Official Injury report: Free (doubtful), Hitchens questionable

[WoodysGirl]

 

[Fletch]

Hitch is playing. I have no doubt about that. This kid is that good and a true warrior.

 

[Boyzmamacita]

Hmmmmmm. Crawford concerns me.

 

[Eskimo]

Out of the 3 Crawford is the one we really need the most.

With Detroit's weak running attack we are probably going to play the game mostly in nickel and can get by okay without Hitchens. Of course, Parnell has been filling in quite well in Free's absence.

Crawford is our best run defender on the DL and gets the most consistent pressure. If you can't get Stafford to move his feet he plays at a Pro Bowl level.

 

[spook930]

Hope they all play.

 

[fifaguy]

Out of the 3 Crawford is the one we really need the most.

With Detroit's weak running attack we are probably going to play the game mostly in nickel and can get by okay without Hitchens. Of course, Parnell has been filling in quite well in Free's absence.

Crawford is our best run defender on the DL and gets the most consistent pressure. If you can't get Stafford to move his feet he plays at a Pro Bowl level.

Yep, no pressure on Stafford means a field day for Megatron et al. This game will not be a cake walk for the Cowboys...

 

[Doomsay]

Crap, Crawford is essential. He went down hard in the Skins game - did he practice at all this week?

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

Pretty sure Craw practiced both Wednesday and Thursday.

 

[SportsGuru80]

Crawford better take some meds and get on the field.

 

[Eskimo]

Crap, Crawford is essential. He went down hard in the Skins game - did he practice at all this week?

Yes, but he was back in there late in the game and forced a fumble. He looked like he was moving fine.

This sounds like some sort of a viral illness. Hopefully just a common cold. If it is the flu hopefully he has been started on one of the influenza meds. Usually you can play through a cold but it is very hard to play through the flu because it really makes your muscles ache and saps your energy.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

From what I understand, if you've had your flu shot (and I would assume all the Cowboys have had flu shots) then the duration of the illness is about 3 days,,, so hopefully that puts him near 100% come game time.

 

[WoodysGirl]

 

[Risen Star]

Pretty sure Craw practiced both Wednesday and Thursday.

He did not practice Thursday.

 

[Eskimo]

From what I understand, if you've had your flu shot (and I would assume all the Cowboys have had flu shots) then the duration of the illness is about 3 days,,, so hopefully that puts him near 100% come game time.

That presumes that the virus he contracted was one of the 3 strains that he was inocculated against.

The CDC basically takes a guess each year about which strains of influenza are going to be most active during the flu season and then develops vaccines against them. However, it is not uncommon that a strain can cause an epidemic that was not part of that year's vaccine.

 

[viman96]

I rarely get sick. Maybe ever couple of years I will get something. I took a flu shot once and was down for a solid week. Never again.

 

[Eskimo]

I know many people report some symptoms from the shot but you will not get the flu from it as the virus is inactive.

I have received the shot every year since 1995 and have not had any major side effects once. I have been around many individuals with flu and not contracted the illness.

Whether everyone should get the shot is a subject up for debate. All my family gets it every year so I do practice what I preach.

 

[ActualCowboysFan]

He did not practice Thursday.

Well he wasn't listed as missing practice. He wasn't included in the injury report until today. And his absence today was termed a surprise, making it doubtful that he missed on Thursday.

 

[Jenky]

I rarely get sick. Maybe ever couple of years I will get something. I took a flu shot once and was down for a solid week. Never again.

I took a flu shot when i was younger too. It made me sick and I never took one after that. Funny you brought that up.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

That presumes that the virus he contracted was one of the 3 strains that he was inocculated against.

The CDC basically takes a guess each year about which strains of influenza are going to be most active during the flu season and then develops vaccines against them. However, it is not uncommon that a strain can cause an epidemic that was not part of that year's vaccine.

Partially true, they guess every year as to the strains that will arise and sometimes, like this year, there's a natural drift that presents a slightly different strain. There's enough difference that people are not innoculated against it but there is enough similarity that the recovery time is much shorter,,, at least that's what I remember from my med tech days and from what the PA told me when I got my shot today.

 

[Eskimo]

Partially true, they guess every year as to the strains that will arise and sometimes, like this year, there's a natural drift that presents a slightly different strain. There's enough difference that people are not innoculated against it but there is enough similarity that the recovery time is much shorter,,, at least that's what I remember from my med tech days and from what the PA told me when I got my shot today.

Some people will actually contract influenza even though they were inocculated against that very strain. In these situations for individuals who are healthy they will often get a mild case of flu due the fact the immune system has been primed to respond to the virus.

In some years the virus will mutate and the vaccine will then only confer a form of partial immunity but exactly how much immunity will be hard to predict and depends on how similar the antigens remain.

There can be some cross-immunity from one strain to the next but it typically a pretty small effect.