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Protected Vision |
| Bowden and Jaguars team up |
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by Hunter Robinson, Jaguars staff
10/14/07
 In any given year, the Jaguars training staff has dealt with injuries of the knees, ankles, shoulders and the back. They have had to talk about ACLs, MCLs, high-ankle sprains and concussions, but there is one body part that gets little recognition - the eyes.
Jaguars head athletic trainer Mike Ryan understands that the players’ eyes may be one of the most important tools they have. For this reason, he and the Jaguars have partnered with Bowden Eye Associates for the past 13 years. Their expertise in the subject matter is second to none in the North Florida area.
“We have been dealing with Frank Bowden and his staff since the start of 1995,” said Ryan. “They have been wonderful to deal with. As we were going through our growing pains, both as a team and as an organization, they have been right there all along helping out any way they can.”
Dr. Bowden agrees with the sentiment.
“Since 1995 I have had a positive relationship as an avid fan and professionally as part of the medical team,” said Dr. Bowden. “We have worked closely with Mike Ryan and Dr. David Murray to address issues such as safety, eye health, disease management, trauma care, and refractive surgery for the players and organization.”
Dr. Bowden and his staff provide all sorts of services for the Jaguars and are not limited to the 53-man roster. They are available for the administration and coaches as well as potential free agents.
“For our players and staff they provide a one-stop shop for an eye center,” said Ryan. “They help us screen staff members and players for our annual physicals in the spring, they provide screenings for both NFL free agents and college free agents. It has been a big plus for us to screen for potential eye issues that can become common in this level of athletics. To be able to have a handle on that before we sign a player has been invaluable.”
The importance of healthy vision to an NFL wide receiver trying to catch a pass over the middle or a defensive back trying to get a read on an opposing offense is crucial. Getting a firm grasp on potential eye problems and correcting what can be fixed is what makes Bowden so important to the Jaguars.
“NFL players have unique need for excellent vision as elite athletes in the highest competitive arena,” said Dr. Bowden. “Their livelihoods depend on their overall effective competitive performance. Skill position players in particular who must handle the ball have been the most demanding for excellent eyesight. Meeting these demands with the latest technology which has been made available in our practice has been very challenging and rewarding.”
“You don’t see swelling or limping as you would with a knee, but a potential eye injury could be just as devastating to their career as a broken bone or a dislocated joint. There is a subtlety to certain injuries to the eye and that really takes a highly-trained expert to see those before they become a big problem,” Ryan said.
Ryan knows that with preparation and education, his training room can be a more efficient area. And with Bowden Eye Associates around, he doesn’t have to worry at all about his players getting what they need.
Dr. Bowden also sees the relationship with the Jaguars beneficial to him.
“Many of my patients regard the team affiliation as a measure of trust, professionalism, and quality care which are valued attributes in health care providers. The opportunities to care for elite athletes has been challenging as their expectations of their visual performance is understandably very high. It has been rewarding to gain the players’ and team physicians’ confidence,” he said.
“If they hold on to the official title of ‘Official Eye Care Provider for the Jaguars,’ for the next two dozen years, I would be very happy with that,” smiled Ryan.
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Finding his focus
By Pete Prisco
Times-Union sports writer
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Catching the football last
year was far from routine
for Jimmy Smith, who was
essentially "legally blind"
in one eye.
-- Rick Wilson/Staff |
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Frank Bowden is an eye doctor, but he's also a devoted Jaguars fan. So when Jaguars receiver Jimmy Smith walked into his office last spring, Bowden couldn't believe his own eyes.
"I had to stare at my chart to see what kind of problems he was having," Bowden said. "He had just played in the Pro Bowl and was coming off such a successful season. What kind of problems could he have?"
As it turned out, plenty. Smith played the entire 1999 season with a cataract in his right eye, an impairment that Bowden said made him essentially "legally blind" in that eye when he played in bright sunlight or looked up into stadium lights. It was a problem Smith first detected prior to the season, but a problem he kept to himself.
"I thought I'd make it through OK," said Smith, who had surgery to remove the cataract in the off-season.
Smith made it through fine. He caught a league-high 116 passes to earn his third consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl and cement himself as one of the NFL's best receivers - or as he says THE best.
Numbers-wide, he was certainly the best last season, which makes what he did, playing much of the time with one eye, even more of a story. "It is amazing," Bowden said.
Smith caught the 116 balls, but he also dropped 11, which tied him for second most in the league with Oakland's Tim Brown. That should have been a hint of something wrong, since he had dropped just one ball in all of 1998. But he told no one.
"I didn't want to make any excuses," Smith said last week during a break from training camp. "But I took a big chance not getting the cataract removed before the season. My right eye was cloudy a lot of the time. There were a lot of times where I didn't see the ball until it was right on top of me."
Most of his trouble came during games played in bright sunlight or night games spent looking up into the lights. Cloudy days were actually good days for Smith. No one had any idea that sunny days was far from that for Smith.
He didn't tell his wife, didn't tell coach Tom Coughlin and didn't even let fellow receiver Keenan McCardell, a close friend, in on his secret. It was his private hell.
"It was like 'Wow, you could have told me,"' McCardell said. "Sometimes you keep secrets like that and go out and overcome the adversity that is put in front of you."
Bowden said Smith's incredible season is a testament to his superior skills as a player, not to mention countless hours of practice and repetition.
"He essentially did it by feel, by routine," Bowden said. "He was anticipating the ball based on his training. He reacted to it when it was close. That's hard to do when you don't have two good eyes. It takes two good eyes for sharp depth perception to track a moving object."
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Despite his eye problem,
Jimmy Smith enjoyed a
Pro Bowl year last season.
He was the go-to receiver,
catching 116 passes.
- Rich Wilson/Stafff |
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The 11 drops gnawed at Smith, though. So after the season, he sat down and finally told his wife. Days later, he was having surgery, a 20-minute, out-patient surgery formally known as Phaco Emulsification. His vision was clear again, and there are no lasting problems, save one.
"Lot of drops," Smith said.
The kind that go into his eye.
"I knew I had to get it done because it was only going to get worse," said Smith, who had a cataract removed from his left eye six years earlier.
Smith still has trouble seeing up close, but he said that should have no impact on his ability to catch the football this season. So far in training camp, one of his best with the team, he's caught virtually everything thrown his way. He hasn't dropped a pass.
"I just have trouble seeing up close," he said. "But by that time, the ball should be in my hands. When it gets in there, I should have it."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Bowden said. "By that time, he's not able to focus up close to look the ball in his hands with real crisp vision anyway. The ball is moving faster than he can focus." Shortly after the surgery, Smith was able to see clearly.
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