Earlier this year, while writing about Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane, who at the time was making headlines for not missing any time after breaking his hand during a game, I came to the conclusion that I’m simply not physically, emotionally, mentally, or anatomically equipped to handle the rigors of the NFL. In fact, I wonder whether or not I’m even the same species as some of the guys who play in the NFL. Have you ever seen Aaron Donald with his shirt off? He looks like he’s chiseled from granite. He makes Greek sculptures self-conscious about their bodies. I just look like a large pile of mashed potatoes that someone got a haircut over.
Seriously, as we speak, I’m nursing a sinus infection that started as strep throat, and I’m barely hanging on. I’m literally lying down on my couch typing this. And yet, you have someone like Miami Dolphins linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel out there playing through an injury that would have 90 percent of dudes who watch football all day every Sunday on the ground in a heap, sobbing, bleeding and snotting all over themselves.
“Dolphins’ LB Andrew Van Ginkel broke his nose during the first quarter of Sunday’s win vs. the Jets and played with it the rest of the game with it,” according to a tweet from ESPN’s NFL insider Adam Schefter. “No missed time for Van Ginkel.”
Not only will Andrew Van Ginkel not miss any time for Miami moving forward, he didn’t even miss any time during the game. His 51 snaps were the fourth most for all Dolphins defenders in their 30-0 win over the New York Jets. Hopefully we get an inside look at what happened and what took place in the aftermath of the injury on the next episode of Hard Knocks.
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