Smith plans to play with injured hand
IRVING, Texas (AP) - Making a tight right fist is impossible. Scrubbing his left side in the shower has been difficult.
Yet Emmitt Smith is convinced he can carry a football in an NFL game 12 days after having six screws and a plate implanted to repair a broken bone.
He plans to give it a shot Sunday when the Dallas Cowboys play the Arizona Cardinals.
'Heck, the hand is already hurt,' Smith said Wednesday before successfully going through his first practice since the injury. 'Now, it's the mental healing and the mental adjustments I have to make.
'I can't tell you what it's going to feel like because I have to go through it in order to experience it. Then I'll tell you whether I should have made that decision or if I should have sat out a couple more weeks.'
Wearing a protective glove, Smith took handoffs and caught the ball with ease Wednesday.
'I thought he did real well,' Cowboys coach Chan Gailey said. 'I don't know if he got banged or not. But it looks like it's a real positive for him to be in the game Sunday.'
Smith knows that whatever protection the glove provides, it also will serve as a target for the Cardinals.
'Hey, that's part of the game,' he said. 'They'd be foolish not to go after it. But we'll see - and we will see.'
Smith suffered the first broken bone of his life on Nov. 8 when his hand got caught in the facemask of a Minnesota defender he was stiff-arming during one of the longest touchdown runs of his career.
His hand was throbbing before he even returned to the bench, but a quick turnover by the Vikings forced him back onto the field. He scored again on the next play, then went to the locker room for X-rays.
A plate and six screws were inserted the next day. Doctors said he'd be out 3-6 weeks.
But after enduring the emotional agony of sitting out this past Sunday - for just the fifth time in a 10-year career - Smith is doing all he can to return.
'The question becomes whether I can deal with the pain without it interfering with the way I play,' said Smith, whose 748 yards this season are fifth-best in the NFL and have moved him into No. 3 on the career rushing list, behind only Walter Payton and Barry Sanders.
The operation left Smith with a grayish scar that starts just below the knuckle of his ring finger and stretches about 3 inches, almost to his wrist.
When he showers, he has to wrap the soft cast in plastic. At first, that made it a challenge to stay completely clean.
Then Smith found a way.
'I put the rag in that hand and squeezed it as much as I possibly could,' he said. 'There are ways to work around it.'
Smith's desire to return has helped him be a good patient. Knowing he had to keep the swelling down, he's devoutly kept his hand raised, even while sleeping. The stitches came out Tuesday and he's beginning to take off the soft cast at times, such as for Wednesday's practice.
'If we can continue to push the swelling out, I'm sure the flexibility and mobility will come back,' Smith said. 'Then, once they come back, it's a matter of strengthening the weak areas.'
Smith held up his hand to demonstrate how close he can come to making a fist and how much he can twiddle his fingers.
Then he clasped both hands into a textbook interlocking golf grip.
'I can still do this,' Smith said, smiling. 'I'm thrilled about that.' |
