:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71941178/1184481043.0.jpg)
In a bit of news that will please most Denver Broncos fans, but probably not many inside the building or local media, Broncos’ strength and conditioning coach Loren Landow is apparently moving on from his job with the team. No word on if he was fired or if he is choosing to resign.
Widely-respected Broncos strength coach Loren Landow has informed several players he is moving on from Broncos after 5 seasons, per source. Nationally renowned,well-liked by players, Landow will pursue other opportunities. He also has his own personal training practice. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) February 4, 2023
Why fans should be pleased with this news is based purely in the statistical reality that the Broncos have been a far more injury-riddled team since he took over in 2018. Our own Joe Mahoney broke this issue down multiple times this year as we began to become fed up with the mounting injuries.
Many suggested injuries are a luck thing, but if true then the Broncos’ bad luck with injuries just happened to coincide with Landow’s arrive and steadily get worse each and every year since. In one of Mahoney’s first posts on this subject, you can see how the adjusted games lost to injury data has progressively gotten worse. The worst year was 2022, but it wasn’t available when this chart was created.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24410096/AGL_full_NFL_2020_to_2021.jpg)
He backed up that report to focus just on injured reserve and found that the Broncos’ ranked second in the NFL since 2018 in players on injured reserve at the end of the season. Averaging more than double the amount in the last four seasons compared to the four seasons prior to 2018. It is hard to suggest this is all just a matter of luck when the data covers such a long period of time.
Joe’s nail in the coffin came in December when he did an analysis on ACL tears. He found the Broncos had never had more than two of these injuries from 2012-2017, but from 2018-2022 and only had less than four in a season once. The data here suggests the Broncos have issues with their strength and conditioning process that is, in fact, leading to a higher rate of injury among players.
A change was needed and change has come. That’s not to suggest we’ll see an immediate fix to this five-year long run of injury bad luck, but at least its something more than keeping the status quo in that building. It may not even be anything Loren Landow himself did, but as the person at the top it would make sense to start there with the changes.
What do you think of this move? Am I wrong in believing that change was needed? Let’s discuss in the comments below.
Loading comments...