Writers of Pro Football Prospectus 2008

printable version

Extra Points

Articles from around the Web

Need Help with KUBIAK or Premium?

blog advertising is good for you


13 Oct 2009

Owen Schmitt: "I Didn't Think My Head Would Split Open"

For those of you who didn't see it on Sunday, Seahawks fullback Owen Schmitt smacked himself in the head three or four times with his helmet when running out onto the field.

The attached link has both video of the incident, which resulted in Schmitt's scalp getting split open, and some quotes from Schmitt regarding the incident. Our favorite is this one:

On if he thinks he’s insane, a subject that the PTI boys were debating on Monday’s show:

“Let’s be real. Everybody’s a little crazy to play that game.”

As a side note, I'll tell my story of my one run-in with Mr. Schmitt. In my old days as the Sports Editor at IGN, I attended a party before the 2008 NFL Draft that was hosted by EA, essentially as hype for one of their upcoming games. Many of the top players in that year's draft class were there and acting in a professional, dignified manner, including Matt Ryan, Darren McFadden, Jake Long, Chris Long, et al.

At one point, the president of EA Sports, Peter Moore, started introducing all the players in attendance. When he was finished, there was some hollering over by the main bar about forgetting somebody. Everyone looked over to find, yes, Mr. Owen Schmitt, with a Corona in each hand.

Long story short: He's a great man.

Posted by: Bill Barnwell on 13 Oct 2009

34 comments, Last at 15 Oct 2009, 8:22pm by jds

Comments

1
by Tundrapaddy (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 2:41pm

Can I say how thrilled I was to hear that the Seahawks had drafted a fullback who 'probably has the record for broken facemasks' in college?

14
by Insancipitory :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 6:07pm

He has this nice jeep set up for off-roading. When he arrived for his autograph signing last year, he was on some level unsatisfied with the normal arrangements by the team, so he just parked it on the sidewalk.

That said, he should get what he can out of Mack Strong and coaches. Maybe he got a little bit of the glory late in his career, but he was lead blocker for something in the neighborhood of 17,000 yards of rushers. Owen is obviously willing, mastering the position and Knapp's system will lead to Seattle falling in love with him forever.

2
by Key19 :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 2:49pm

What an idiot. Can they call a personal foul on him for blow to the head?

Of all the helmet-to-helmet hits I saw flagged on Sunday, this is definitely the one that caused the most damage, and yet it's ok by the league's rules. Flag this, don't flag the others. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

4
by Will Allen (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 3:03pm

Oh, don't be such a killjoy. "I didn't think my head would split open" may be the single greatest quote in sports journalism history. Give Schmitty an ugly yellow blazer and a plane ticket to Ohio!

16
by Bobman :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 6:45pm

LMAO

7
by neil (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:27pm

A small cut to the head is more damaging than a concussion????

10
by Theo :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:56pm

That's what I was thinking.
It's all fun and games.

22
by jack straw (not verified) :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 10:20am

do you even watch football. do you understand the game. you do know they can't throw a flag till the game starts right. are you a football hater. do you have any football intelligence. why on earth would you make a stupid comment like that. do you understand the term "psyching himself up". i bet you're one of those people who loves stupid rules in sports. go back to watching soccer and cricket.

3
by AnonymousA (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 2:57pm

Link no worky?

5
by Jacob Stevens (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 3:07pm

he also holds some kind of West Virginia record for eating coasters. His secret? He dips them in beer to soften them up.

26
by Botswana Meat Commission FC (not verified) :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 3:26pm

Yep. Go to Mario's Fishbowl in Morgantown. The record is on the wall.

How do I know that? My dad and step-mom own the bar.

28
by DrewTS (not verified) :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 6:52pm

"Coaster" must mean something different than what I think it means. Although, if this guy were eating plastic or cardboard, I wouldn't be that surprised.

29
by tuluse :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 7:04pm

I assume he meant cardboard coasters.

6
by bubqr :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 3:23pm

Article he should read while he still can :

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell?cur...

8
by jebmak :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:51pm

Wow, that was chilling.

9
by Sophandros :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 4:54pm

That article was posted on another sports message board, and (surprise, surprise), most of the posters focused on the title rather than the substance...

