NFL Injury Report: Who's Hurting the Most After Week 9?

Halfway through the 2012 NFL season, every team has seen its fair share of injuries.

That’s just the nature of the beast in pro football, one of the most physically punishing team sports on the planet.

However, certain teams are hurting much more than others. Whether it’s through injuries that happened in Week 9 or throughout the entire season, for these teams, the injury bug has stung and stung hard.

Here’s a closer look at the unlucky teams. 

Green Bay Packers

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy must be thrilled his Packers team has a bye in Week 10.

Green Bay has been ravaged with injuries throughout the roster lately. In recent weeks, the Packers’ injury report has read like a “who’s who” of star players.

Charles Woodson, Greg Jennings, Jerel Worthy and Sam Shields are just some of the Packers who have missed games this season due to injury. Clay Matthews and Jordy Nelson might get added to that list soon.

Both Green Bay stars left the Packers’ 31-17 win over the Cardinals in Week 9. Nelson left with an ankle injury, while Matthews left with a gimpy hamstring.

The bye week should help Mathews, Nelson and the rest of Green Bay’s hurting squad. (Although on second thought, Matthews may not be so lucky.) It better. With the Chicago Bears at 7-1, it looks like the Packers are going to need to be healthy to keep pace in what’s shaping up to be a very exciting NFC North race.

Pittsburgh Steelers

A sign of a great team is its ability to overcome key injuries.

Case in point: the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers entered their Week 9 matchup against the New York Giants without Rashard Mendenhall, Jonathan Dwyer and Troy Polamalu. And during the game, wide receiver Antonio Brown was hurt, too. It proved to be no problem for the Steelers, though. They rallied to beat New York, 24-20.

Even with other key Steelers like James Harrison and David DeCastro missing significant time this season, Pittsburgh has gained some serious momentum recently.

The Steelers have won four of five, proving once again that being able to overcome injuries is a sign of a really good football team.

Houston Texans

Another team that’s winning despite an immense amount of hurt players is the Houston Texans.

They have the AFC’s best record at 7-1. That’s pretty impressive, considering how the Texans have over a dozen players on injured reserve.

The most notable Texan done for the season is linebacker Brian Cushing, who tore his ACL against the Jets in a recent Monday Night Football game. Running back Ben Tate has also missed time recently with a hamstring injury.

And yet, the Texans continue to look like the class of the AFC and don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Their Week 10 Sunday night matchup against the Bears will be a highly anticipated contest, to say the least.

Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are officially in free fall.

They’ve lost five straight after a 4-0 start to the 2012 season. Significant injuries to the Cardinals offense have hindered them during this current slide.

Arizona’s top three running backs—Beanie Wells, Ryan Williams and Javarris James—have all been lost for the season because of injuries. And quarterback Kevin Kolb, a major factor behind Arizona’s 4-0 start, is still out nursing hurt ribs.

With the absence of a quality running game and an explosive passing game, the Cardinals offense is lacking firepower. The lackluster offense is doing nothing to help Arizona during these trying times.

Washington Redskins

The injuries are really starting to pile up in the nation’s capital.

The Redskins have been walking wounded this season. Rookie star quarterback Robert Griffin III has been pretty banged up, but that’s nothing compared to what other ‘Skins players have suffered through.

Starters like wide receiver Pierre Garcon and safety Brandon Meriweather have both missed extended time. And dynamic players like running back Roy Helu, tight end Fred Davis, defensive lineman Adam Carriker and linebacker Brian Orakpo are all out for the year.

It’s safe to say the Week 10 bye will be a welcomed reprieve for head coach Mike Shanahan and his disappointing Redskins team.

Jacksonville Jaguars

At 1-7, the Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the NFL’s worst teams.

A major reason for the Jaguars’ struggles has to be the fact that they’ve been bitten hard by the injury bug. Star running back Maurice Jones-Drew has been out with a foot injury, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Other key Jaguars who have missed time include safety Dwight Lowery, cornerback Rashean Mathis and running backs Greg Jones and Montell Owens. And linebacker Daryl Smith is on season-ending IR (injured reserve), while fellow linebacker Clint Session remains on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list.

If Jacksonville can somehow get healthy soon, they may be able to somewhat salvage what has been a disastrous 2012 season so far.

Tennessee Titans

First Jake Locker, now Kendall Wright.

Another promising young offensive player has gone down for the Tennessee Titans with an injury. Wright, the Titans rookie wide receiver, left the game against the Chicago Bears with an elbow injury.

He underwent an MRI on the injury to confirm its extent. This has just added insult to injury (literally) for Tennessee’s offense.

The Titans have been forced to play without Locker for the past several weeks. The second-year quarterback has been nursing a separated shoulder.

Titans coach Mike Munchak is certainly hoping both Locker and Wright will be back in the mix soon. For a team that has lost two straight games, the Titans need all the help they can get in getting back on track.

New York Jets

The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time for the New York Jets.

The Week 9 break allowed Rex Ryan’s team to try and recuperate from two consecutive AFC East defeats to the Patriots and Dolphins. It also gave them extra time to allow banged up Jets like Nick Mangold, Bart Scott and Kendrick Ellis to recover from their respective injuries.

However, the week off for the Jets doesn’t change the fact that two of their best players won’t return this season. All pro cornerback Darrelle Revis and star wide receiver Santonio Holmes are both on IR with season-ending injuries they suffered weeks ago.

Losing two elite players like Revis and Holmes has certainly created a tough situation for Ryan’s banged up and reeling team. 

Oakland Raiders

From a running back standpoint, it wasn’t a good day for the Oakland Raiders in Week 9.

On one side, Tampa Bay rookie sensation Doug Martin absolutely shredded the Raiders’ run defense to the tune of 250 yards and four touchdowns on the ground in the Bucs’ 42-32 win.

On the other side, Raiders running backs Darren McFadden and Mike Goodson were both knocked out of the Tampa game. On top of that, Dennis Allen’s crew is dealing with injuries to key players like tackle Khalif Barnes and cornerback Shawntae Spencer.

The Silver and Black is starting to look pretty black and blue.

Baltimore Ravens

The good news for the Baltimore Ravens is they were able to escape Cleveland in their Week 9 victory over the Browns without any major injuries.

But that doesn’t change the fact that the Ravens defense has suffered two of the most devastating injuries of arguably any team this season. With star cornerback Lardarius Webb and future Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Lewis both done for the year, it’s going to be up to linebacker Terrell Suggs and the rest of the Ravens defense to overcome the losses.

The defensive injuries didn’t hurt Baltimore in their win over the Browns. But it will be interesting to see how coordinator Dean Pees’ defense holds up in the long run without Webb and Lewis.