I love Twitter for the interaction, but I hate it for the amped-up expectations it gives people. Just because we have a real-time tool for communication and broadcast doesn’t mean writers and reporters suddenly get mystical powers or that teams and players (for the most part) communicate things any more quickly.
Here’s the injury “calendar” - how things break down through the week in the NFL.
Sunday: Game. Can tell you injuries, some info on severity and context.
Monday: Initial diagnosis, MRIs and X-rays. Get very little information here unless severe. You’ll often get most of the downplaying and expectation setting on Monday. It’s nearly impossible for all but the most severe injuries to give play/not play on Monday.
Tuesday: More information. We tend to get slightly more information by Tuesday, mostly for injuries that are carrying over. Physical testing tends to happen on Tuesday to plan for practices and game plans. It’s very hard to give much indication of play/not play at this stage.
Wednesday: Practice. With the first practice of the week, there’s a ton more information. We get indications of who didn’t heal up well, who might miss time. It’s more informative with some teams and coaches, but by Wednesday evening, we have a pretty good handle on who will play/not play, but there’s the complication of who’s gliding towards a GTD.
Thursday: OIR. The official injury report really adds nothing to the discussion. It’s nice, in that it’s all in one place, but most of the injuries that pop up are to linemen, the ones that didn’t get the attention during the earlier portion of the week. It adds context, especially from a performance standpoint.
Friday: Quiet Day. Not much changes on Fridays. There’s the occasional player who will show improvement, or a player that will push through. Coaches often make their final decision on players with Friday’s practice, but they seldom communicate it.
Saturday: Travel. There’s almost no new information on Saturday, aside from whether a player did not travel with the team. Home teams do have some subtle change, especially with the GTD or push-to-start players. The latter have a massive recurrence risk, something I’ve seen change over the last couple years.
I hope that helps people understand why I can’t give good information on Monday or Tuesday … and why you should probably stop asking, even though I know you won’t. If you’re going to, just try not to be a dick about it.
