So, Austin Ekeler, how did it feel to be back out on the field against Dallas after a month on IR following a concussion in the last Cowboys game?
“It felt really good just to be back in the swing of things. As far as my play, it was a little rusty at first, but kind of got into a rhythm there into the second half; that’s something that was definitely apparent, so I'm glad that we were able to get back to this game instead of next game,” Ekeler said. “You can never simulate the game speed of things and my eyes had really gotten used to like being in the rhythm, seeing the game, it started to slow down for me, but now I took five weeks off and then came back and it was like, okay, well, try to slow down the game for me. I missed protection on one, which is very uncharacteristic of me – I take a lot of pride in making sure I'm on top of that stuff – so things like that that are like, all right, get back on the swing, now ready to go for Tampa.”
Austin had kind of given the guys the okey-doke last week, being coy about his status and potential return from IR – less than 24 hours before Dan Quinn made it sound like Ekeler was good to go.
“That’s why we got to be careful as athletes, because we don't know who's saying what; we don't want to put ourselves in a position where we're saying something that's not in coherence with what our coaches and GM are saying,” Ekeler laughed. “So, you know how it is. We gotta be careful.”
Game speed indeed is really tough to simulate, so that was the hardest part of the return: just getting back into the rhythm of things leading up to and into the game itself.
“The speed of the game and getting hit, even just getting into a rhythm at practice with the play calls and stuff like that, just being kind of out of tune with it for a little bit and then getting back into maybe some of the calls that got put into the install while you're at treatment and stuff like that,” Ekeler said. “Little small things that we call carryover, that it maybe isn't carryover for me now because I wasn't in some of those meetings, so I gotta catch up on the mental part. But you gotta think: when I'm going through IR and I'm dealing with all the concussion stuff and getting back, I'm missing a lot of practice. And when you're missing a lot of practice, what you're not getting is that stimulation of going through breaking the huddle, running full speed, making the cuts – my ankles are a little more sore than usual today – things like that you don't get in the physical side, and then the mental side, you just inch behind a little bit, so you gotta stay on top of it. Again, you go through treatment at the same time meetings are sometimes, so you're falling behind, so it’s a lot of catching myself back up mentally and then letting my body try to get as good as it can possibly get here at the end of the season going into the game, which again is why I'm glad I had kind of a buffer game before do or die time in the playoffs.”
The big question, after two concussions, is this: did Ekeler ever consider wearing a Guardian Cap?
“I did not, because I have full confidence in my current equipment. It is high-grade, very good, and if it wasn't, I would hope the NFL wouldn't let us use it,” Ekeler said. “But I've been in this custom helmet for a really long time, done really well with this thing, so no, I did not consider it to be an equipment issue as the reason I got knocked out. It's just kind of the way I got hit and the angle and the velocity of it, is why I was concussed after that play. The full-speed impact of head-to-head on a kickoff play, hitting at a 90-degree angle, will do some damage. So again, it wasn't an equipment issue, so that’s why.”
Take a listen to Ekeler’s entire segment, as he discussed the issues in the run game, how the return game fared without him, and more!