Maddox ready to return to playing field
PITTSBURGH – Bill Cowher didn’t want to be too hard on his quarterback, considering all that he’d been through. But the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers does have a job to do. “It was great to see him this morning,” Cowher said of Tommy Maddox. “I made sure he was fine before I sat down to talk with him about the game and some of the bad throws he made.”
Maddox, of course, suffered a spinal concussion on the field Sunday that left him paralyzed for 45 minutes. Maddox was cleared to return to the field by doctors Tuesday morning, and Maddox returned to the Steelers’ practice facility Wednesday morning.
Maddox, at an emotional press conference Wednesday afternoon, said he’s ready to return to the playing field.
“I’m anxious to see what I can do,” he said. “This is what I do and this is what I love to do.”
Maddox didn’t ask ‘Why me?’ so much as he asked ‘Why that hit?’
“I’ve been hit a lot harder,” he said of slipping before Tennessee Titans linebacker Keith Bullock fell on top of him. “I don’t know it they have an explanation for that. You see guys get hit hard all the time and bounce right back up and you see guys get hit not very hard and things happen. I’m just very thankful to God that it has worked out the way it has worked out. I’m excited to be around my teammates. We’re a family here and it’s always good to be around your family. The hardest thing for me was that I couldn’t move anything for awhile and I knew that. Then I could move my hands, but I still couldn’t move my legs. That’s when it really started to bother me a little bit. It was hard. You think about your kids, my wife to flying to Nashville.”
Maddox admitted to still feeling “a little weak.” He believes his legs are tired from being on his back for so long. He realizes that he shouldn’t push his comeback, but he’s anxious about returning to the field.
“It’s just another thing,” he said. “I’ve said all along that the struggles that I’ve been through have made me stronger and I think this is just one more thing. It will make me stronger going through this. I really try not to ask why. I know God is in control of my life and that things will work out. I’m excited about the future. I’m excited about continuing to play this game and I’m excited to get out on the field again.”
Maddox, of course, has been ruled out of Sunday’s game at Heinz Field against the Cincinnati Bengals. He rode a stationary bike yesterday and watched practiced from the sidelines. He’ll throw Thursday and Friday and isn’t worried about being gun shy once he returns to live action.
“That’s the good thing about not being able to remember the hit,” Maddox said. “The first thing I remember is being on the X-ray table. Really, at that point, I just remember faces coming in and out. I remember talking to people. I remember seeing my brother there. At that point, I still wasn’t moving a lot. They were still trying to get me to grip with my hands. I remember when I was actually able to give a little pressure back. I remember grabbing one of the doctor’s hands and him saying, ‘All right, we’ve got something going.’ That’s when I kind of got scared. I kind of felt like I’d just come to and would be all right. But then I realized I still wasn’t moving my legs. That was a tough part.”
With a physical prognosis that was deemed “excellent” by neurosurgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon, and the psychological prognosis deemed a non-factor by Maddox, the quarterback only had to check with his family for the final OK. Jennifer Maddox gave her husband the proverbial thumbs up.
“She’s the most important thing and if she didn’t feel comfortable with it, I wouldn’t be sitting here saying it,” said Maddox, who really didn’t need to be sitting there on the South Side so soon.
“I wanted to get down here today,” he said. “I wanted to see the guys. I wanted to tell them thank you for everything. All of the guys, all of the guys’ wives calling my wife and being there for her, it was good. Another reason I wanted to do it was because we’ve got a big game this weekend. It sounds funny, but everybody’s been asking me how I’ve been sleeping and I tell them not very well, but it’s all been football stuff more than injury stuff. We’ve got six weeks left and this is a big game for us. I wanted to get all of this behind us so we can win some football games.”