Patriots' injuries are Dr. Rick's radio specialty

Herman, who lives in Easton, has hosted the "Patriots Medical Injury Update" segment on WBCN's Patriots pregame show for the past eight seasons. In the early years of the show (when Parcells was coach), Herman often would attend the coach's midweek press conference to get information on player injuries. After several weeks of Herman's questioning, the frequently stormy Parcells exploded.

"He lost it and yelled, `What's wrong with you? Every week you ask me a medical question; are you doing some sort of expose? What are you, a doctor or something?' " Herman recalled. "And I said `Well, yes, I am a doctor,' and he immediately started apologizing. The sports reporters tease me that I'm the only guy who can shut up Bill Parcells."

Sound bites from that now-infamous 1996 press conference were included in the opening of Herman's injury update segment before the Nov. 16 game against Parcells' current team, the Dallas Cowboys, at Foxborough's Gillette Stadium.

But despite endless talk about the two Bills -- Parcells and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick -- the topic of conversation for Herman's show was the return of the two Teds, nose tackle Ted Washington and linebacker Ted Johnson, who were able to play for the first time after being out with injuries for eight and nine weeks, respectively.

Herman, who has worked at Brockton Hospital for 23 years, said the show, cohosted by Bill Abbate and former Patriot Peter Brock, has covered "just about every element of sports medicine over the years." Sometimes it's a specific injury to a high-profile player, other times it's a topic related to that week's game, such as playing safely in a Miami heat wave, the high altitude of Denver or the bitter cold in Buffalo.

This season, Herman was out front with his prediction that outside linebacker Roosevelt Colvin's hip injury was season-ending, just as he was two years ago when he talked about the severity of a hit taken by then-Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe. The sideline collision was revealed later to have been life-threatening, with the impact creating severe internal bleeding.

Recently, Herman has answered questions about tetrahydrogestrinone, or THG, a designer steroid that several professional football and baseball players have tested positive for using, as well as new helmets designed to prevent concussions.

"There's a huge appetite for and curiosity about injuries in football because they are such a huge part of the game now," Herman said. "As a physician reporting, I have an added sense of credibility and with that comes an added responsibility. By virtue of having MD after your name, it does give you more believability."

Herman, a native of Connecticut, said his wife, who is from Alabama, turned him into a football fan. He has followed the Patriots since the early 1980s, around the same time he became friendly with then-WBCN disc jockey Oedipus, now the station's program director.

Oedipus asked Herman to take part in a Sunday morning medical call-in show, featuring health topics geared toward a younger, sexually active audience, such as diet fads and protection from HIV infection, Herman said.

When the show went off the air in the late 1980s, Herman took a break from broadcasting until 1995, when WBCN was awarded the contract to become the Patriots' flagship radio station. He has been an integral part of the pregame lineup ever since.

"NFL teams are always hesitant to supply any kind of information about injuries; they don't want the other team to know how injured or not injured someone is going into a game," Abbate said. "Rick is great because he can take medical language and simplify it for fans. He's given us a lot of great insight."

Rich Copp, community relations manager for Brockton Hospital, said Herman has become "a local medical celebrity," especially among patients and staff at the hospital. His office in the emergency department is adorned with Patriots memorabilia, including a football signed by quarterback Tom Brady.

After broadcasting the pregame show from the WBCN tent outside Gillette Stadium, Herman watches the games, monitoring the action for injuries. When the team is on the road, such as for Sunday's game in Houston, his segment is broadcast from the WBCN studio in Boston. "It's funny watching a game with Rick and watching what he watches," said Abbate. "Usually, it's not something the rest of us would watch; his eyes are tuned in to players as they come off the field. A few weeks ago, during the rash of Patriots injuries, he noticed immediately that [linebacker Mike] Vrabel had broken his arm, so we knew before we were even officially notified."

Joanna Massey can be reached at massey@globe.com.