TK Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 http://redskins.com/story.asp?ContentID=12373 Noble Goal: Return For '04 Season 12/09/2003 By Steve Butchock Redskins Insider Sometimes, NFL players recover fully from serious knee injuries and continue their careers as if they didn’t have the injury at all. Other times, the recovery is difficult. What is constant, however, is the fact that severe injuries require a lot of rehabilitation to get the player back to the same physical level prior to the misfortune. Among the Redskins on the team’s injured reserve list is Brandon Noble, who was counted on to be a mainstay on the defensive line this season. He suffered a knee injury in the second pre-season game, sidelining him for the 2003 campaign and putting his Redskins career on hold. He sustained significant ligament damage. Noble, who signed with the Redskins last March after four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, refuses to give up on football. He believes he will return in 2004, vying for a starting position. Seven weeks after surgery, Noble began to walk without crutches. And in three to four months, he expects to be doing some straight-ahead jogging. “The rehab is going great,” he said recently. “The doctors did a great job of putting my knee back together.” Noble is a fixture at Redskin Park, working primarily with assistant athletic trainer and physical therapist Larry Hess. The staff oversees Noble’s usual three-hour, six-day-a-week physical conditioning routine. Throughout most of his career, Noble has managed to avoid injury. He played in all 16 games for the Cowboys from 1999-2002. His only serious injury occurred in college in 1993, when he broke his right leg playing for Penn State. This season, the 6-2, 304-pound Noble only has been able to watch the Redskins on television—although he intends to go to the two December home games against Dallas and Philadelphia. “I just haven’t been able to stand up for that long,” he said. “By the Dallas game, I should be able to stand on my feet long enough. I definitely want to go to that game, since I used to play for the Cowboys.” Looking back at his injury, Noble said: “You can choose to make it another challenge, which is the way I choose to go. I choose to have a good attitude about it, no matter what, because it is what it is when you have an injury like I had. There’s no going back.” “To let it affect you in a negative way, emotionally and mentally, isn’t fair to you to your family, or the guys on the team. I’m trying to go in there every day [to rehab at Redskin Park] with a good attitude and a smile on my face.” Noble, who spent his first two NFL seasons on and off the practice squad of the San Francisco 49ers in 1997-98, is progressing so well in his rehabilitation that the training staff has given him the option of taking a day or two off now and then. “Now that I’m off the crutches and walking again, I feel like a person again,” he said. “Up to that point, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t go out. I had to take the sticks with me all the time. I finally feel like I’m functioning as a person again. It’s a good feeling.” Noble added: “I think that we all realize that this type of injury, as bad as it was, could have been worse. There are guys who don’t walk off the football field. Playing football is definitely a part of what I do. I’m sure my wife and mother would like it if I didn’t play football anymore. They also understand that I’m a football player and that the game is part of me.” Being on injured reserve and being at Redskin Park every day has been difficult. He feels like he’s part of the team, but it’s like he’s also in limbo. Nonetheless, he vows to be back next season. “It’s hard for me not to play,” he said. “I know that next year I’ll have an opportunity to get back out there on the field. I have every intention of dressing up in burgundy and gold next year.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophet Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 i wonder if it would have been any different with him playing this year? Is he that good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Posted December 10, 2003 Share Posted December 10, 2003 Its not always the talent that makes a guy have an impact on a team. Sometimes, its just the sheer dertermination to succeed that drives people around you to a new level. I hope we get a chance next year to see him make good on his promise to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.