After the collision, Mike Sellers had to pause for a moment. The play was over; the feeling was not. Pittsburgh linebacker Lawrence Timmons lay on the ground, courtesy of a Sellers block.
It was only a preseason game. That didn’t matter.
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“He came full speed and I came full speed and he just lost,” Sellers said. “The first thing to hit was the back of his head. I just stood there and looked at him. You just have to rub it in a little bit.”
A big hit, or as in Sellers’ case a devastating block, will send jolts of energy through a player’s body. It’s the feeling that drew them to football in the first place.
“To me it’s the same feeling as scoring a touchdown,” Sellers said. “That’s the only other energy rush I get. It’s addicting.”
Linebacker London Fletcher listed his pop of New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs in the opener, off a pass play, as one of his favorites. He knocked the 264-pounder backwards. But, because it was an eight-yard gain he didn’t celebrate.
But Fletcher’s most memorable came earlier in his career in a game vs. Carolina while playing for St. Louis. He remembers the receiver running a shallow crossing route.
“We hit helmet to helmet; I was about to decapitate him,” Fletcher said. “I hit him so hard that I was woozy. My teammates are celebrating, but I’m trying to get my bearings together. Luckily they called time out and I was able to get myself together.”
Chris Wilson said he had to dispel the notion among teammates that he was a finesse player simply because he’s a speed rusher. So on a kick return vs. San Francisco last year, with teammates telling him they were going to watch him, he made his point.
“One of the linebackers came down and hit the wedge and I laid him clean out,” Wilson said. “I ran right over him.”
He might as well have floated over him.
“Sometimes you get chills,” Wilson said. “People don’t get tired after a big hit. No matter how much energy you exert on that play, you come right back. It gets your adrenaline pumping a little harder.”
