POSTED 9:42 p.m. EDT, May 9, 2007NFL CHANGES INJURY REPORTINGThe revised NFL media policy, mentioned below, also contains significant changes to the procedure for reporting injuries.The league will now require teams to include in their Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday disclosures identification of whether the player did not participate in practice, had limited participation in practice, or fully participated in practice.This disclosure will be in addition to the categories of "out," "doubtful," "questionable," and "probable."And because "probable" means that there is a virtual certainty that the player will be available for normal duty, the failure of a player who is listed as probable to play on Sunday will be regarded as a violation of the revised policy.Though we generally agree with any effort to force the teams to be more forthcoming regarding injuries, the league still needs (we believe) to add a category that falls somewhere between 50-50 and "virtual certainty." Or they need to change the term "probable" so that the casual fan will realize that it really means "virtual certainty" or, under the new policy, "actual certainty unless the team wants to get a knee to the groin from the league office." And that's really the message here. Any player listed as "probable" is actually "certain." So every player with any type of nick or ding or bruise or boo-boo should be listed.
Of course, we all know that teams will still find ways to game the system and that the NFL's favorites will just make a mockery of the rule with no punishment.
