Former Lions Guard Utley Determined to Do His Own "Walk-Off"

I don’t know if it’s in the front of the NFL player’s mind, the middle, or the back, but it’s in there somewhere. The idea that when you run onto the field, you might not run off is in there somewhere. It has to be.The NFL is 60 minutes each week of locomotives running into each other at breakneck speed—sometimes literally.But it wasn’t a high-speed collision that changed Mike Utley’s life. It was just another play in just another game, on just another Sunday.It happened 20 years ago this past Thursday.The Lions were hosting the Los Angeles Rams, and moving the football down the field. Utley, a guard, was doing his thing as part of the five-man chain gang that is an NFL offensive line.Blocking, driving, lowering himself for leverage. Whatever it took to gain an advantage over his defensive counterpart.The chain gang was succeeding. The Lions were moving the ball. They were nearing the so-called red zone—that prime real estate that lies 20 yards and closer to the goal line.Then it ha...