Ask Farmer: Why have there been so many significant injuries in the NFL this season?

Have a question about the NFL? Ask Times NFL writer Sam Farmer, and he will answer as many as he can online and in the Sunday editions of the newspaper throughout the season. Email questions to: sam.farmer@latimes.com

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Does it seem to you like there are a high number of marquee players with significant injuries in just the first two weeks? Jordy Nelson and Maurkice Pouncey in Week 1, Tony Romo, Dez Bryant, Terrell Suggs. . . . Is this unusual? Is it coincidence? What’s up?

Evan Gore, Glendale

Farmer: This doesn’t pertain specifically to marquee players, but typically there are a lot of injuries in training camp and in September, relative to the rest of the season. According to Dr. Neal ElAttrache, a leading sports surgeon and a consultant to the St. Louis Rams, there are multiple reasons for that.

“August and early September have always been the peak times for significant injuries,” ElAttrache said. “Hamstring and ACL injuries are highest in August and September. The reason in August is you have more guys out there that are trying to make a roster, a little more chaos on the field, and even the experienced guys are put at greater risk. At least that’s the theory.

“Heat and dehydration and overall conditioning plays a role in muscle strains. So things like hamstring tears, Achilles’ tears happen when you’re relatively dehydrated and potentially coming off a heavy conditioning program. You see a decrease in ACL injuries, and a decrease in season-ending injuries as you go through the season, in terms of overall numbers.”

As for injuries such as Romo’s (fractured collarbone when smashed into the turf by a tackler), that’s not a conditioning issue. But were there more practices in pads (the NFL severely restricts those as a safety precaution) maybe his offensive line would have been better able to pick up that block.
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Whose idea was it to use Roman numerals for the Super Bowl number?
Brad Fullerton, Portland, Ore.

Farmer: Lamar Hunt, late owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, was credited with coming up with that idea which in part was aimed at distinguishing the game as a major event. A Roman numeral was first used for Super Bowl V in 1971, then the numerals were retroactively applied to the first four games.

The league also embraced numbering the Super Bowls to avoid confusion because the game is played in a different calendar year than the regular season. Hunt was credited with coming up with the name “Super Bowl,” too, to rename what was called the NFL-AFL Championship. This year, for the 50th Super Bowl, the league is breaking with tradition and will call the game “Super Bowl 50” — hence the gold 50-yard markers in games this fall. One reason is the Roman numeral for 50 is L, and it was difficult to work with that, design-wise.

Plus, who wants to walk around wearing a hat with a giant L on it?