Glover Quin Talks Ankle Injury, Explains Why He Was Not On Field For Steelers' 97-Yard Drive
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
ALLEN PARK (CBS DETROIT) - The age-old and often-encountered dilemma of playing through an injury or letting it heal strikes again. This summer it was Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers, and now it's Glover Quin of the Lions.
Easily the most experienced and dependable safety to play opposite Louis Delmas for the Detroit Lions, Quin has battled an ankle injury for the past eight weeks, he said Wednesday.
One of the steadiest members of the secondary for the Lions this season at a position named for being the last line of defense against the opposing offense, Quin had his left foot in a boot Wednesday after the ankle issue took him off the field Sunday before the Pittsburgh Steelers drove 97 yards for a go-ahead touchdown.
Needless to say, the Lions missed him, but Quin felt he would have hampered the team rather than helped had he played with his ankle in the condition it was in.
"I won't ever do anything to hurt the team," Quin said. "If I feel like I'm not able to help us or do my job, then I won't. I'd rather have somebody else out there that can at least run and do the things that they need to do. I think I have done a decent job so far being a judge of that. The games where I felt really good for the situation, I played in them. This week it felt a little different, played in it, and the conditions, like I said, didn't help at all. You don't want to suffer too many setbacks in a situation like this, and so that was the best decision."
Though the injury bothered Quin more Sunday than it had in other games, he plans on playing when the Lions host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this weekend. The idea of the boot is to make that more likely, helping the ankle heal even as Quin has continued to play.
"I probably could have missed a month and been 100 percent or close to it," Quin said. "When you're playing on it every week, it takes longer, so that's kind of what we're doing with it. The more rest I can get it and protection just from - when you're standing here, your ankle joints and stuff are moving, and so it's when you can just give it more protection, more support, it just kind of aids in the process."
While Quin said the ankle felt different last Sunday, he sounded like he expects to have his usual abilities back by this Sunday. After playing through the problem so long, he apparently does not want to stop now.
"I'm planning on being full go here in a couple days, couple weeks," Quin said. "I've been dealing with it for eight weeks already, so normally if you hurt an ankle, what are the increments in the NFL? You're either day-to-day, you're two to four weeks, you're four to six weeks, you're six to eight weeks, or you're out for the year. That's just kind of how it is. I guess I would have been in the six to eight weeks, close to eight to 10 weeks, something like that."
So far the Lions has benefited from Quin's presence, but if the ankle does not get better, they might miss him as the team goes further into the season, particularly if Detroit makes the playoffs. As for whether playing through the pain pays off, Quin and the Lions will just have to wait and see.
