Steely McBeam
Well-known member
- Mar 20, 2019
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USA TODAY Sports
If you were planning to eat dinner at halftime of Monday’s Washington-Pittsburgh game, you may have experienced an unexpected change of plans.
Late in the second quarter, images appeared of Washington quarterback Alex Smith‘s lower left leg, which had blood streaming from a gash in his shin, in a way that (but for the burgundy sock) may have conjured images of Jed Clampett shootin’ at some food and up through the ground came a bubblin’ crude.
Far more visible were long streaks and splashes of blood on Smith’s white shoes.
A trainer nimbly wrapped the lower leg, and Smith continued until the injury could be addressed more thoroughly at halftime.
“I could visually see the blood pumping out, so it was a good one,” Smith said after the game, via Sam Fortier of the Washington Post. “It was lucky to have it happen just before halftime. I’ve never had one gush like that.”
The injury, which occurred when the heel of an offensive lineman’s cleat struck Smith’s shin, happened to the leg other than the one that Smith badly broke in 2018, and Smith continues to thrive after coming back from one of the worst injuries, in light of the infections and complications, in pro sports history.
The fact that he shrugged at something that made Curt Schilling’s bloody sock look like a paper cut is no surprise. Smith has become the epitome of grit and endurance, and he cemented on Monday the 2020 Comeback Player of the Year award by leading Washington to a win over the previously 11-0 Steelers.