Issue #234: Let’s Get Physical
By Derrick Ernst
December 14, 2025
Test
I can’t be the only one that thinks of neon when they hear this song. It was almost like it was a requirement back in the day to be sporting some kind of it to enter a gym. Nowadays, gyms are like fashion shows — if you’re not sporting the latest athletic wear, you might as well turn around and leave. It’s a good thing I don’t go to any gym. My workout clothes consist of baggy shorts and t-shirts that I’ve held onto since high school. They get the job done.
By now, we’ve all seen the news:
This makes him the oldest in the NFL, surpassing A. Rodgers who’s 42. That list of 50 starting QB’s this season is growing…
When this news broke, accompanying it was something like “Rivers passed his physical.” Have you ever wondered what makes up this physical? I have. We’re all encouraged to get an annual check-up or physical, but I doubt they’re one in the same. Or at least I thought. Ironically, there isn’t much out on the Internet that speaks specifically to what an NFL physical consists of, but per ChatGPT, there are a few core components:
A review of a players medical history and general medical exam
Cardiovascular screening (aka blood pressure and heart rate tests)
Orthopedic evaluation consisting of joint and range-of-motion tests
Labs (blood, sickle cell, and urine), drug testing, and imaging
Physical fitness tests
The way I see it, we’ve probably all been through these tests at some point in our lives. Likely not all at once, but it’s not like what the NFL puts on and what the average person experiences is vastly different. It gets me to wonder how one fails one of these.
This happened pretty recently. What area(s) did Frank struggle with? This is what I’d like to know. It would be nice if each area of the physical was scored on a number scale and shared with the public. I’m sure there’s confidentiality issues with this given medical information is involved, but it would be nice to know given how often headlines like the above for Frank receive airtime.
Source: HART Sport
Recognize this device? Nothing screamed physical fitness test day in gym class than the sit-and-reach test. And it was my nemesis. I actually feel like I’ve gotten more flexible with age so I’d probably score ok doing the test now, but back in the day, I’d be lucky if I was able to touch the board.
Disparity
I heard the other day that no team has clinched a playoff spot yet. I thought I also heard that this is the longest into a season this has ever been the case (fact check this one). Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this season (more than what we’ve seen in prior years) has significantly highlighted the good teams from the bad. Just about every division has a team (or teams) with double-digit wins and one (or multiple) with double-digit losses. With the exception of the NFC North, this is every division.
As things sit right now, there are four teams with double-digit wins and eight teams with double-digit losses. If you want your team to grab the #1 overall pick in next year’s draft, it’s likely they’ll need to be historically bad. You can’t experience the highs without going through the lows first, right?
Some teams winning/losing streaks have been quite significant as well. DEN and NE are both on a 10-game winning streak while ARI, NYG, WSH, and LV all have lost 5 or more straight games. To close out today’s issue, I’ll leave you with the longest streaks in NFL history (sorry TB fans):
Winning streak: 23 games by the Indianapolis Colts spanning from 2008-09
Losing streak: 26 games by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spanning from 1976-77
26 games…I can’t imagine. Woof.
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