Way late with football thoughts this week due to Larry Johnson and the baseball playoffs, so it’s “The Afternoon Before.†I realize I’m beating a dead horse with the head injury thing, but as I was on this a few weeks back, I want to discuss this week, when it all came to a head, pun intended.
I remember way back in 1996, watching a rookie-year Zach Thomas’ first game for the Dolphins, when New England’s Shawn Jefferson came on a reverse and Thomas ran sideline-to-sideline, lowered his shoulder and leveled him, knocking him unconscious.
I still remember my reaction: Shock and horror at the brutality of the sport.
Except for the fact that it wasn’t my reaction at all. I told anyone who’d listen that it was obvious from his very first hit that Thomas was going to be a special player.