The Kansas City Chiefs overcame the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime to claim their second consecutive Super Bowl championship. In every triumph, there are stories of players fighting through injuries, but offensive lineman Nick Allegretti might have just won story time.
Allegretti, who was forced to play every snap in the AFC Championship game as he covered the loss of Joe Thuney and in the Super Bowl, was again thrust into the biggest spot of his career.
When playing in such a big game, players want to be 100 percent fit to give their team the best shot at winning, and for Allegretti, he definitely wasn't at full fitness as he suffered a torn UCL in the second quarter.
Allegretti played through and only allowed four pressures on 56 pass-blocking snaps per NFL.com, and he revealed what he went through in the biggest game of his career.
"I haven't suffered an injury like that until then," Allegretti said on The Jim Rome Show. "I immediately knew. It was something that you heard a pop, you felt it, and knowing minimal about anatomy knew that something was wrong in my elbow. Because my elbow is not supposed to bend that way. Fortunately, we had the two-minute warning, and I had a couple seconds to gather myself, figure out that my arm still bent and I was able to go. It was a tough situation, but fortunate enough I was able to still play."
Allegretti clearly wasn't the best lineman on the field, but he wasn't the worst as he more than held his own against the 49ers' ferocious pass rush.
The gritty lineman would play all 79 snaps after snapping his UCL in the second quarter of the Super Bowl, per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, as his toughness shone through in what no doubt was an extremely trying time.
Every season stories emerge about players and what they go through, but in Allegretti's case, he put everything on the line for his teammates and fans to ensure that he gave everything he had in the hopes of hoisting the Lombardi trophy...and he was rewarded.
More must-reads: