5
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"The injury is listed as elbow tendinitis, but it is actually a nerve problem, and a mysterious one at that."


Man, we are really fucked here. I read his comments on Giants.com about his hand going numb and I knew right away that this is not tendinitis. If he has ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow (very possible since they seem to be focusing on the elbow) he will probably be done for the year. Ulnar transposition surgery can take several months before you can even move your elbow normally again. It can take over a year before the hand and elbow return to "normal." I know all about this shit, because I have a mild case of nerve entrapment in my right elbow and I also have a good friend who had the surgery (she said it totally sucked and her arm was fucked up for a year).
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Rick5
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Rick5
Aug 26 2003, 06:48 PM
"The injury is listed as elbow tendinitis, but it is actually a nerve problem, and a mysterious one at that."


Man, we are really fucked here.  I read his comments on Giants.com about his hand going numb and I knew right away that this is not tendinitis.  If he has ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow (very possible since they seem to be focusing on the elbow) he will probably be done for the year.

You can call me genius now. Damn this sucks.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football...4p-102191c.html
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BlueHeart
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Dach seemed to be pretty good the other night. I'm not ready to panic. Yet.
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Gdogg143
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speaking of tickets....blue?
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Rick5
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BlueHeart
Aug 30 2003, 09:23 AM
Dach seemed to be pretty good the other night. I'm not ready to panic. Yet.

Hopefully Dach will be fine. It just sucks that it looks like they are losing a guy who is supposed to be one of the best snappers in the league.


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