Pittsburgh Steelers special teams coach Danny Smith absorbed quite the hit at the very end of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 10 win over the Green Bay Packers. Smith got rocked after a late hit out of bounds by Green Bay’s Zach Tom sent Steelers safety Damontae Kazee flying into Smith following an interception to end the game. Smith revealed to reporters today that he sustained a significant injury from the hit.
“I got a torn rotator cuff in three spots, but I’m good,” Smith said via Chris Adamski of TribLive. He added that a hit that caused a tibia plateau fracture in college and a training camp hit where he broke some ribs were among the most painful injuries, up with this one.
Smith shrugged off the hit.
“I’ve been hit a lot, been hit hard. I got a lot of metal in my body, I gotta learn to get the hell out of the way,” Smith said.
The tibia plateau fracture in 1993 came when Smith was an assistant coach for Georgia Tech in a game against Clemson. He had five screws put in his leg and was in a cast for at least eight weeks, per a report from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and a quote from then-Georgia Tech head coach Bill Lewis.
“Assistant head coach Danny Smith had five screws put into his leg to repair the top of his tibia, which was broken when Tech kick returner Derrick Steagall ran into him on the sidelines last week. Smith will be in a cast for eight to 10 weeks and won’t travel to Tallahassee this week. It’s going to really limit his ability to move around and coach. He’s on crutches,” Lewis said after the injury occurred in 1993. “We put Danny in a [non-contact) red shirt.”
Of course, the whole situation against Green Bay could’ve been avoided had Kazee just gone down after getting the interception with no time left on the clock. There was no benefit to returning the interception, and it led to a scrum after Tom’s late hit and a whole lot of pain for Smith.
But Smith doesn’t seem too bothered by the incident, and he’s quite possibly the ultimate Football Guy. But at 70 years old, taking a hit like that can’t feel good, and having to deal with surgery for a torn rotator cuff that’s probably incredibly painful can’t be fun, either. He was in good spirits while getting interviewed, smiling and laughing and he’s in the building getting Pittsburgh ready for the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
Smith was pulled from the pile by backup tight end Rodney Williams, and Smith said that he might not be able to ever sit Williams again after he pulled him out of the pile, via 93.7 The Fan.
The good news is that Smith is seemingly fine, and he avoided worse with the hit. A torn rotator cuff isn’t an ideal outcome, but Smith is able to continue coaching and handle his duties with the Steelers. He did say he will need surgery for the injury, but it’s unknown if that would take place during the season or after the season.
