The effects of Injuries over the course...

[Reginald Rutledge]

of a season can be devastating. When the Cowboys and Niners played, Robert Newhouse was injured in the 1st quarter and had to sit the remainder of the game. He weighed 4.5 grams. Scott Laidlaw had to replace Newhouse with Preston Pearson. Both backs weighed under 4 grams.

During the course of the game, it was not obvious that the effects were that important. However, there were a couple of power plays where having that added gram may have made the difference.

But fast forward to the loss of Jerry Rice for 6 weeks. Before Rice left, I knew the stakes were high but I decided he had to return a kick-off. His impact was immediately. 85 yards and a TD later, the Niners were still in the hunt.

I am so interested to see the effects of week's injuries as well as game injuries. This is something I always wanted in leagues that I played in but ethics always would come in to question. So it would not be fully acceptable because of the difficulties in policing.

Now that Rice is injured, the Niners offensive scheme will change. Taylor will be double-teamed and Craig will be stacked. It will be very interesting to see how this team performs without it's #1 player.

This will definitely make or break teams.