Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle sits in his home in Florida and wears a neck brace. In 12 years in the NFL, he has never seen so many players at one position with a similar injury.
During the past two seasons, starting safeties Ed Reed and Dawan Landry, starting cornerback Fabian Washington and Rolle, who had been expected to play nickel back, have all had major neck injuries.
Rolle had surgery a couple of weeks ago and is out for the season. The other three players remain on the roster, but the secondary has struggled in 2009, giving up big plays and missing a lot of tackles.
Landry won't attribute being a step too slow or hesitant to the neck injuries, but Rolle and former Ravens starting guard Wally Williams indicate it might be a factor.
It's all part of the game inside the game.
"I've been up and down, did a couple of things wrong in the losing streak," Landry said. "I can't point to anything about the neck. It's all about us staying on the same page, keeping with our assignments. You can't worry about the injury. When you do, you become susceptible to getting hurt again. You block it out. You just go out there and play your game."
Williams calls that kind of bravado "football talk." He used to talk like that about 10 years ago when he was playing guard for the Ravens and then the New Orleans Saints.
In 1998, his final Ravens season, Williams missed the last three games because of a bulging disc. He was diagnosed with ruptured disc in the C-4, C-3 vertebrae in his neck, which caused him to miss extensive playing time with the Saints.
Once Williams learned of his condition, his football career was never the same.
"We're not talking a torn Achilles or a torn ACL, we're talking neck, possible paralysis if you hit that thing wrong again," said Williams, now an NFL analyst for 105.7 FM radio in Baltimore. "When you are told that you might not be able to walk or function again, it changes the dynamic of how you play, how you approach the game, and it changes your strategy."
"The first couple of years I was in the league, I was reckless. I didn't mind going out fighting with Orlando Brown, Jeff Blackshear and Jonathan Ogden every week," said Williams, who retired in 2003. "But once I found out about my condition, I became more of a technician."
Rolle agrees with Williams. Rolle won't evaluate his teammates but says there are certain positions that are more physical than others and that players with neck injuries have to be careful.
