VA Pilot:Watching his Skins play today painful for an ailing Noble

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Watching his Skins play today painful for an ailing Noble

By JIM DUCIBELLA, The Virginian-Pilot

© November 2, 2003

In a season that has not developed even remotely the way Brandon Noble planned or hoped, today will be the worst day of all.

Noble will sit on a couch in his Northern Virginia home, plop both feet on the floor for just the fourth or fifth time in the last two months and watch the Washington Redskins face the Dallas Cowboys at Texas Stadium.

For all that’s made about the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry, the resurgent Cowboys under new coach Bill Parcells, the continuous foundering of the Redskins under owner Dan Snyder and coach Steve Spurrier, Noble’s interest today was profoundly personal.

The defensive tackle out of Virginia Beach’s First Colonial High School spent four seasons with Dallas until signing a free-agent deal with the Redskins during the offseason.

Today would have been a homecoming, a chance to reconnect with old friends, to show them that he’d found something as good or better than he had in Texas.

“Today’s a very important game,” Noble said, pondering the implications from a team standpoint. Washington brings a 3-4 record and three-game losing streak into Texas Stadium. The Cowboys are in first place at 5-2, yet the Redskins could pull a game behind Dallas with a victory.

“Even with the way we’ve played lately, nothing’s over yet,” Noble said. “The season has a long way to go, and this is the game I’d love to play in.”

Those thoughts ended during a preseason game on Aug. 16, when Noble’s left leg was pinned beneath two New England offensive linemen and teammate Bruce Smith. He dislocated his left kneecap and tore the MCL and ACL.

It was weeks before the swelling subsided enough for Noble to undergo surgery. He remains on crutches, though usually only when he’s out in public.

“It’s easier to fall on my face at home than it is in the middle of a Best Buy,” Noble joked by phone this week. “The loss of muscle is pretty incredible. My left leg looks like it doesn’t even belong on my body, it’s so skinny. And it’s so weak that I can’t even walk yet without a limp.”

Although he is at Redskin Park daily for about three hours of rehabilitation with physical therapist Larry Hess, Noble has not attended a game since the injury.

It’s too painful to stand for three hours at a time. It’s also emotionally grating to be so close to something you love but can’t take part in.

“I’ve never been to a game I wasn’t playing in,” Noble said. “I’m sure I could go with the team if I asked. But it’s hard enough watching on TV. I think being there would be even worse.”

That’s the bad news. The good news is that surgeons found Noble’s PCL, also initially diagnosed as torn, to be intact. He is down to an hour a day on a machine that bends his left knee for him. His range of motion, doctors’ biggest concern, is returning ahead of schedule.

“You take so much for granted,” Noble said. “I sat on our sofa with both feet on the floor the other day — like you’re supposed to. I told my wife, 'It’s been nine weeks since I could sit like this.’ ”

Noble has tried to remain part of the team by asking the film crew to provide him with tapes of each upcoming opponent. He says he looks for weaknesses, something he can report to the line coach that might help the rest of the team.

“I admit I haven’t been very good about it,” he said. “There’s definitely some separation from the guys. It can’t be helped. It’s so hard not to be in the locker room. You lose a little of that bond.”

Noble said he’s more confident than ever that he’ll be able to renew that connection with the Redskins in 2004.

“Initially, there was a little more doom and gloom about this injury than maybe it warranted,” he said. “It still is career-threatening, but it is not definitely career-ending. There’s lots of work to do, but I’ve got time. I have every intention of suiting up for the Redskins next year.”

Reach Jim Ducibella at 446-2364 or at jim.ducibella@pilotonline. com