Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Campbell Discusses Intent of Thomas' Chop Block

1. Campbell says injurious hit was "over the top" and "unnecessary"

Calais Campbell figures the difference was tiny. Maybe half an inch. Maybe even less. That small amount was the difference between what he has now, which is a sprained knee ligament, and what he could have had, which is a blown knee. The former has caused Campbell to miss a few weeks. The latter would have caused him to miss a year, at least. 

When Campbell started his pass rush against Denver, he had just begun to lift his right foot. That's when Julius Thomas smashed into his leg. If Campbell's leg had been firmly planted, the ligaments in his knee would have exploded. His career would have been in jeopardy. But those seconds, and inches, were the difference between disaster and pseudo-disaster.

SB Nation

"The main thing I think about is how close it came to me possibly losing my career," Campbell said in an extensive interview with Bleacher Report. "I think the other part about it was the hit was totally unnecessary.

"After the hit, I knew something was badly wrong."

When asked if Thomas said anything to him, Campbell stated, "I don't think so. But I was angry so it's probably good he didn't say anything, anyway."

Now, to understand what Campbell said next, you have to understand the man himself. Campbell is a soft-spoken gentleman off the field who is one of the best combinations of class and player that I've ever known. He hates controversy. He hates making negative headlines, so it's no surprise Campbell is showing great restraint in his remarks about the incident.

But Campbell, in one of his first interviews on the hit that made national news, did speak bluntly at several points in the interview. What he said, to me, was smart and accurate.

"I really hope he didn't purposely try to injure me," he said. "But I don't know." Then Campbell took a deep breath. "My problem is, is that he didn't have to do it. But I'll leave that up to the judgment of the people who saw the hit.

"I think I've been through hundreds and hundreds of cut blocks while playing football, going back to when I was a lot younger. To me, what he did was over the top. It was unnecessary. That's why I wonder about his intent."

USA TODAY Sports

There will, of course, be the "it's football, guys get hurt" crowd. But listen closely to what Campbell is saying. He's saying that type of block was unnecessary. 

That's key. There are lots of things players could do to each other on the field, but most don't, because they don't need to. Most don't go over the top.

"I could go after guys' knees," Campbell said, "but I don't. It's not necessary."

Campbell said the Broncos' blocking scheme, the play and other factors didn't warrant a chop block. He thinks Thomas went over the top.

Sure, it's football, but Campbell is right. Thomas went directly at Campbell's knee. It wasn't necessary to do that.

Thomas said he didn't intentionally try to hurt Campbell, but he did hurt him, all for nothing. Thomas was flagged for the move and the league fined him $8,268 for his actions, per Adam Schefter.

"The main thing I want to do is speak out because I don't want a guy in the future to lose his career over something like this," Campbell said.

Over something that didn't need to happen.

2. Will DeMarco Murray last the season?

Tim Sharp/Associated Press

Read this carefully: DeMarco Murray is on pace for 416 carries.

Four…hundred…sixteen.

If this happened, it would be, well, incredible. Only five running backs in history have hit 400: Larry Johnson (416), Jamal Anderson (410), James Wilder (407), Eric Dickerson (404) and Eddie George (403).

Think about all of the workhorse runners in the history of the NFL, and just a handful have had that many carries. That tells you how unique such an achievement would be. In many ways, this is one of the most impressive marks in football.

Even if Murray gets just 390 carries, or 380, or 370, that is still an incredible amount of physical abuse his body will take.

The question is: Can he last the season? There are obviously some great players on this list. Anderson and Dickerson are among my favorites. So was George. They were able to carry the football a great many times while rarely getting run down.

"I always felt like I was uniquely built to handle carrying that load," Anderson told me this week. "I didn't feel extra wear and tear that season, but I was really smart about the maintenance of my body."

Does Anderson think Murray could do what he did?

"The difference is our size," Anderson said. "I played at least 15 pounds heavier than Murray. And I believe additional size helps with that kind of load. This isn't to say he can't handle it. He's a physical runner, no doubt. But he also has an injury history."

