Amid the smoke, the din of screaming fans and the organized chaos of pregame introductions Sunday, Nate Burleson did what most players don’t – he took it all in and realized what it meant to be an NFL football player and part of the Seattle Seahawks.
A year ago, after the Seahawks first game in Buffalo, that idea was in doubt. Burleson was in the locker room at Ralph Wilson Stadium wondering if his left knee would ever be the same.
His season ended as fast as it had started when he tore an anterior cruciate ligament.
“When you have career-threatening injury, it’s almost like every play you’ve made in the NFL flashes before your eyes,” Burleson said. “You ask yourself: ‘Am I going to be able jump like I did when I scored that touchdown? … Am I going to be able to move like I used to?’ ”
After the Seahawks’ 28-0 win over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday, the answer is “yes.”
Burleson looked as good as ever with Seattle, with seven catches for 74 yards and a TD.
“It was a good for me,” Burleson said of recovering from the injury. “It was a lot of self-discovery. Going into my seventh year in the league, it made me appreciate everything a little bit more.”
Rehab from an ACL injury is grueling and painful, but Burleson said pain wasn’t the worst part.
“Dealing with the knee injury was one thing, but to see the team struggle was more difficult than the rehab,” Burleson said. “I’m a Seahawk and regardless if I’m out there or not, I still have the jersey on in my heart.”
Burleson recalled fans asking what was wrong with the team.
“Those questions hit me deeper than the average football player,” he said. “All I kept thinking about was when I get back I’m going to have a chance to change it.”
The ordeal left Burleson – a seven-year pro – a little nervous before Sunday’s game.
Even his teammates could sense it a little bit.
“When you get hurt like he did in the first game of the season last year, he might not admit, but there’s going to be some nervousness about the first game and just to make it through,” receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said.
Burleson’s nervousness was apparent on his first catch, where he tried to grind out some extra yardage but was stripped by Rams linebacker Will Witherspoon. The fumble was recovered by the Rams’ James Laurinaitis.
“Sometimes I get a little too excited like early in the game when I was a trying to fight for a couple extra yards and maybe should have gone down when I took the first hit,” he said. “But I’m always thinking about fighting because you never know what play might be your last.”
