Sunday, January 22, 2023

Rub some dirt on it

 That was some old-school business we were looking at in Kansas City and Philadelphia yesterday, and I don't mean that in the facemask-jerking, water-denying, spitting, raging Foo'ball Coach way. I mean in the Jack Youngblood/Ronnie Lott way.

Remember those guys?

Jack Youngblood was a defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams who once played an entire postseason - including the Super Bowl -- on a broken leg (specifically, a fractured fibula). Ronnie Lott was a Hall of Fame defensive back for the San Francisco 49ers who actually had his broken pinkie finger amputated rather than undergo reconstructive surgery that would have kept him off the field.

Who does that?

Well ... a couple of guys. Kinda-sorta.

Listen, neither Patrick Mahomes nor Jalen Hurts yesterday approached the sort of extremes Youngblood and Lott did, and no one's saying that. But they both became members of the Rub Some Dirt On It club in divisional playoff victories.

Mahomes suffered what was apparently a high-ankle sprain in the first quarter against Jacksonville, and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had to practically pry him off the field to go get it X-rayed. Then he returned in the second half and gritted the Chiefs to two scores they ultimately needed to turn back the Jaguars 27-20.

If you've ever had a high ankle sprain, you're shaking your head right now. You can't plant your foot to make certain throws. You can't really run. Yet somehow Mahomes ran and threw the Chiefs to the W.

And Hurts?

He was Hurts-in' too.

Still hampered by a sprained SC joint in his throwing shoulder that sidelined him for two of the Eagles last two regular season games, Hurts -- who had also been ill all week -- rubbed some dirt on it, too. Threw the ball 24 times, completing 16 for 154 yards and two touchdown. Ran nine times for 34 yards and another score. And the Eagles boat-raced the Giants, 38-7.

The best part, though, might have been when Hurts was asked on the sideline how he felt physically.

"Good enough," he replied.

Jack and Ronnie would be proud.

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