GREEN BAY — Before hanging up, Charles Woodson had a shout-out he had to deliver to the folks back in Wisconsin.
The former Green Bay Packers defensive leader and current Oakland Raiders safety wanted to make sure everyone knew that Bryan "Flea" Engel, a member of the team's athletic training staff, had been named the NFC assistant athletic trainer of the year .
"There's nobody that's more deserving of that award. Any injury that I got through when I was up there with the Packers, me and 'Flea,' we got through it together," Woodson said during an appearance earlier this week on Green & Gold Today on 540 ESPN and ESPNWisconsin.com . "[I worked] with the other trainers, but I think me and Flea had a special relationship. I'm proud of him, and I just wanted to send him a congratulations."
That Woodson would go out of his way to say that prompted the question: Amid the Packers' seemingly endless injury problems — over the past two seasons, their starters have missed an NFL-high 153 games, according to the Dallas Morning News' Rick Gosselin — could any of the fault lie with the strength and conditioning staff or the athletic training/medical staff?
"Not in the least bit," replied Woodson, who broke his collarbone twice while in Green Bay but also played through multiple knee and shoulder injuries. "What I know about those guys, what I know about strength and conditioning with Mark Lovat, [the medical staff with] Pepper Burruss, Flea, Dr. McKenzie, Dr. Gray, Kurt (Fielding), Nate (Weir) — they do a first-class job with guys are far as injuries are concerned.
"And I know they are not the cause of injuries. So no, the blame is placed in the wrong place if you want to blame those guys."
Jason Wilde  wrote: