Redskins Sign RB Ryan Grant/Place Roy Helu Jr. on IR

[REDSKINS4ever]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

(1) You realize the size, strength and speed of current players is beyond anything with which the "classic gridiron" guys dealt? (The Hogs were the heaviest O-line of their day. Today, they would be the smallest, by far, in the league).

(2) "Sissies"? That is just plain ignorant, moronic, obtuse - take your pick of adjectives describing someone who holds an opinion completely lacking in anything but apocryphal data for support. I am 50 year old guy - "back-in-the-day" I saw some players play with pain and some who refused. Your "opinion" is simply a personal bias lacking any factual data. Further, your rose-colored "back in my day" attitude denigrates the serious risks these guys put themself in week in and week out.

I stand by that opinion.

P.S.: John Riggins missed much of the 74 season due to an shoulder injury and the 77 season due to a sknee injury -- and then of course there's that contract thing in '80. Just saying...

P.P.S.: Being an old-timer, I am sure you remember Jim Brown calling Franco Harris a softie b/c he ran out of bounds to avoid contact and of course you recall that Harris didn't deny it but asserted he was just playing smart ...

The strength and the speed of the pro game has undoubtedly increased in the last two or three decades. Players have been delivering punishing, murderous hits to offensive players as far back as the 1960s. Jack Tatum, Dick Butkus, Ray Nitschke, were all fearsome hitters.

While the size and strength as well as speed of the players have increased, the impact of the hits is still the same. Of course players back then missed time, but in today's NFL, if a player is injured it's a given that he's going to miss some time. Back in 1981, Kellen Winslow Sr. played hurt for four quarters in a playoff game against the Miami Dolphins that the Chargers ultimately won. I haven't seen a player play injured with that degree or level of tenacity in the last 30 years. As recent as 2004, Terrell Owens played in the Super Bowl with a severely bum ankle that a lot of players today would miss the biggest game in football for because they can't suck it up and play.

Roy Helu Jr. is soft. He's a cream puff and you can't convince me otherwise.