What was your vantage point on that play?
"Yeah, I was far away. I heard it more than saw it. So, obviously, you never want to see that happen to anybody. Unfortunately, we play a collision sport and things like that are really unpreventable. Two aggressive guys going to make a play. Like I said, I heard it more than I saw it."
When that happens and you're watching your teammate being put on a backboard, do you look for movement? Are you guys just looking for those telltale signs?
"The one thing that I've always learned is give the medical staff space. Obviously, you want to show your concern, but to get on a knee, say a little prayer and then let the professionals do what they're there to do. So, you kind of just sit back and say a prayer for the guy and hope that everything works out. And, the medical staff, you know, they're trained for these sorts of situations, but it's scary. You don't want to see anyone ever go through that."
Obviously, this was towards the end of practice, but when that happens in a game or if that had happened earlier, how hard is it, or even tomorrow, how hard is it to come back out?
"Yeah, I mean, I've had that happen. Not necessarily a head or neck injury, but a guy who basically blew out his entire quad and you hear him screaming and they have to bring out the cart for him. And, same thing, you say a little prayer, you wish him good luck and then you get back to business. As cold as that sounds, the moment you start to think about, 'Oh geeze, what if that happens to me?' I think you put yourself in a more vulnerable position. So, you just go back out just as aggressively the next time and you play just as fast as you normally would because I think the moment you don't that's when you put yourself in an even worse position."
S Chanceller James looked pretty distraught after it happened. Has anybody talked to him in the locker room?
"To be honest, I literally just walked from the field into here. Obviously, you don't want to feel responsible, but it's not his fault. It's football. They're both going for the football and it was an unfortunate event. I'm sure there's, I guess we call it maybe survivor's remorse or whatever, but you've just got to emphasize to those guys it wasn't, it's friendly fire. It's not like he's trying to go take out a receiver and knocked that guy out. He took his own guy out. It wasn't anything that was dirty or uncalled for, it's just two guys going and playing football. Unfortunately, in our sport, things like that, they happen sometimes."
* Transcript provided by the San Francisco 49ers
