EAGLEMANIACAL.com

SCRATCH your nose. That simple movement has become decidedly more difficult for RG Todd Herremans. He suffered a torn bicep during in the loss against Arizona. Hard to say which arm he injured though. NJ.com  has it down as his right arm; CSN says it’s the left; and as usual the EAGLES (as of now, 3:39 a.m.) have yet to write a blessed word on the subject. In any case, he left the game, but came back and finished it basically with one arm. Now he’s going to attempt to continue playing despite the injury.

While it may only be a partial and not a complete tear, every medical professional worth their license, would say that continuing to play will likely only worsen his injury. If you have a desk job and you got this injury, your doctor would prescribe rest for it. Seriously. Don’t believe me? Call your doctor and ask. I’ll wait… The last things a doctor would prescribe for a torn bicep would be weightlifting or football. If it’s a complete tear, he needs to bag the year and get the surgery he needs. It all depends on which type of tear he has.

As a former O-lineman let me say that most of the job is pushing or re-directing, which involves you straightening your arms. That engages your tricep muscles. Herremans has no problem there. Unless you have a handful of jersey and are pulling on it; are “Hooking” a player (which is illegal anyway); or you’re pulling back to set up a hand punch, you don’t rely too much on your biceps. Which may be how Herremans got away with finishing the Cardinals game. (That and adrenaline.)

Here’s another one. Extend your arm out where you can see the back of your hand. Now turn it where you can see your palm. Feel that in your bicep? Herremans now has problems with a move that simple. With a just a partial tear he can do it, but not as quickly, or as strongly as he normally can. Now imagine that he has to block someone like oh, I don’t know…J.J. Watt on a stunt. Right behind Herremans sits a guy named Nick Foles. Am I being too direct?

Todd Herremans needs to take a few weeks off and let his arm heal. He’s no spring chicken, but if he’s smart (and if it is only a partial tear) he should heal fast enough, and we should get him back well before the playoffs.