Football is a dangerous game. Players get injured all the time — even just this week, there was a player who had a concussion, another who tore his ACL and even one who lost the tip of his finger trying to make a routine tackle. Wait, what? Arizona Cardinals safety Rashad Johnson attempted to bring down New Orleans Saints punt returner Darren Sproles when the unthinkable happened.
Here’s the routine play — you can’t tell what happened, but he’s the guy who missed the tackle at the end of this video.
You can see it was nothing notable and it seemed like Johnson just kind of crouched there at the end, not having any idea of the significance of his injury. If you aren’t good with graphic detail, I suggest you stop reading here as the next paragraph will describe the injury.
It was apparently bothering him and he removed his glove on the sidelines to notice that the tip of his left middle finger was still in there. He didn’t panic, yet just brought it to the trainer’s attention and had to undergo surgery to shave the exposed bone down to the knuckle to prevent further damage.
Yes, it’s hard to even fathom an injury like that, but the safety played the rest of the game after the injury. Hard to believe.
It’s crazy how the most routine plays can result in the most gruesome injuries. This is the case here and so was the case for the unreal Kevin Ware leg break in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.
Tough break for Johnson. Literally.
Connor Muldowney is a columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connormuldowney, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google. You can also reach him at .