Reports: Drew Brees wants to play despite a torn plantar fascia
The New Orleans Saints aren't going anywhere this season.
The Black and Gold are sitting at 5-9 after their Monday night loss to the Detroit Lions and are out of playoff contention. And to make things worse, multiple reports say that quarterback Drew Brees has suffered a Grade 2 tear of the plantar fascia near his right heel.
Now, with just two games remaining in this season, common logic would dictate that maybe it's in Brees' best interests to sit out, rest up and start getting healthy for next season. But that's just not how the veteran rolls.
"I'm going to play," Brees said, according to NOLA.com. "I want to play for my guys. Bottom line."
Brees didn't practice on Thursday, as backups Garrett Grayson and Matt Flynn split the reps. Brees said that he could play on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars even if he doesn't practice all week, but that's not the optimal situation.
A doctor who specializes in such injuries said an injury like that doesn't happen overnight.
"It's very rare for a person just to completely snap their plantar fascia, or even get a tear right away," Dr. Rock Positano — director of the nonoperative foot and ankle service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York — told NOLA.com.
Positano also said that people who suffer the injury "actually have the beginning of a plantar fascia injury a long time before they actually get the symptoms," Positano said. "There's a progression of this problem."
"What happens in a plantar fascia injury is you often feel a sudden burst, like a knife going through your foot. It's one of the more unpleasant, uncomfortable problems that an athlete or another person can experience.
