J.J. Watt and Kareem Jackson closed in, blitzing hard on a Sunday versus the Washington Redskins, and ultimately trying to sack Alex Smith. Then, matters took a turn for the worse. Smith didn't get up, the play was replayed, and something became very clear; this wasn't a regular sack.
Smith shared the details of what his mind was going through with Yahoo! Sports' Terez Paylor.
“Oh, I knew [it was bad] right away, as soon as I looked down and my leg wasn’t straight. You’re so used to your whole life, when you look down, your leg is straight. And [then] it wasn’t anymore.”
Smith suffered a compound fracture in his leg, that may spell doom for his NFL career. On first glance, it was a hard hit; on the second, it was a gruesome one. The injury reminds many of Joe Theismann's career-ending leg break-in 1985. Same field, same day, same final score, and a three-time Defensive Player of the Year involved.
Just like in 1985, it was horrifying and shocking for everyone involved or watching, including Smith.
He told Paylor:
“I was in so much shock right away that I wasn’t in a ton of pain. I kinda just really, to be honest, said, ‘Oh wow, I’ll get put back together, they’ll do what they do.’ I’ll do my rehab … and I knew the season was done, I definitely knew that, but I had no idea, zero appreciation, for what a broken tib-fib is and what the recovery’s like.”
It's unknown if Smith will pay another down of NFL football again. He wore an external fixation device for eight months, while the Redskins quickly found his replacement in Dwayne Haskins. But, for now, the hope isn't that he plays, the hope is that he's healthy after suffering something most wouldn't wish upon their enemies.
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