Anderson played at about 237 pounds. Murray plays at about 217.

It's that lighter weight that should probably scare the Cowboys and make them think twice about pushing him toward that 400 mark. Murray would be the lightest player to ever reach it.

"The five backs who carried 400-plus times, look at their size," Anderson added. "L.J., Eddie, Dickerson, myself, all 225-plus. Wilder right around there as well."

He continued, saying, "A lot of people like to say I blew out my knee because of my workload. I didn't even get touched. It was a freak accident."

Murray currently has 130 attempts. No other player in football has broken 100 so far.

Week	Opponent	Att.	Yards	TDs
1	SFO	22	118	1
2	TEN	29	167	1
3	STL	24	100	1
4	NOR	24	149	2
5	HOU	31	136	0

The surprise is that a number of players on the 400-carry list had fairly lengthy careers and were able to play a lot of their career without injuries that kept them off the field for large swaths of time. Johnson basically played six years (though legal troubles cut into some of that). Anderson played six. Wilder played nine. Dickerson played a decade and is in the Hall of Fame. George played eight.

So if Murray follows the trend (and I know he's been hurt before), he'll still be able to stay on the field not just for this season, but beyond.

Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Murray's carries will drop as the season progresses. He told reporters this week:

"

DeMarco was out there, and we think that’s probably too many carries in the game, week in and week out. He ended up with 31, so we’d like to get that number lower. We’d really just like to get the other guys an opportunity. I don’t see any wear and tear in DeMarco, but having said that, we want to make sure we create a rotation and we’ll focus on doing that in the next few weeks.

"

Now, I don't believe that. I think the Cowboys will still get him the football as much as they have. He's too good, and giving him those carries has transformed the offense into a better one. Also, consider that 10 teams average 30 or more carries a game, and none has a losing record.

So Murray will keep carrying the football, in great numbers.

At his own risk.

3. Murray and Jim Brown

One last thing on Murray. His 136 yards rushing last week against Houston meant he became only the third player in history to rush for at least 100 yards in each of the team's first five contests to start a season, according to the NFL.

The other two? Jim Brown and O.J. Simpson. Brown leads the streak with six games. Not bad company at all for Murray.

4. The future of Thursday Night Football

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

This, from running back Arian Foster (via Brian T. Smith of the Houston Chronicle), sums up the feelings of almost everyone about Thursday Night Football (well, everyone except maybe the owners).

"Thursday Night Football is pretty annoying for players," he said. "I don’t know one player that likes it. I really don’t know a fan that likes it, either. I think it’s just the league’s way to try to generate more revenue, but that’s what they are here for."

It's difficult to argue with anything he says. He's also far from alone.

What I'm certain of: More players are complaining to to their union reps. I was told by one rep that a number of players have complained about playing on Thursday night, with one in particular saying, "Playing on Thursdays is going to get someone killed."

Well, that might be hyperbole, but the games do put the NFL and union in difficult spots. The quality of play hurts the NFL brand, and the game coming so soon after playing on Sunday shows that the NFL doesn't truly care about player safety.

I'm hearing there are players who want to protest the games by boycotting first play after kickoff in one of the Thursday games this season. No way that happens, but I know the anger over the Thursday games has grown so intense that that's been a discussion among a tiny group of players.

That's how much the resentment has grown, and it will only get worse.

5. Not the same ol' Browns

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

The greatest comeback the Browns have ever seen obviously wasn't luck. It wasn't just because the Titans are terrible. It was more than that. What we are seeing is the Browns turning a corner. No, cynical Browns fans, this is not the same ol' Browns. They have potential, skill, good coaching. This is an organization that knows what it's doing.

Browns fans don't want to admit this. So many always wait for the other cleat to drop.

I'm not saying Cleveland will win a Super Bowl this year—but they could within the next few years. Why the hell not? These aren't your same ol' Browns.

6. Support for Geno Smith

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

A veteran Jets player on Smith: "He's not perfect, but he's a good kid. Works hard, tries his best. He's also not playing with the greatest talent around him. I'd give him a break, and I do think he has support in the locker room."

