Williams’ injury suggests NFL needs shorter preseason

By Adam Markowitz  |   Wednesday, August 27, 2008  |  Comments( 6 )

Houston Texans
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Even the most die-hard Houston Texans fans probably had no clue who Harry Williams was before taking on the Dallas Cowboys on Friday night. The preseason is in place to let guys like Williams get some playing time to impress their coaches or raise other teams' eyebrows. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Williams' play that is continuing to draw attention around the NFL this week.

Williams suffered a catastrophic spinal injury on a jarring blow that came while he was trying to make a tackle on special teams in the first quarter of Houston’s 23-22 defeat in Dallas. The wide receiver out of Tuskegee laid motionless after colliding with one of his own teammates, and had to be carted off the field several minutes later.

Williams went into surgery on Sunday in Dallas, and Dr. Walter Lowe issued the good news that the 26-year-old will likely be able to walk again after suffering the devastating injury. Texans head coach Gary Kubiak classified the surgery as one that “went well” from his perspective, even though it is unlikely that the former seventh-round draft pick will ever play football again.

The injury to Williams will inevitably lead to more grumblings about the fact that the preseason is just too long. I’ll continue to grumble with the best of them.

There is absolutely no reason to have to play four preseason games. Going into any training camp, there are maybe 10 to 15 open roster spots; most of the players who win those spots aren’t expected to be major contributors when the games are for keeps. In Williams’ case, he was fighting for one of perhaps two available receiver positions on the roster. Andre Johnson, Kevin Walter, Andre' Davis and Jacoby Jones certainly had their places secured before the preseason.

Let’s face it, football is a dangerous game; and no matter how much technology is infused into it, the threat of serious injuries will always exist. Former Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett and ex-Texans defensive tackle Cedric Killings both suffered spinal cord injuries in recent memory, and both were fortunate to be able to walk again.

In other forms of football, some haven’t always been so lucky. In 2005, Al Lucas of the Arena Football League’s Los Angeles Avengers died on the field after suffering a spinal cord injury on a hit between a player and the walls which surround the playing field. Last year, the World Indoor Football League was shocked by the death of star defensive back Javan Camon, who went into cardiac arrest after suffering a spinal cord injury trying to make a tackle on a receiver.

In 2003, Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick broke his leg in the preseason, effectively ending his season and destroying any hopes his team had of making the playoffs that year. Former Dallas Cowboys QB Troy Aikman wrote an article for the Sporting News shortly after the injury on the topic of the preseason. He took a firm position that two exhibition games should be more than enough time for coaches to evaluate their talent.

The NFL didn’t take a stand when one of its superstars was lost for a season, but maybe after ruining the career and threatening the life of Harry Williams, Roger Goodell will address the matter this year.

There will be a total of 332 NFL games played in 2008. Of those games, 267 are either regular-season contests or the playoff matchups. Even cutting back just two weeks of the preseason -- 32 games -- could chop out almost 10 percent of the scars, lacerations, bruises, sprains, tears, and breaks the grueling NFL season has to offer.

One life-threatening injury is one too many, but even a 10 percent cutback could save someone's career.

Training Camp: An entirely new kind of fantasy game!
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