During the Pittsburgh Steelers 2011 preseason opener against the Washington Redskins, veteran cornerback Ike Taylor broke his thumb. He was scheduled to have surgery that following Tuesday, so he decided to practice that Monday with a fitted cast covered with a plastic bag because it was raining that day.
“They’ve got to make me not practice for me not to be out there,” Taylor said after that Monday practice. “Nobody plays 100 percent anyway. You have to find a way to play with pain.”
Taylor had to miss one practice the day of the surgery, but that was it.
Taylor probably felt terrible for missing that one practice and that feeling was likely duplicated yesterday when Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gave him a maintenance day off.
“He probably felt a little funny,” said Tomlin Monday of Taylor’s off day. “I think that he appreciated it, but at the same time it was bitter sweet.”
Bitter sweet, Mike? I doubt it.
In December of the 2012 season, Taylor had his streak of 135 consecutive games played in snapped by a fractured ankle and that didn’t sit well with him.
“My status, I don’t like my status but it happens, things happen,” Taylor said the following Wednesday after suffering the injury.
Taylor, who keeps himself in great shape due to his intense offseason training program that his overseen by renown trainer Tom Shaw in Florida, played through a rib injury last season as well.
Even though Taylor’s current contract expires after the 2014 season, he doesn’t sound like he’s ready to walk away from the game just yet. It’s going to be incredibly hard for him when that final day does come as the man loves playing the game that much.
You can use a lot of adjectives to describe Taylor, but dedicated has to be one of them.
