Phenomenal news for the San Francisco 49ers.
Outstanding linebacker Dre Greenlaw has officially undergone successful surgery on his torn Achilles on Thursday, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Greenlaw is expected to make a full recovery from it. He suffered the injury early in the second quarter as he was coming off the sideline for the 49ers' upcoming defensive series.
While it was a terrible injury to occur at that time, there was a bit of history for Greenlaw with his Achilles. Towards the end of the regular season, Greenlaw had been dealing with tendinitis there. He missed the Week 18 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams and missed an entire week of practice following that.
The 49ers never had too much concern with it and neither did Greenlaw. They believed keeping him off his feet for a couple weeks and limiting him would be enough. It was enough for the first couple of games in the playoffs, but it unfortunately would show its ugly head in the Super Bowl.
"I'm sick to my stomach. I'm still sick," said Fred Warner during his postgame press conference. "I see him at halftime and I'm crying because I'm so hurt for him. I obviously wanted to win this for him. It's sickening.. He's just been dealing with that same Achilles injury for the last few weeks. When we ran out on the field together and I saw him drop down, I knew exactly what happened."
Losing Greenlaw in the Super Bowl definitely hurt the 49ers' defense, especially towards the end. You can't help but feel for him as he worked incredibly hard to get to that stage. The bright side is that Greenlaw is young and tremendously strong willed. There should not be a single doubt that he won't come back and be the same caliber of player he once was prior to the injury.
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