After nearly two years away, after 17 surgeries and barely an amputation, Washington quarterback Alex Smith did what was once unthinkable on Sunday: He put on a helmet and practiced with his teammates. Smith has done a lot in his 13 playing seasons while playing on Sundays; just practice at one rank high.
“In the football world, I’m a dinosaur,” said Smith Stephanie Bell of ESPN, “but I felt like a 16-year-old again. The nerves, the feeling of excitement, of course fear. All that stuff of life, the reach of emotions of going out there with your teammates.So you play.
“It felt good to get those nerves back.”
Smith, 36, was activated from the physical inability to perform list Sunday, allowing him to practice with Washington for the first time since breaking his fibula and tibia in his right leg in November 2018. Until Sunday, he had worked side by side with trainers during practice.
He is still limited and has yet to take on the work of full teams, but Sunday represented another step toward his ultimate goal of playing again – even if Smith knew skeptics abounded.
“I know a lot of people probably find it funny that I follow this myself. I really feel like I have to see where this ends, I have to, I have to see what my limitations are, where I am capable.
“I actually feel like I’m dealing with this gigantic challenge in life. I can not help it. I think my three little kids see everything I do. And for me, just keep pushing this and pushing. see where it goes, you know, and, and no expectations. “
Smith still needs to take a few more steps before he can push himself into any quarterback competition. Washington found that he went to the side, but also that he had no relapse or soreness the day after the workout. And the team knew it would not learn everything about Smith until they activated him.
However, Sunday was a necessary step.
“It keeps getting better and better,” Smith told Bell. “I feel like I’m improving as the days and weeks go by. In the back of my head I wonder if I’ll touch that wall, but for me honestly, even in the last three weeks, I feel like I’m “We’ve gone a ton ahead. By just pushing and seeing where it’s going.”
That has been his thinking throughout his recovery, one he explained on the E: 60 documentary Project 11 with Bell. His first focus was on getting better. Finally, he saw an opportunity to do what he did Sunday.
“It was what I wanted all this time to see if I could put on the clogs, put on the helmet, and get out,” he said.
But Smith knows there are more questions to answer, his own and those of the organization. They need to see how fast he’s in the pocket and how he handles an NFL pocket when protection breaks. Smith’s injury occurred when he was fired after pass protection was breached in a loss to Houston.
“There are steps,” Smith said. “This is not something where you’re just gone. The next thing is to get to team bubbles and, and of course see if you can get out and defend yourself, see if I can get out and run.
“Can I adapt? Can I go out there and play football at this level? It’s something that will reveal itself.”
Smith elaborated on why he wants to continue playing in an interview that will be posted on the team’s website.
“It’s not something I can get away from and sleep at night if I did,” he said. “I do not think I could look my children in the eye and talk to them about giving it all and pushing things through. We are all facing adversity in life. Did I want to talk about it or be about it? For me, that’s what it’s. However, it’s coming out, I’m better off. I’m continuing to make a profit. “But I have not found them yet.”
Smith has had a lot to celebrate in his 13 seasons. He was the no. 1 in the 2005 draft; he has led two franchises to playoff victories and he has a career record of 94-66-1. The last time his teams did not place a quarter-winning record with him at quarterback was in 2010.
But his activation was the cause of a heated celebration with his family. His wife, Elizabeth, posted a video on Instagram of her and her three children, among others, who Smith sprayed with champagne after he got home. The video went viral Saturday night, causing the news of his return to leak.
“I had no idea they were going to turn it into anything, for me I was thinking about exercises the other day,” Smith told ESPN’s de Bell. “My emotions built up for it, the test the next day to go out and see if I could do it. A bit of a quarantine party was fun. My family has been through it with me, had been there with me. So to to celebrate the heights as the lowlands do of course [it] special. “
A day later he was back on the field.
“This is all cherries on the cake,” Smith said. “I’ve been so grateful for the last two days to be able to put that jersey back on, to put the helmet back on, um, it’s a special opportunity and something I’m definitely not taking as an application.”
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