Tim Twentyman / The Detroit News
Allen Park — It was the scariest moment Zack Follett said he's ever faced on a football field: A feeling of complete helplessness, unable to feel his arms or legs after a helmet-to-helmet collision."It's something in the far back, back part of your mind that's one of your greatest fears, seeing yourself down on that field," Follett, the Lions linebacker, told The Detroit News on Tuesday. "It was definitely scary when it happened."
Follett's frightening injury took place last Sunday while he was covering a fourth-quarter kickoff against the Giants.
Follett was blindsided by Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, and immediately fell to the ground with a burning sensation in his neck.
He was down for an extended period, receiving medical attention from both teams' personnel.
"The scariest part was losing feeling in my arms," he said. "I was just laying there kind of trying to calm myself down. I couldn't feel anything at first. Then a couple minutes went by where I started to feel pinches and scratches on my leg.
"There was a big sigh of relief then. My neck was just kind of on fire at that point."
Follett was placed on a backboard and stretcher before being carted off the field and taken to Hackensack University Medical Center. He regained full movement in his arms and legs at the hospital, and MRI and CT tests came back negative.
"I was running down on kickoff and trying to two-gap the guy that was blocking me," Follett said. "I wasn't really looking at him, I was looking at the ball carrier and focused on him and the next thing I know his helmet went down and my head was up and it caught me just right and snapped my head back.
"It sent shock waves down both of my arms and I kind of dropped down."
Follett said he's taken hits that were three times harder during his career, and walked away fine..
He categorized last Sunday's hit as a perfect one.
"I'm going to meet with a specialist, I believe Thursday, a doctor in South Carolina to have him kind of give me his opinion about it and kind of go from there after I get that advice," said Follett, who added he suffered a neck injury on the play.
"It's definitely not just a stinger that I'll be back in action in a couple of weeks. I've had a history of neck problems and I've had disk bulges and I think that's why I slipped in the draft."
Despite the incident, Follett said he won't play any different when he gets back.
"I made it to the NFL by playing aggressive and playing hard and it's something as athletes that your job is on the line," he said. "You're trying to do your job and the last thing on your mind is where you're placing your helmet when you hit somebody."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20101020/SPORTS0101/10200362#ixzz12uYg7Ey9
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