Some old sports stories are so fantastical that some believe they must be urban legend, until somebody actually produces film and X-rays to prove it actually happened.
Jack Youngblood was one of those stories. The former Los Angeles Rams defensive end was seriously injured in a playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys in 1979, leading to an ensuing conversation between Youngblood and a team doctor that went something like this.
Doctor: “Jack, your leg is broken.”
Youngblood: “Tape it up.”
Doctor (holding up X-ray): “I don’t think you understand. See here. There’s a crack in the bone.”
Youngblood: “I understand that. Tape it up.”
Youngblood played the game with the crack in the fibula. He also played the following week for the NFC championship and, when the Rams won, then the Super Bowl. It’s only pain.
Carolina linebacker Thomas Davis, the former Georgia star, already has defied medical and sports logic by coming back from three torn ACL injuries and reconstructive surgeries during his NFL career. (He’s not at slouch level this season. He was just named All-Pro.) Now, Davis plans to play (and will start) Sunday’s Super Bowl against Denver despite having a plate and 12 screws holding together the bone in his right forearm, souvenirs from surgery less than two weeks ago.
“The arm is fixed. There’s nothing I can do to it,” Davis said. “I have a plate and screws and a bunch of stitches in my arm, but it’s more of a pain tolerance deal.”
Cue Monty Python’s “Black Knight,” after his arms were cut off: “It’s just a flesh wound.”
“It’s the Super Bowl. What would I look like as a player if there’s any chance, if there’s any way, that I can make it and play in this game and not take advantage of the opportunity?” said Davis, who broke his right forearm in the NFC title game against Arizona. “I could see if I was a first- or a second-year guy, but I’m in my 11th year in the NFL. And who knows if this opportunity is going to come around again?”
Davis has become a source of awe and inspiration for his teammates. Safety Roman Harper said, “To be able to come through all of the injuries he’s had to, and all of the things in his lifetime, you just love playing beside a guy like that. … I call him Mr. North Carolina. He could run for mayor and win easily.”
Carolina linebacker Like Kuechly also praised Davis but couldn't resist joking: "I know what's going to happen. A couple of years from now he's going to be telling everybody, 'Remember when I played with a broken arm?' Yes, Thomas, I remember. One day he'll retire and tell everybody, 'I played a Super Bowl with a million screws in my arm.' Yes, Thomas we know, we know."
Davis tore his ACL in three consecutive years (2009-11), including once in OTAs while rehabilitating from the first one. He played in only nine of a possible 48 games in that span, and he believed his career was over. Nobody had ever come back from three major knee injuries before, let alone a 235-pound linebacker who relies on his speed and explosiveness.
After the third surgery, Davis said, “In my mind, I’m thinking: OK, this is it. Obviously something’s wrong. The knee’s not holding up and I appreciate everything, but it’s the end of my career. My wife asked me if I really feel I’m done playing football, and the team chaplain asked me the same thing. I thought about it and the answer to that question was no. I still had the passion to play, I just didn’t know if I’d have the opportunity.”
Panthers owner Jerry Richardson and coach Ron Rivera gave him that, restructuring his contract and giving him a chance to make the team in 2012. Davis has started 47 of 48 regular-season games since and this season had career highs for interceptions (4), sacks (5.5) and forced fumbles (4).
When asked the source of his will, Davis referenced family and his time at Georgia.
“A lot of it had to do with my upbringing, the way my mother and my grandmother raised me,” he said. “And then, a real big part of it came from going to the University of Georgia and playing for coach Mark Richt. When you look at our motto when we were at Georgia, it was all about finishing the drill, and if you start something you finish it.”
And the man won’t let his body take no for an answer.
