Former Mississippi State and currently Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was sidelined when he suffered a compound fracture and dislocated his right ankle against the New York Giants in October.
Obviously, injuries like this require extensive medical attention, but apparently, Prescott tried to take matters into his own hands before calling team staff over for help.
“Yeah, so ... I thought (his ankle) was just rolled, and as I grabbed it and did that I just was like, ‘I need to get off the field,'” Prescott said in an interview with Sage Steele of ESPN. “So, I was trying to set it back myself. I was trying to hit it into the ground.'
"You can imagine the pain it was in and then it gets re-set. I just remember over and over just saying, ‘Thank God.'”
It didn't take long for Prescott to realize that trying to manage the injury himself just wasn't going to do the trick.
The severity of Prescott's injury required not one, but two surgeries, something that was understandably very frustrating for the signal-caller. Especially since it doesn't seem that Prescott initially expected to undergo more than one procedure.
“The only time I can say that I was like, man, was when I had to get a second surgery,” Prescott said. “And that was just because I had gotten my foot back on the ground for about a week or so, and I didn’t necessarily know after my leg was facing another way how it was supposed to feel but it didn’t feel great the first couple of days walking.
"Obviously, thankful for good doctors and people and medics to just know that we needed to go do more work on it and get it right.”
All of the time, effort and dedication Prescott has put into his rehabilitation and recovery has been worth the while, though, and he's poised for a great return in 2021.
Prescott expressed his excitement about his expectations for the Cowboys in an interview with Newy Scruggs of NBC 5 DFW late last month.
"We’re just excited. We’re excited that hopefully, we can stay healthy, we can get good fortune on that end," Prescott said. "And we can just put everything we’ve worked hard for together on all stages and all phases of the game. We’re excited for this year. It’s going to be very, very special for us and for Cowboys fans.”
The Cowboys open the season against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on 7:20 p.m. CT on Sept. 9 in Raymond James Stadium.
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