There's no question, however, that the Jets will be looking for another franchise thrower. I've lost track of how many franchise quarterbacks the Jets have tried to nurture. 

Part of the problem is Rex Ryan, who has never truly cared about offense. That has bitten him in the bottom. The Jets are also facing the problem of a general manager who has done one of the worst jobs in football.

The rest of the season will be fun for the Jets.

7. Russell Wilson is changing the position

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Whenever I tweet anything positive about Russell Wilson—and I mean anything—I get massive vitriol from fans. When I say Wilson deserves consideration for being viewed as one of the top three quarterbacks in the sport—just consideration—the hatred gets even worse. It's amazing. How a guy who is one of the gentlemen in the sport, who is a team player, who is a good player, who embodies everything we say we want in our athletes, engenders such dislike is curious. Well, some of it isn't curious, but some of it is.

Wilson is Steve Young to me. He can throw with accuracy from the pocket, while on the run, from a ship in low orbit. He can do everything. Just because he isn't asked to do everything doesn't mean he can't.

Wilson also suffers from a head-shaking double standard: He is penalized for playing with a great defense. Andy Dalton plays with a great defense and has staggering offensive weapons (far better weapons than Wilson's) and has yet to win a playoff game.

OK, I'm done here for the moment.

Wait, one more thing.

We can go back over all of the great quarterbacks Wilson has beat, or the fact he has a ring, or the great drive in overtime he engineered this season against Denver, but this is one of my favorite Wilson stats of all.

On Monday Night Football, one of the biggest stages there is, Wilson has nine touchdowns, zero interceptions and a quarterback rating of 123, is 4-0 and has completed 65 percent of his passes. In big games, he rarely makes mistakes.

Now I'm done.

8. Seahawks' Monday dominance

Last note on the Seahawks. Seattle's win over hapless Washington gives the team nine straight Monday night wins from 2005 to now, one of the top Monday night win streaks since 1970 (via the NFL):

Team	Dates	Consecutive wins
Raiders	9/22/1975 to 12/7/1981	14
Seahawks	12/5/2005 to present	9
Saints	11/24/2008 to 9/30/2013	9
49ers	12/2/1996 to 9/27/1999	9

9. HGH testing in full force now

Here's how it's proceeding, according to a league source:

Every week, five randomly selected players on eight randomly selected clubs will be tested for HGH as part of the standard weekly collection process for the PED program (10 randomly selected players on each team giving urine samples every week during the season).

Testing pool:

In season, it's players on the active roster, practice squad and reserve list who are not already subject to reasonable cause testing. In the offseason, it's every player under contract not already on reasonable cause testing (maxed at 90 per team).

The HGH collectors are fully trained, and the process should take no more than five minutes, using a small butterfly needle in the arm. The testers take less than one tablespoon of blood. This is almost identical to when players get their blood work done for preseason physicals.

The number of tests conducted during preseason, regular season and postseason will be approximately 950. There will be about 385 tests during the offseason. 

That means the total number of HGH tests, year-round, will be about 1,335. Major League Baseball does about 400 HGH tests year-round.

On appeals, for steroid and HGH violations, other than a positive test (for example, conviction for possession of controlled substances), the commissioner retains his disciplinary authority. A player would have a limited right of appeal based on due process considerations or a claim of disparate punishment. Any due process appeal would have to be pursued on an expedited basis.

The appeal would be heard by a member of the existing CBA appeal panel, and the commissioner’s decision could only be set aside under very limited circumstances. A due process appeal would not be available in cases of positive tests.

How reliable is the testing? That's a good question and more complicated argument that I'll write about in the near future.

10. DUI repercussions

One thing that's also quietly happened: The NFL has implemented tougher policies for players driving drunk. A first DUI conviction would result in a minimum suspension of two games without pay. A more lengthy suspension would be imposed where there are aggravating circumstances (personal injury or property damage) or in cases of repeat offenders.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.