There was a collective melancholy sigh when Sam Bradford went down once again in the Rams’ third preseason game against the Browns. And the worst was confirmed within 24 hours – Bradford was going to be lost for the season with a torn ACL.
The story of how Bradford’s injury was reported revealed some hard feelings on behalf of his coach, Jeff Fisher, towards the top newsbreaker in the game, Adam Schefter. Ironically enough, Schefter’s first report indicated initial tests to Bradford’s knee revealed no ACL damage.
Initial tests on Rams QB Sam Bradford's knee did not show damage to ACL. Team "dodged a bullet." Still, more tests on knee scheduled Sunday.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 24, 2014
Schefter’s real-time reporting rankled Bradford’s head coach. For his part, Fisher was not amused that Schefter tweeted that information before he could even speak to the media. Here was the exchange between Fisher and reporters after the Browns game, via Larry Brown Sports:
“I cannot give you details on anybody’s situation right now until we do testing and get MRIs,” Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said of his injured players.
When told there was a report (Schefter’s) saying there was no damage to Bradford’s ACL, Fisher got defensive.
“Ummm … who’s saying that?” Fisher asked.
“Schefter,” the reporter replied.
“Oh. Oh, you know, I didn’t see Adam in the locker room or the training room today. That’s funny. If you see [Schefter] tell him I say hi.
“Really? Yeah, he knows everything,” Fisher said sarcastically.
Ouch. The hammer blow then followed the next day. It was then that Schefter tweeted the info that further testing indicated an injury to Bradford’s ACL. Finally it was fellow ESPNer Chris Mortensen that broke the news officially of the tear.
Despite Rams QB Sam Bradford thinking his ACL was intact from initial testing, there is real concern that it is not and it could be torn.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 24, 2014
But why did Fisher lash out at Schefter when reporting like this happens nearly every day in the NFL? Fisher’s attitude towards Schefter goes back more than a few years. When he was Titans coach, Schefter reported that Tennesse had brought in former Colts WR Marvin Harrison for a visit. That led to this very public swipe being taken via PFT…
“We’ve not contacted Marvin,” Fisher said, according to the Tennessean. “We’ve had no contact whatsoever with Marvin or his agent and to be quite honest with you I don’t know where Adam Schefter got that information.”
Asked whether he might change his mind, Fisher said, “No. You’ll have to just stay put and see what Adam says because he’s got a better take on what we’re doing than we do.”
Given NFL coaches treat any information with regard to injuries or transactions as government secret, I wonder if more than just one NFL coach feels this way about Adam Schefter and the litany of newsbreakers out there.
