There’s nothing else to say.
What he is doing for this team should never be forgotten. I do not care if he doesn’t step foot on the field tomorrow. The man has a torn ligament in his knee. He is in his 30s. He has a family. He will be a free agent at the end of this year. Conventional wisdom says, “Be smart. Get surgery. Come back and play a few weeks at the end of the year to show you are healthy, and cash in on a huge free agent deal in the offseason that will set your family up forever.”
I would not blame him at all if he did that. He probably should.
Instead, this man is showing incredible strength and loyalty to a franchise that is so loyal to him that it drafted four centers in the year before he becomes a free agent. Jeff Saturday saw his team lose on Sunday night and said, “What the hell, I’ll come back TWO MONTHS EARLY”.
All week he has been at practice. Working hard. Playing with pain…no wait, not playing…practicing with pain. Doing what no one has the right to ask to him to do.
He’s not a firefighter or a cop. He’s not a war hero, or even a community activist, come to that. But as much as the word can be used to describe a football player, Jeff Saturday is heroic. Even if he never makes it to game time. No matter what happens tomorrow, the rest of the year, or with his contract, no Colts fan should ever forget:
Jeff Saturday practiced this week.
Go out and win this damn game, boys.
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