Injured linebacker Ryan Shazier has surgery to stabilize his spine
Steelers: Life more important than football
The news that linebacker Ryan Shazier had spinal stabilization surgery hit the Steelers in different ways, but one thing they did not want to talk about Thursday was the linebacker’s football future.
“I’m not worried about him playing for us again, I’m more worried about him,” defensive coordinator Keith Butler said. “Y’all have been updated as much as we have. The thing that we’re hopeful for and prayerful for is that he comes back and he’ll be OK. The football stuff is secondary. His life is a lot more important to me than football.”
That was the general theme among his teammates as well.
Shazier playing again is “the last thing I’m concerned about,” said linebacker Arthur Moats, who may be one of those who replaces him on the football field Sunday night against Baltimore. “After seeing him on the field like that [Monday], I want to see him just walk. That was scary to see him roll over like that on the field.”
Guard Ramon Foster, the team’s player representative to their union, said the team told players not to say anything about Shazier’s condition: “I refuse to say anything about it because whatever it is is very sensitive
andthey told us not to.”
“Spinal stabilization surgery” is a general term that describes many different types of procedures, depending on the injury and the stabilization that needs to be done on a patient.
It often includes some form of “fusion” of the vertebra segment causing the problem. To stabilize the region can involve using a variety of cages, plates, screws and rods, or some combination of them all.
The procedure occurred Wednesday after Shazier was flown back from Cincinnati two days after being injured in the Steelers’ game Monday against the Bengals. Possible recovery times from such a surgery diverge wildly.
Brock Bowman, medical director at the Spinal Cord Injury Center at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, said even in the best-case scenario, Shazier would require at least six weeks to three months of recovery from such a surgery, ending his season.
“We’re near the end of the regular season, and there’s few scenarios I could see where he would be able to return to football this year with just a normal post-op recovery,” he said.
Other factors — including the specifics of the injury and surgery, which are unknown; the possible presence of a pre-existing condition such as spinal stenosis; and Shazier’s own recovery from the procedure — could complicate Shazier’s situation and, at the moment, make any accurate projection impossible.
“This is a surgery on your spine,” Bowman said. “And if something is altered, even if there was no injury to the spinal cord, that may be enough to take you out of the 1 percent of the 1 percent of the 1 percent who play professional football.”
Bowman, who was a starting quarterback for Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo as an undergraduate student, is familiar enough with Shazier’s personal story to know what it would mean if he couldn’t return to football.
“I’ve read enough to know that he has overcome a lot in his life, and for it to end abruptly like this would be a shame,” he said. “But beyond football, there is a lot he could do in life if he can’t return.”
Foster said Steelers players have had minimal contact with Shazier on purpose.
“I sent him a text, my wife talked to his fiancee, just keeping us appraised. It’s just been real general.
“He’s just in our prayers. I know he has a lot of family coming in and we’ll just let him be with family first instead of the guys because everyone wants to be around him, so it’s just real general right now.”
Moats said the Steelers were told a few things after being informed about the surgery.
“It was scary, first off, because anytime a person’s having surgery you’re always worried about it, but when they’re saying that’s going to be the best thing for him, then we’re all for it.
“At the end of the day, that’s our brother, so you’re always concerned about him ever since you saw him go down like that on Monday.”
Defensive end Cam Heyward added a similar sentiment.
“Obviously you want his health to be the No. 1 concern. If they felt surgery was necessary, I’m glad it got done. But I just don’t know the extent of it. It’s a serious thing. All we can do is pray for him and try to be there for him.”
“At the end of the day, that’s our brother, so you’re always concerned about him ever since you saw him go down like that on Monday.” — Arthur Moats, linebacker