Football is the most popular sport in America. We cheer on on our favorite team every Sunday in hopes of them winning.
We go crazy over the big hits and the eye popping collisions.
However, once in a while a player doesn’t bounce right back up and sometimes they suffer serious injuries.
So in remembrance of them I’ve compiled a list of the worst football injuries I’ve ever seen.
5. Patrick Edwards
Edwards is the least well know player on the list, but suffered a terrible injury nevertheless. Midway through the third quarter in a game against Marshall, Edwards ran a ‘go’ route and his quarterback overthrew it leading him just past the goal line. Edwards, not knowing where he was on the field, kept running and his momentum carried him full speed as his leg collided right on with one of those carts that are aligned at the back of the end zone. A horrific injury that could have been avoided if those carts weren’t there.
4. Tyrone Prothro
Most college football fans knew the name Tyrone Prothro for this catch. It won an ESPY for play of the year and is one of the best catches I have ever seen. As much of a high that catch was, his injury later in the year was as low at its gets. In a game against the Florida, Prothro was leaping for a ball in end zone and was taken down in mid air and landed hard on his left ankle, which bent in another direction immediately upon hitting the ground. Prothro broke his tibia and fibula on that play and never played another down.
3. Willis McGahee
Early in the fourth quarter of the 2003 National Championship Game (also the Fiesta Bowl) Wills McGahee caught a screen pass from Ken Dorsey. McGahee turned upfield, started running and was immediately hit by Will Allen right in the knee. His knee awkwardly hyper-extended as he tore his ACL, MCL and PCL. Despite the injury, McGahee entered the NFL Draft and was drafted in the first round. He sat out for one season recovering, but has gone on to a successful NFL career. That’s quite the testament to McGahee, as that injury would have ended many careers.
2. Joe Theismann
This is perhaps the most notorious football injury. Part of the reason being that it involved two high profile players in Joe Theismann and Lawrence Taylor and that it was on Monday Night Football. On the play the Redskins ran a flea flicker, but the Giants weren’t fooled. Lawrence Taylor came from Theismann’s blindside and jumped on his back pulling him down and in the process Taylor’s leg landed on Theismann’s knee, which made his leg bend in a nearly 90 degree angle. As Taylor got up he signaled over the training staff alerting them something is very wrong, which is one of the most memorable images in football. The injury ended Theismann’s career, though he has never blamed Taylor and has never seen the film of the injury.
1. Napoleon McCallum
It was the season opener for the Oakland Raiders as they took their bay area rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, on Monday Night Football. McCallum took a hand-off and ran up the middle and got caught in some traffic. Then 49er Ken Norton wrapped up McCallum and twisted him to the ground as McCaluum’s cleat stuck into the ground. Norton landed on his foot and his knee hyper-extended to nearly a 90 degree angle. On the play McCallum suffered a laundry lost of injuries: ruptured artery in his left knee, tore three ligaments in his left knee, tore the calf and hamstring from the bone, and suffered nerve damage in the knee. Needless to say, McCallum never played again.