Regarding Schmitt, he strikes me as the guy who's trying TOO hard to be "The Crazy Guy" on the team.

-------------
Sports talk radio and sports message boards are the killing fields of intellectual discourse.

12
by Tundrapaddy (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 5:09pm

I don't know that he's really 'trying' to be. I mean, crikey, he's a fullback - he's at probably the lowest paid position for any full-time (non-special teams) NFL player, and his job is to ram into one or more larger individuals on every play so that someone else can get the glory for the yardage gained.

This is not something that a completely sane individual would do. Plus, he's lead-blocking for Julius Jones now. Which brings up the insanity line about 'doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result'.

Regarding the article - it's pretty damning. Add it to the vast, and growing, collection about the long-term health costs of our favorite sport.

It makes you wonder if we'd be better off getting behind rugby...

20
by Sophandros :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 9:38am

As a rugby player, I'd be 100% the US getting behind rugby.

-------------
Sports talk radio and sports message boards are the killing fields of intellectual discourse.

13
by Tundrapaddy (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 5:12pm

I didn't realize, but I've been to that animal sanctuary that took in Vick's (surviving) dogs.

Kanab Utah - really pretty place.

11
by C (not verified) :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 5:03pm

Did anybody see the concussion story on 60 minutues?

Ted Johnson needs to have a sit down with Owen Schmidtt. Owen seems like the perfect fullback for the city of Seattle, but you want to be able to think after 60... When you are amped up that way you won't feel pain, but the next day...

I don't understand how there aren't even MORE injuries on kickoffs.

15
by jayinalaska :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 6:45pm

I hear that this Christmas Owen is going to go to New York and stand on the sidewalk next to a five story building and have an 8-year old kid throw bricks at his head from the roof.

17
by Bobman :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 6:48pm

Could probably sell tickets to watch $10 and throw $100 and make more in one day than he does in a year at NFL minimum.

18
by Theo :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 7:40pm

Nominee for QOTY.

19
by sam :: Tue, 10/13/2009 - 9:47pm

"I didn't think my head would split open"

That's good... if he thought is head would split open and he did it anyway, I would worry about him. But who could have predicted that a helmet designed to protect his head would be stronger than his actual head? Totally unforseeable!

--
sam! or the original sam from the old FO

23
by DrewTS (not verified) :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 11:43am

That was my first thought. I'd be much more worried if he DID think it would split his head open. Then he'd need to go to a mental hospital.

21
by jds (not verified) :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 9:50am

All I could think of after watching that clip was ..... Gus Frerotte.

24
by Bobman :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 12:46pm

And all Gus Frerotte could think of, when watching the clip, was: "blpppghtn%$#dfthghmmmm, cookies. I like cookies...."

25
by Bowl Game Anomaly :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 1:39pm

Just for the record, Frerotte gave himself a neck injury, not a concussion. Sorry to spoil your joke.

27
by TomC :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 3:52pm

The banner ad I have at the top of this page tells me that El Chico Cafe is offering a $499 Enchilada Dinner all week.

30
by Jerry :: Wed, 10/14/2009 - 8:34pm

Smack yourself a few times with a helmet and it will seem like a good deal.

31
by bubqr :: Thu, 10/15/2009 - 5:40am

I'd rather pay 499 $ for an enchilada than buy any of those NFL-dressed gnomes of that ad on the FO main page.

32
by mrparker (not verified) :: Thu, 10/15/2009 - 6:06am

re: owen schmitt faking crazy,

Noone can fake that kind of mindset and get away with it in the NFL. He is a rookie, a guy like Ray Lewis(for sake of an example) would have eaten him alive already. Straying off topic a bit, I bet you he is the bain of the coaches existence in the film room.

33
by Francisco (not verified) :: Thu, 10/15/2009 - 12:26pm

Who was the fullback a few years ago who taped a razor to the inside of his helmet by his forehead so that he would have blood streaming down his face during games?

34
by jds (not verified) :: Thu, 10/15/2009 - 8:22pm

Not sure about that, but I recall a story that Dick Butkus would take a razor to his face before the game for the purpose of making sure he had dried blood on his face when looking across the line at the quarterback. He felt it gave him that extra menacing stare.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options