So, late last season I was wondering and waiting and repeatedly blogging about it. Why overuse Reuben Droughns, who was clearly getting worn down and less effective, even as he continued to get a record share of the team’s carries? Why not share the load with Lee Suggs, once his broken thumb had healed sufficiently for him to be removed from the injury reports? Remember, William Green was hobbled with a mid-season ankle injury, but even after getting cleared from the injury reports, he did not play at all the last four games.
So now we know. Suggs had a torn meniscus in his left knee. Don’t know exactly when, how, or how bad, except that it needed off-season surgery. Had the trade with the Jets not blown up, we never would’ve known. This leads me to presume that the Browns were trying to sneak this fact past the Jets, or whichever trading partner might have been interested in him last spring.
I can almost understand trying to keep an off-season surgical procedure under wraps from the public. (Though when they get disclosed months later, I believe it erodes trust between the team and its fans.) But there are rules about reporting injuries during the season. They exist for the purpose of ensuring fair competition and, presumably, keeping the game’s most important asset, the fans, reasonably informed. I don’t have iron-clad evidence to convict the Browns of violating these rules by not reporting Suggs’ knee problem, but the circumstantial case is increasingly compelling.
From an organization that prides itself on character and courts the “straight-shooter” label, I’m disappointed.
