When Ricardo Lockette crumpled to the ground after a brutal hit to the neck on a punt return, it affected everyone on the field deeply, especially the Seattle Seahawks. Lockette was a beloved teammate, and he was completely limp and unconscious.
Thankfully, the injury was only to his neck ligaments and discs, rather than to his spinal cord or vertebrae. Lockette underwent successful surgery on Monday that lasted more than six hours at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, and he’s expected to be moving around as early as Tuesday, with all of his neurological signs “positive.” He will stay in the hospital for a few days for observation.
The rest of the Seahawks, however, needed to return to Seattle to begin preparations for their next game. Football moves on, after all. But Marshawn Lynch and Russell Okung — probably the two most important Seahawks offensively beyond Russell Wilson — skipped the team flight so they could be with Lockette post-surgery on Monday. It’s a lovely human gesture, especially in a league that seems to value the bodies of athletes so little. Marshawn Lynch can always be counted on to make more sense than the NFL.
(Via News Tribune)
