The most devoted of fans are quick to say it’s not like Sanders wanted to get hurt. They will say it’s because of the way he plays the game, compact but smaller guy becomes Tazmanian Devil times wrecking ball and destroys everything he hits.
But that was a long time ago. I noticed a change in him even as early as 2007, when he was NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He didn’t always go for those real nasty hits, kill shots, we called them. He was smarter about when to really lay into somebody. He was still an excellent tackler, and could bring the wood when necessary, but it seemed, ever so subtly, that the guy I remember talking to as an up-and-coming talent had realized there was something to be said for perseverance as opposed to playing each down like it was his last.
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