Bradford’s surgery a success
Sam Bradford underwent successful surgery on his throwing shoulder on Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala.
The 35-minute procedure was finished at 10:45 this morning, and Bradford, though still experiencing soreness, was resting comfortably.
“It all looked great in the end and everyone seems to feel very good about it,” said Kent Bradford, Sam Bradford’s father, in a release.
Kent Bradford was able to watch some of the surgery, performed by Dr. James Andrews, and said the reigning Heisman winner would go through a limited exercise session on Wednesday before returning home in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Obama reaches out to…Sam Bradford?
President Barack Obama named University of Oklahoma president David Boren co-chairman of his Intelligence Advisory Board today.
But at the tail end of his speech announcing the decision, Obama had this to say:
“I thank David for agreeing to serve in this capacity, even as he continues to lead the University of Oklahoma.”
Obama added: “And we are sorry about (Sam) Bradford’s shoulder.”
Bradford was scheduled to undergo surgery in Birmingham, Ala. today, and while Obama’s words likely won’t speed his recovery, Oklahoma’s own Sammy B can’t hate to hear that.
Unfavorable comparison for Bradford
Not the kind of buzz Bradford would like to inspire at this point.
Last season, Sam Bradford played behind a dominant offensive line, racking up 50 touchdown passes and helping the Oklahoma offense score 716 points.
Bradford’s lack of contact, though good for Oklahoma’s laundry bills, brought a flood of questions about how Bradford would perform behind an average offensive line. It wasn’t his No. 1 reason for coming back, but Bradford won’t get his chance to definitively answer that question.
Now, he’s drawn an ominous comparison from at least one NFL scout.
From the New York Times:
The former N.F.L. scout Dave Razzano projects Bradford as an upper-end first-round pick, but he said he needed to watch more game tape of Bradford.
“I need to see him in games where he was pressured,” said Razzano, who scouted in the N.F.L. for 21 years and most recently worked for the Arizona Cardinals.
Razzano said Bradford reminded him of Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart, who played at Southern California, in that neither faced much defensive pressure in college. When Bradford played against Texas earlier this month, Razzano said he was bothered that Bradford locked in on receivers and threw errant passes when pressured.
He said that many quarterbacks who struggled in transition to the N.F.L. rarely faced defensive pressure in college.
“Everybody can sit back and make throws with time,” Razzano said. “Now, the question is, can he without time?”
While it’s doubtful Bradford flies up the Google Trends chart with a barrage of party photos featuring him bonging beers and getting friendly in a hot tub with bikini-clad co-eds, the on-field comparison is probably fair.
That said, Bradford is still a long way from being a key player in one of the great all-time postgame rants.
Alex Smith offers Bradford advice
When Bradford suffered his original shoulder injury, he spoke with the New York Giants’ Eli Manning, who returned from a less-serious injury in 10 days, eventually leading his team to a Super Bowl win.
Now that he’s re-injured the shoulder, Bradford spoke with a source who had a less positive experience with the injury: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith.
Smith suffered a third-degree separation in September, but the original diagnosis was that surgery wasn’t necessary. Smith missed three games, the same amount as Bradford, and then returned to the lineup. He played poorly, blaming the injury for his lost accuracy.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
“We’ve been trading phone calls,” Alex Smith said Thursday. “He called, twice. When you’ve torn ligaments in your shoulder, it takes time to heal. It’s different than other positions. When you take hits like that, it impairs your ability to throw the ball.”
Smith eventually saw Dr. James Andrews, who Bradford has also consulted with, and he determined that the injury hadn’t healed like they thought it would, and Smith underwent surgery.
Stoops takes to the airwaves
Bob Stoops talked about the decision to play Landry Jones over Sam Bradford, who was cleared to play, on ESPN’s College Football Live.
Here’s what he had to say:
Why Landry over Sam?
Well, watching practices through the week and where Sam has progressed to, we just feel it’s the right thing to do. He’s just not quite where he feels comfortable enough, or that we feel comfortable enough that he’s totally ready to go.
We love what Landry’s been able to do, we have a lot of confidence in him. We just felt it’s the way to go for this game.
Will Sam Bradford dress against Miami?
Probably not.
How far away is Sam from being in uniform and taking the field?
That would be speculation. Just don’t know. It’ll be a another week similar to this week, once we keep progressing, toward getting him more healthy and back on the field.
What does Landry Jones do to make trouble for Miami?
I think what matters most, is there’s been all this attention on the quarterback and who it’s going to be, but what really matters is all the players around him and how they’re going to play. In the end, if you’re not protecting the quarterback, and if you’re in first-and-20, due to penalty, or if you’re not establishing some kind of run game, or if your receivers aren’t getting open, it doesn’t matter if Sam Bradford, Superman or Landry Jones is in there, you’re not going to do well.
To me, the main issue is are the players around him going to perform and play well and give him an opportunity.
Do you shorten the playbook with Landry Jones at quarterback?
Really, not much. A little bit, but overall, over the last couple of weeks, we always have had plenty of offense going into the game. And we will again this week. Sam, obviously, with his experience, can handle a little bit more, but it isn’t like we’re shortchanging anything.
We kind of tailor it to what he likes the best, but they’re very similar style quarterbacks and have very similar likes as far as what plays they like. So, we really don’t shorten it too much.
What did Sam do when you told him he wouldn’t be playing?
