Professional football is a very dangerous game, and in every ideal scenario, civilians are out of the line of fire when world-class athletes crash their bodies together for our entertainment.
Unfortunately, when the action spills over into the sidelines, sometimes innocent bystanders get in the way, such as one sideline worker in New Orleans for Sunday’s Saints-Lions NFC showdown.
Saints tailback Alvin Kamara was forced out of bounds on what looked to be a rather routine outsize run, where he was doing his best to elude multiple Detroit defenders who were crashing in on him. It just so happened that Kamara couldn’t quite control his body when he careened outside the lines, and did this poor individual ever take the brunt of it (Warning: Obviously, this is tough to watch):
Not much you can do about that. I mean, sure, maybe the Saints could design a better offense around Derek Carr in the post-Sean Payton era, but that’s not what’s important here.
What’s top of mind is the well-being of the sideline worker who got way more than was bargained for. I’m sure there’s some “assumption of risk” waiver that all workers near the field are forced to sign. However, no one anticipates something like this happening.
Whether it’s Kamara or another member of the Saints organization, you can only hope those affiliated parties can help pitch in for whatever the medical costs are associated with what looks to be a very serious leg injury. It’s got to be broken in some way.
Again, prayers up to this human and let’s all hope for a speedy recovery. It takes a special type of guy to be out there with lingering risk to get bumped into by an NFL player who could be running full speed, whereas you’re completely still and not expecting to take on such brute-force impact such as what we’ve seen here.
