When Alex Smith made his improbable return to the NFL football field in the 2020 season after suffering a near-death experience stemming from an in-game leg injury, I'd imagine that 99.99999 percent of us watched with an indescribable combination of awe, fear and fascination. But that leaves a 00.000001 percent share that I think may have watched with a couple of other emotions in there: familiarity and understanding.
I have no way to prove this. But based on a recent story from ESPN's Tim McManus about Nick Sirianni, I'm inclined to believe that the new Philadelphia Eagles head coach viewed the Alex Smith story through a different lens than the rest of us given his experiences.
Sirianni told McManus that during his sophomore season as a wide receiver at the University of Mount Union, the same school that bred NFL pass-catchers Pierre Garcon and Cecil Shorts, he suffered a freak injury while running a route that he "was putting a little sauce on."
"I was going to make a stick to the post, and then I was going to break it off to the end," Sirianni said. "Well, I make a stick to the post and my ankle kind of goes a little bit. I finished off the route and now I'm going to make that cut to the end and [the ankle] goes all the way."
Initially, it wasn't diagnosed as anything more severe than ligament damage in his ankle that would keep him out of action for a few weeks. It happens all the time. Nothing to worry about. But then came the swelling, which led to numbness, which led to compartment syndrome, which McManus describes as when swelling leads to a blockage of blood and oxygen flow, "causing blood to build up to dangerous levels." Sirianni compared his intense pain to someone pumping air into his leg repeatedly at the spot of the injury, and he was rushed to a hospital.
"When they opened up my leg to release the blood out of there, the muscle fell out," Sirianni said. "It had torn in half [as part of the original injury]. So they fixed the injury, but there was so much swelling there, they couldn't sew me back up."
Because of that, he stayed in the hospital with an open wound that, weeks later, developed staph infection, and matters worsened.
"That was the one that I almost lost my leg on," Sirianni said. "And if it went any further, lost my leg or life."
He received eight IVs per day over the next week and a half, with supervision from a local medical staff that his parents credit with saving their son's life. He was told he probably would never play football again.
Around a year later, after months of rehab, Sirianni caught four passes for 110 yards and two scores in his return to the field, foreshadowing an impressive senior season in which he'd record 998 yards and 13 touchdowns on 52 receptions.
Now at the helm of a team that has found itself depleted due to injuries in recent years, including health issues that kept star offensive linemen Lane Johnson and Brandon Brooks sidelined for extended periods of time in last year, Sirianni's first-hand experience at fighting through a near-worst-case scenario to return to action should be an inspiration for everyone playing under him.
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