Tim Lewis can relate to Collins' neck injury

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It will be five-to-six more months before its known whether Packers safety Nick Collins will ever be able to play football again after suffering a neck injury on Sept. 18. Nearly 25 years earlier to the date, the career of former Packers cornerback Tim Lewis was ended with a neck injury. Collins underwent surgery on Sept. 29, but that option was never even presented to Lewis in 1986. He retired only a few days after his injury. Lewis, now the secondary coach for the Atlanta Falcons, was one of the few bright spots on an otherwise below average Green Bay team that finished 4-12 that season. He was drafted by the Packers with the 11th-overall pick in 1983. Lewis was 24 years old at the time of his injury. Collins is 28 and is coming off three consecutive trips to the Pro Bowl and winning a Super Bowl last season. I cringe every time; I cringe when I think about it, Lewis said by phone Wednesday. Hearing Nick Collins have to go through that type of thing, its a sad, sad thing. Its a tough injury to have. Knees and backs and elbows and shoulders you can rehab and come back from, but theres a distinct chance, a fairly high chance that a neck injury can cause more permanent damage, if not a death. Its nothing to mess around with. Although Lewis does not know Collins, he has spoken with many other players over the last 25 years who had gone through similar neck injuries. His advice to players who are concerned about their post-injury lives is simple; play golf. Even with his very premature retirement, Lewis injury is still a problem for his health. He had to have neck surgery in 2006 to clean out calcium deposits that had developed and where arthritis had started. His condition, spinal stenosis, has continually got narrower over time. However, Collins can benefit from many medical advances since Lewis injury. Theres not at lot at this point that (Collins) can do, his agent, Alan Herman, said. A few months from now hell be able to do some light things. Its a difficult surgery for a professional athlete. It took Lewis less than two weeks after retirement before he wanted to get back on the field. He was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, but the news wasnt what he wanted to hear. I walked into the office and the doctor said, Are you the guy that got hurt on Monday Night Football? Lewis said. I said, Yeah. He said, You shouldnt play football anymore. I said, Are we going to look at the tapes or am I going to have an MRI or CAT scan or any tests? He said, No, I was watching the game with my wife and I said that kid shouldnt play football anymore. Although there is some reserved optimism with Collins that his NFL career is not over so soon, Lewis recalled when the situation became real for him. I went to see (then-Packers head coach) Forrest Gregg and he was in tears, and then I started crying and I realized it was over, Lewis said. That was when the realization that I was not going to play again hit me. I wanted to play again. Herman is holding out hope that Collins career wont end as suddenly as Lewis did. Nick would love to be out there playing, Herman said. So many nice things were happening for him, but you want him to be healthy and protected and let him make his decision with how he feels.