Marcus Davenport: Never a good time for Saints injuries

The New Orleans Saints have announced that rookie Marcus Davenport will miss at least a month due to an injury. We look at this and other Saints injuries.

On the heels of the injury to Marcus Davenport, we have to remember that injuries are part of the game in the NFL. Every team faces them. The hope for any NFL team is to minimize the injury list as well as to get guys healthy quickly. You hope to get lucky and not face any major setbacks. It seems as much as anything, not having the major injury is a major factor in long term success during any given season.

This thought process comes up as the New Orleans Saints face the loss of another player to injury. It was reported on Wednesday that rookie defensive end Marcus Davenport will miss at least a month due to a toe injury.

I know the first thing that comes to the mind of many, a TOE? But ironically there are few injuries more debilitating than lower extremity injuries in sports. You are bound to the earth by gravity and your contact point with the earth is your feet. For just a second, get into a sprinter’s stance. You’ll find that your toes are a large part of that stance. The leverage you get from your feet and toes is undeniable. But I digress.

This is an unfortunate injury at a tough time. As noted earlier by my colleague, Roy Anderson, Davenport was just beginning to “get it”. He was starting to scratch the surface of the immense talent he has.

After a quiet start, Saints fans were beginning to see Davenport around the QB a bit more recently. He’s still a rookie and his arsenal of moves to take on left tackles in the NFL is limited. Even so, he’s had three sacks in the last three weeks (in limited downs too) and has made the QB move around in the pocket so other guys have been able to disrupt the passing game as well. Davenport will be a foundation for this defense for some years to come.

For Davenport personally, the injury comes at a tough time too. It’s hard when you feel you’ve just found your rhythm and then the rug gets pulled from under you. But he will come back and be a force down the stretch run of this season.

For the Saints, that’s a big loss at a critical time in the season. The Saints have arguably the most difficult schedule in the NFC for the second half of the year. After the Rams this week, it’s a trip to Cincinnati followed by visits from the defending champion Eagles and a short week Thursday night game against the our divisional rival Falcons.

Fortunately, the Saints have some options. Davenport was already in a rotation with Alex Okafor, so Okafor will play more downs. Trey Hendrickson has been dealing with an illness but seemed to have been a healthy scratch for the Vikings game. This week should see him return to the active roster.

As well, the Saints have fan favorite Mitchell Loewen on the roster. They may finally activate him if they feel their depth is light. He’s also dealt with an injury this season but was listed as questionable on the injury report last week before also being scratched from the active list.