Steve Smith Breaks Arm in Flag Football Game Football Outsiders
June 21, 2010, 12:35 pm ET ESPN's Adam Schefter reported it first -- Panthers receiver Steve Smith broke his left arm in a flag football game at his camp for kids over the weekend. Schefter says that Smith underwent surgery last night and may be ready for the season opener. Smith broke his left forearm in December, ending his season early, though reports indicate that this break is in a different spot. Update: that Smith actualy broke the arm in the championship of an adult flag football game whose league has counted Smith as one of its longtime participants. If that's the case, might there be contract violation issues on the table? Comments
27 comments, Last at 22 Jun 2010, 10:28am I'm sure I'm one of many Giants fans that read the headline and prayed the entire time the page loaded that it was the Panthers' version. Too bad about the injury though. Hopefully he'll be ready for the opener and more effective this year not getting balls thrown to him by Delhomme. They better hope he gets better, because who is their main receiving threat without him? Uhhhh... Dwayne Jarrett? broken arm is no big deal... can you imagine how much he dominates his flag football league? "allright, jim bob, kenny, dwight and harlan... you're on smith" Yeah, who plays in this league with him? Does the ball ever go to anyone else on any play when his team is on offense? This just sounds silly. Question is, would you put the other 3 receivers deep and let Steve work the space underneath or would you put the other 3 guys short and let Steve work the deep space? Considering how good Smith is at out jumping professional corners and safeties, I'm gonna send him on streaks, posts and post corners and chuck it up to him pretty much every play. double "Other receivers"? Maybe my internet sarcasm detector is broken ... you did read what Doug wrote immediately underneath the headline, right? It was at his football camp for kids. But the thought of Steve Smith playing in some rec league flag football game is an entertaining one. In fact, I'm not sure there's an NFL player who would be better suited for flag football... http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/06/21/steve-smiths-flag-football-career-could-get-him-in-trouble-with-the-panthers/ Yeah, I saw after I posted that, and was trying to change my post to ridicule myself when you posted this, locking me out from editing it. So let me say it here: I'm an idiot. Anyway, the only players I can think of who might be more scary on a flag football team would be Chris Johnson and Josh Cribbs. Can anyone come up with someone better? current players? desean jackson. wes welker. all time? i do not think it would be possible to "tackle" barry sanders in flag football. Yeah, I meant current... Barry Sanders is the pretty obvious choice if we're going to include retired guys, too. Wes Welker makes a lot of sense; I hadn't thought of him, but he's definitely very good at moving quickly to get open in limited space. I tend to think of Jackson as someone with elite speed but not quite as much agility. Reggie Bush maybe? I wouldn't want him on my real football team, but I might take his lateral quickness (haha) on my flag football team. Well, spinning is usually illegal, but yeah, Sanders would be pretty much impossible to nail. Some leagues may not even allow a defender to leave his feet (i.e. dive for a flag) giving even an elderly 40 year-old Sanders a pretty easy jaunt to the EZ. Was it possible to tackle him in standard football? I'm short, older, and slow. Pretty much any NFL player would be scary to me. Even kickers. Yeah, Smith against some kids would be pretty entertaining, though. As Peyton does here: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1603/saturday-night-live-united-way I read he was playing DB when he broke it. Not too surprising--we know he's got a history of being pretty hard on cornerbacks in the offseason... Yes, but that would more likely have resulted in a broken hand... or a broken face if he ended up punching himself.... Man, I hate cornerbacks. What. I'm on D now? Oh well, here goes nothing.... As for a contract violation, they're going to cut him? And replace him with . . . A contract violation might not mean the contract is terminated. More likely, it would mean that Smith is owed less by the team, or has to give back some bonus money. That would only serve to piss him off and, being he's a bit of a head case already, wouldn't exactly be a real winning idea. Surely they can trade for another Steve Smith. The next time a pro says "I love the game and I'd play it for free", we have a litmus test. As uppity as management has to be at the injury risk, how can they not love a guy who plays ball for recreation? Bill In my heart as a fan, I agree. In my head as a businessman, and the father of kids whom I want to see making smart decisions, I cover my eyes in dismay. November 8, 1:26pm ET DVOA Ratings
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