Matthew Stafford Elbow Injury 'Scares the Heck' out of Ex Rams coach Mike Martz
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As a nearly 50-year veteran of the coaching industry, former Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike Martz knows a thing or two about quarterbacks.
In fact, the vast majority of his time in the coaching industry has been spent as either a quarterbacks coach or an offensive coordinator. Suffice it to say, he has seen quarterbacks go through just about every injury scenario imaginable.
And during a recent interview with 33rd Team, Martz gave his opinion on the elbow issue that has been bothering Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford since last season, and he did not mince his words.
"It scares the heck out of me," Martz said. "Because they’re talking about it now. And boy, that would scare me.”
Stafford underwent a procedure to relieve that pain following the Rams' 23-20 Super Bowl win over the Cincinnati Bengals in February that held him out of OTAs and minicamp this spring.
Stafford has also been having irritations during the recovery, forcing him to be limited at times during training camp.
Martz is particularly irked by the longevity of the injury, and noted that, if he were the Rams head coach, he would not be feeling as confident as Sean McVay seems to feel.
“If I’m the head coach here, if I’m the coordinator and he’s still not feeling right with that arm, I’m nervous about it because we’ve had a long time here to get that arm right,” Martz said.
Martz, of course, isn't in the building and thus, doesn't know the extent or specifics of Stafford's injury.
What he is doing though, is speaking for experience, having faced a similar situation with former Rams quarterback Kurt Warner during his time with the team.
“We had a similar situation where we used to throw the ball so much in practice, we’d call it the rag arm," Martz said. "The guys, their arm, they go to throw the ball and it just looks like a duck. I don’t care how strong, they used to throw too much. Every third day, we knocked off the reps for Kurt because he threw the ball so much, and then the other guys picked up their reps. So you’ve got to give them enough rest and yet give them great work and a lot of reps in spurts.”
As it stands now, however, neither Stafford nor McVay seem concerned with the issue, with Stafford even seeming more annoyed with the extent of the coverage of the injury rather than the injury itself.
Stafford will work to be ready for the Rams regular-season opener against the Buffalo Bulls on Thursday, September 8.
You can follow Matt Galatzan on Twitter @MattGalatzan
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