鈥?Chicago Bears tight end Zach Miller expressed uncertainty over his future upon returning Monday to Halas Hall after a series of serious knee surgeries.What Miller did know was he’s been through a nightmare that nearly resulted in the amputation of his left leg. It was a nightmare with a happy ending.“That was very real
Authentic Evander Kane Jersey , a couple wrong turns away from actually happening,” Miller said about losing his leg. “I had a ton of care, a lot of people helping me out throughout that entire process. But we were a couple minutes away from having that be real.”With tears in his eyes at times, Miller spoke to reporters about the ordeal resulting from a season-ending dislocated knee suffered Oct. 29 at New Orleans.Miller had surgery for a popliteal artery behind the knee in order to restore blood flow.At the time of the injury, Miller wasn’t told of the chance he’d lose his leg, but he knew from the way it was filling up with blood that it was serious.“I remember, before I got into the emergency surgery, the last thing I was telling the doctors was ‘Please, save my leg!'” Miller said. “Because I knew that something wasn’t quite right just in the way my leg was feeling and the way it was filling up. I knew we had issues.”Miller injured the leg making a touchdown catch, but later replay negated the TD and it was ruled he failed to maintain possession throughout the process.“Forever be a touchdown for me,” Miller said.Miller called the outpouring of support he’s received a life-changing event, and especially cited help received from Bears board chairman George McCaskey.“That guy’s been awesome
Nick Chubb Jersey , and that’ll be a memory I’ll keep forever,” Miller said.Since suffering the injury, Miller has sought out others who’ve had similar injuries, including former Raiders running back Napoleon Kaufman and current Raider Pharaoh Brown.He also has been in contact with California high school football player Alex Ruiz, who still faces possible amputation of part of a leg following a similar injury.“I’ve had a number of people reach out to me who have had an injury similar to this or worse doing everyday things, whether it be recreational activity, hanging out, swimming,” Miller said. “This type of thing is actually more prevalent than you may think, but I’ve had people reach out to me.”Miller is taking a day-by-day approach to recovery.“I’ve been a football player my whole life,” Miller said. “I would love to play football. We’ll cross that road when it’s time.”Most of Miller’s surgeries were related to the blood flow, which he said is now good. The knee’s structure remains solid.“The main ligaments that I’ve got are good
Brian Urlacher Jersey Youth ,” he said.Miller, 33, is a free agent after this season. He suffered a season-ending foot fracture in 2016, and with past teams had a torn Achilles in 2012 and a season-ending shoulder injury in 2011.Bears coach John Fox said Miller will continue to have a supporting role in the background the rest of the season.“When you get knocked down, you see people’s real character and how they respond,” Fox said. “He’s handled it like a champ. And I think most everybody that knew him or knows him, he acted like you’d expect Zach to act. It’s very impressive.”Miller’s return to the facility came a day after the Bears (4-9) broke a five-game losing streak with a 33-7 win at Cincinnati. He said he enjoyed being around teammates.“It just felt good to be back,” Miller said. “There are a lot of people I still haven’t seen that I need to see. But there have been a lot of hugs to go around.” Not being in the limelight has never bothered Kyle Van Noy.
He didn’t start a NFL game until his third season when he was with the Detroit Lions, and even then was thought of as a role player.
So now being considered one of the leaders on a Patriots defense that is on the cusp of making a return trip to the Super Bowl seems somewhat out of place for the fourth-year linebacker as he heads into Sunday’s AFC championship game against Jacksonville.
”I’ve been in so many situations since I’ve been here,” Van Noy said of the increased role he’s had in New England.
”I mean going deep in the playoffs last year and then playing all of the games this year. … Each and every game there’s different situations, different scenarios that come up. So I would say that my awareness has gone up a lot since I’ve been here.”
The same could be said about his value.
When linebacker Dont’a Hightower went down with a season-ending torn pectoral muscle in the Patriots’ win over the Falcons in Week 7, it left a void in the side of a defense that entered 2017 young and inexperienced up front.
New England had already given up 30 or more points three times to that point and was ranked 23rd in the NFL in scoring defense
Michael Gallup Youth Jersey , allowing 23.7 points per game.
Van Noy began the season starting at outside linebacker alongside Elandon Roberts in the middle and Hightower at the other outside spot.
But when Hightower went down, the coaching staff asked Van Noy to handle multiple roles, playing both on the edge and middle of the field at times.
Safety and defensive captain Devin McCourty said that the 26-year-old showed glimpses of that versatility even last season.
It’s why it wasn’t strange for him to see Van Noy tackle the responsibility of receiving the defensive play call from the sideline, another role that he’s inherited with Hightower out.
He flourished in them all, and over the final nine weeks of the season New England got stingier on defense.
By the end of the season it was allowing just 18.5 points per game – the fifth-best mark in the league.
Van Noy missed three of the final four games with a calf injury, but still finished the regular season third on the team with 73 tackles and second with 5+ sacks. Van Noy’s sack total was just a half-sack short of Hightower’s career-high of six in 2014.
”It helps our defense out a lot, and he’s one of a lot of guys on our defense that have been able to play different positions that allow us to do different things defensively,” McCourty said. ”He’s been a leader, he’s run the huddle kind of since he’s been in there.”
Coach Bill Belichick said continuity and execution has improved all over the defense, with lots of contributions from Van Noy and others such as Trey Flowers, Marquis Flowers, Adam Butler
Leonard Williams Jets Jersey , Deatrich Wise Jr. and Ricky Jean Francois.
”Some of the guys that are playing now weren’t playing. If we had had this conversation in the middle of the season, you wouldn’t be asking about them,” Belichick said.
”They’ve stepped into different roles and they’ve worked together more, gotten a better feel for each other, execution’s better, so it’s good.”
Van Noy said any success he’s had is simply a product of his environment.
”There are a lot of superstar defensive players that aren’t even talked about,” he said. ”When I was with the Detroit Lions there was a guy named DeAndre Levy who never made a Pro Bowl, but who everybody knew, if you played football, who he was. There are situations like that all the time. And there’s teams that have really good defenses that aren’t talked about. We’re one of them.”
NOTES: The Patriots placed defensive back and special teamer Jonathan Jones on injured reserve. They also announced the signing of receiver Bernard Reedy. Reedy was a member of the Patriots’ practice squad.
—
.
