We all know how the Browns underplay and underreport injuries. Do I really need to review the litany of disappointing news and miscommunications? Well, perhaps I’m sensitized to this issue because I recently wrote an article (to appear in the October OBR magazine) detailing the Browns’ history with staph infections, but witness this news from Monday for future reference:
Defensive lineman Simon Fraser, meanwhile, has an abscess. Crennel said he’ll miss “a couple days.”
This snippet from a medical encyclopedia is worth noting here:
Many different agents cause abscesses. The most common are the pus-forming (pyogenic) bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, which is nearly always the cause of abscesses under the skin.
If that turns out to be Fraser’s issue, expect him to miss at least two weeks, which would further hamper the already thin rotation at defensive end. It would also be the sixth case of staph among Browns players since 2003.
Update: After listening to Romeo’s presser yesterday, he somewhat sputteringly specified that Fraser “has an abscess on his buttocks in the back that he had to have removed, so he’ll miss a couple days and then we’ll get him back.” That would greatly reduce the likelihood of a lesion caused on the football field itself. Quoting the medical encyclopedia further: “Abscesses near the large bowel, particularly around the anus, may be caused by any of the numerous bacteria found within the large bowel.” In any case, if I were a Browns player, I’d be mighty careful in the whirlpool and training room.
And by the way, has Brady Quinn’s name been officially changed to “the young quarterback?” Is this just Romeo-speak or a brilliant trademarking scheme in the making?
