Alex steps toward improbable return with Washington
AP
ASHBURN, Va. — After breaking the tibia and fibula in his right leg, undergoing 17 surgeries to repair them and surviving a life-threatening infection, Alex Smith is back on a football field with his teammates.
Just 21 months after the gruesome injury that put his NFL career in jeopardy, the veteran quarterback has gotten through a rigorous rehabilitation process and is now a few steps from completing an improbable comeback. He’s taking snaps in some team drills at Washington’s training camp and could soon earn the green light to take contact and, incredibly, get back into game action.
“When you’re in the hospital and you’re wheelchair-bound and I’m in a walker, you build up a lot of walls in your head as far as what you’ll ever be able to do again,” Smith said Wednesday. “This is it. This is the big giant one at the end: to see if I can go play quarterback again.”
Smith’s leg bent the wrong way when he was hit by two Houston defenders, and the sight was so severe it made retired QB Joe Theismann “turn away” from watching a play eerily reminiscent of his own injury 33 years to the day before. Smith was hospitalized for almost a month after the incident, had the leg stabilized with a giant brace and knew he had a long road ahead in rehab.
“It took a long, long time before I could even look at my leg,” he said.
Lying in the hospital bed and in the ensuing months, Smith doubted his ability to return, especially as a player in his mid-30s. Now 36, he credits medical developments made in the last decade for allowing him to do what Theismann and others before him couldn’t.
It was a gradual process that saw significant improvement in the past month. After opening camp on Washington’s physically unable to perform list, Smith on Sunday was cleared to practice and could be back in uniform with teammates.
“I was really excited for him,” said New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who used to train with Smith in San Diego. “I shot him a text just to tell him how happy and excited I was for him and he responded back, so I’m sure he’s really excited, really relieved to be able to get back out there again.”