Sam wasn’t told. He was part of the decision. We’ve been working through the week. He’s a smart guy and understands where he’s at. He’s frustrated because he’s a competitor. He wants to be back. If it was up to him, he wanted to be back last week. But it just takes some time. But again, he was part of the decision, he understands there’s a long season in front of us. He’ll keep working toward getting back on the field.
He was part of the decision, he understands.
No more injuries, please
I mentioned this in the OU notebook today, but all the high-profile quarterback injuries this season have really hurt college football.
The worst part, it seems, is there’s no solution. Unless you want to outlaw sacks or mobile quarterbacks, no rule change could have prevented those injuries. It’s mostly just bad breaks and bad blocking.
I didn’t see the hits that knocked out USC’s Matt Barkley (the next week, anyway), Baylor’s Robert Griffin or USF’s Matt Grothe, but Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford went down on hits delivered by unblocked defenders. Both hits clean and legal.
It’s a shame, and there’s not much else to say. Less than a month into the season, we’ve seen more high-profile quarterbacks go down than I ever remember in such a short span. USC has a loss, and Aaron Corp is a big reason why. OU’s Landry Jones has played well in his two starts, but he didn’t play well enough to win against BYU.
Now, Florida will be faced with the same dilemma in two weeks that the Sooners face now: How careful should teams be when they bring back a star player from an injury?
I doubt Bradford plays against Miami, but most (including Vegas) think OU can beat Miami with Landry Jones.
LSU hasn’t looked great this season, but if Florida trots out John Brantley in Baton Rouge in two weeks, the Gators have a good chance of joining the ranks of teams bitten by quarterback injuries this season.
Bradford and the social media backlash
Sam Bradford knew privacy was the price of stardom. But in today’s world of user-generated content on Facebook and Twitter, and sites like Deadspin, athletes have even more to worry about.
Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans take a look at how social media has affected the social lives of the three biggest stars in college football this season.
With the speed that personal photos can become national news, players like Bradford, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy are forced to be more mindful of who they extend their courtesy to.
As Kent Bradford, Sam’s father, said, “You don’t know if you’re actually having that picture made with a known gambler or a known prostitute or a known drug dealer.”
The last thing Bradford needs is a non-story blown into controversy. In theory, it’s humorous to think about Tim Tebow having to dive out of a photo when a girl flashes just before the camera does. But in practice, depressing seems to be the more apt word.
Even if Bradford is too careful, he still gets bit. When he was in New York for the Heisman presentation, he refused to sign an autograph for a professional autograph seeker. After he declined several times, the autograph seeker tore up the photo and threw the pieces in Bradford’s face.
Good story, as usual, from the Times. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Bradford live on College Gameday
Sam Bradford gave a live telephone interview on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday. It was short, but here’s what the injured Heisman winner had to say:
On when he’ll be back:
It’s really hard for me to answer that question, but everyone I talk to, there’s really not a certain timeline for as soon as I’ll be back. I’m just rehabbing as much as I can right now, and I guarantee that as soon as I’m ready to go, I’ll be back on that field.
Could it be longer than 2-4 weeks?
I wish I could answer that. There’s been so many different numbers, I think the main thing is I have to get healthy before I can play again. It’s just a matter of time for me to get healthy.
How would it feel to throw a ball right now?
I’m sure it would be pretty painful, but I think if I had to I could muster it up and throw it pretty good.
What are you doing now as a leader?
I’m just out there at practice every day chirping at guys, just making sure they’re out there still having fun and still working hard.
Lee Corso said the Sooners should sit him until Baylor and focus on winning the Big 12. Kirk Herbstreit said he would make sure he was healthy, but try to have him back by the Miami game, knowing that Oklahoma has more than conference title aspirations.
BYU’s Clawson sorry Bradford got hurt
Coleby Clawson probably didn’t expect one of his hits to be replayed on ESPN just over 2,700 times, but that’s what happens when you put the reigning Heisman Trophy winner out for a month 29 minutes into his season.
On Monday, the BYU linebacker told the Salt Lake Tribune that he was sorry Sam Bradford got injured.
“I really do feel bad, because he’s a great player,” Clawson said. “Sam Bradford is a great player and a good person, too. I feel bad that he got hurt, and I hope he can get back soon. As far as our game, it probably helped us win” because Bradford did not play in the second half.
Clawson said it is the “nature of the beast, playing football,” that players get hurt.
“I am always trying to get big hits, but I am never trying to put anybody out or hurt somebody,” he said.
Clawson mentioned that he received several negative Facebook messages from OU fans, but nothing alarming.
On Monday, coach Bob Stoops announced that Bradford had a third-degree AC joint sprain and would miss 2-4 weeks.
Bradford’s status unknown
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson addressed Sam Bradford’s status on Sunday, admitting he hadn’t spoken with the reigning Heisman winner since Saturday night, but not committing on when Bradford would return.
Wilson said the medical staff would continue to evaluate his throwing shoulder through the weekend, and determine a course of rehabilitation. He said the staff is currently gathering as many resources as they can to look at options, and what the timeline of those rehabs would be.
The medical staff would be pursuing every option, but keep both tight end Jermaine Gresham and Bradford’s future prospects in mind.
“Those are two tremendous players with great futures, and we want to make sure their best interests are taken into consideration,” Wilson said.
