Something more to Andrews story

By Tim McManus
The Phanatic Magazine

If you listen to one side tell it, Shawn Andrews may be in the trenches for the season opener. If you listen to the other side, Andrews' career may be in jeopardy.

No connectors or middle ground. Just two people with very intimate knowledge of the situation taking polar stances.

The mystery began to bubble Wednesday, when Andrews addressed his ankle injury -- deemed a sprain by the medical staff -- and made it sound much more significant than the club was letting on.

"When I was talking to a specialist, and what he said to me, it was a tearjerker," Andrews said. "It's kind of tough because it's something I love to do, and I can't be out there to sweat and grind with my teammates right now, and I don't know what the future holds. But I'll be OK either way."

Andrews wouldn't comment on whether or not the injury could potentially be career-threatening. And when asked for further details about the injury, said he couldn't divulge anything because “Coach Reid would probably smack me.”

On the other side of the spectrum, Reid came out Thursday and essentially called this a non-issue.

“That’s him being Shawn. One thing that makes Shawn a good football player, he’s an emotional football player. He showed you a little emotion yesterday and he wants back out on the field and he’s just got to weather this thing and as frustrating as it is for him he’s got to weather his foot and get back,” Reid said.

"He’s frustrated. But the main thing, and really the only thing, that I care about right now is that he’s getting better, and that he’s doing.”

When asked if Andrews would be ready for the opener against Green Bay, Reid replied: “Yeah, I believe he will be. Yes.”

While Reid's words likely calmed the fans' nerves, they didn't answer several important questions:

If the diagnosis was merely a sprain and all but cleared him to play in Week 1, why would it be described as a tear-jerker?

If there wasn't significantly more to this injury than currently disclosed, why would Andrews suggest that he'd be in trouble with his coach by providing further detail? A sprain's a sprain, right?

When asked if your injury is career-threatening, and all you have is a sprain, why wouldn't you simply say 'No.'?

It just doesn't add up.

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Tim can be reached at tmcmanus@phanaticmag.com