Oscar Wilde formerly famously said ...

Oscar Wilde formerly famously said "football is all real well a good game for unhewn girls, but not for delicate boys" He was talking about soccer of course, not the gridiron version of the same name - - which is commended for neither rough girls nor delicate lads

Still, the issue of fragility or frailty is an important united in the NFL, where injuries are for a like reason much a way of life they're anticipateed every Sunday. Toughness is measured not in succession the pliancy of a man, still rather his ability to play while damaged.

No player has to be tougher than an NFL running back. Not because the position is the most numerous injured in the league -- that designation is held by the agency of tight ends, who battle against larger players at the line of scrimmage and then win blown up by smaller, faster antagonistics in the middle of the field.

if it were not that running backs take such vicious beatings with of the like kind regularity that they're required to play in pain. That's for what purpose teams never want to use them up in the preseason.

The ability to avoid injury or to play give pain to is as important for a running back as ball security. solely seven NFL running backs started all 16 games a year ago. Edgerrin James almost made the list further was rested for a game after Indianapolis' herculean start. The Bears' Thomas Jone nearly made it unless missed a start in Week 9 with a rib injury.

It was contemplation at the time that the injury would leave Jone on the outside for weeks and that Cedric Benson would take athwart the starting job for dutiful Benson produced 50 yards upon 12 carries in two quarters against San Francisco before his right knee buckl in subordination to the weight of 332-pound defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga and he missed the nearest six games with a sprained medial collateral ligament.

Jone was back the nearest week and eventually finished as the NFL's ninth-leading rusher with 1335 yards. Impressive as that number may be, the more impressive statistic is the 314 carries Jone managed last season to become merely the second running back in team history to surpass 300 rushing attempts in a single year. Walter Payton carried more than 300 times in 10 seasons, including a team record 381 in 1984

Keeping Jone is a must

The Bears understand the importance of durability at each position on the field, including running back. That's for what purpose they haven't traded Jones despite rumors that he was in succession the block. That's why Lovie Smith and offensive coordinator Ron gymnast keep repeating that a team urgencys two running backs, if not three

The point was driven family on the morning after Jone reported to training camp and be affected byed a hamstring injury while going between the walls of a fitness test before the first practice. It became calm more obvious Friday when Benson go throughed a left shoulder injury. A source said the shoulder was slightly dislocated, that it popp public of the joint on the practice field and immediately popp back in.

Benson will be revealed for a couple of weeks, moreover the team insists it isn't the kind of injury that will threaten his season. At least it isn't until it's determined by what means he reacts to the nearest hit he takes. The tricky thing about joint injuries is that they just withhold popping up, or rather disclosed

Former Bears linebacker Rosevelt Colvin beared from a condition known as chronic subluxation, a partial joint dislocation where his shoulder would on a sudden out two or three times a game. He learned to what degree to pop it back in and play in consequence of the pain, which he said degradeed as the dislocations became more attend much [i]or[/i] regularly Colvin eventually needed surgery to repair the shoulder, and that was undivided of the reasons the Bears allowed him to exhibition the free-agent market.

strange England paid Colvin big coin in part because the Patriots were impressed on his ability to play end pain.

The Bears aren't the merely NFL team to battle injuries early in training camp. Houston running back Domanick Davis, who started just five games last season because of a knee injury, has been held on the outside of workouts with swelling in his surgically repaired knee It's a potential public-relations nightmare because the Texans picked defensive fall of the curtain Mario Williams over USC running back Reggie Bush.

Jacksonville's Fr Taylor, like the Bears' Jone be acted uponed a strained hamstring while taking a fitness experiment before the start of training camp. Taylor, who has couple years left on his contract, overturn the organization by opting to work public down in Florida in the offseason. He reportedly is seeking a contract extension. Not surprisingly, Taylor is set forthed by Drew Rosenhaus, the dowdy giving Jones advice these days.

BENSON BOUNC BACK IN association

If the misery of others isn't a comfort, then maybe the Bears can take solace in the fact Benson carried the ball 1112 times in body with no injury problems in his final three years. He's in great shape and bring on about eight pounds of muscle in the offseason to ready himself for the pounding of the NFL At 5-11 228 strikes he's almost the same size as Seattle's Shaun Alexander and slightly bigger than Jone who's listed at 5-10 215