TAMPA, Florida – Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea has never given up hope of returning this season, despite an ankle fracture in Week 5.
The 12th pick of the 2018 draft general was activated from the injured reserve last week and, after two days of training and a walk last week, played 32 photos in the NFC championship game, in which the defense fired him. five times on Aaron Rodgers.
Next: Facing Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs in the LV Super Bowl in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium.
“Obviously, I was gone and out that night, but I think that night I said to myself, ‘If you just go through this, go through rehabilitation, you might have a chance,'” Vea said. speaking on Friday for the first time since then suffering the October 8 injury.
“They told me they might have a small chance of succeeding, so I risked those things they said and I really took it to heart. I was left with that.”
The injury itself lasted about 20 seconds, he said, which resulted from being picked up by a teammate. It was still in relatively good condition, except that it had to fit on crutches.
“I knew at the end of the day that I would be back,” Vea said. “I always said, ‘I’m coming back.'”
Defensive attack Ndamukong Suh prepared Vea with his personal chef so that he could follow a healthy diet and maintain his weight up to 347 pounds. He worked with law enforcement personnel six days a week to maintain his strength and endurance. He continued to participate in all defensive and defensive meetings to stay stuck in the game and thought positively.
Bucs’ main office and coaching staff had not planned to activate him from the injured reserve, but coach Bruce Arians began to follow his training. He started running about four weeks ago. Arians told him, “We will continue to win, and you will continue to work and it will work.”
“It’s always uplifting when you hear someone tell you that, and obviously when the head coach tells you that,” Vea said. “I think that was like our little thing for each other, every time we saw each other, we looked at each other like, ‘Keep winning, I’ll show up.’ And I was able to play last weekend, which was a huge blessing for me. “
The Bucs did not have Vea in the 27-24 loss to the Chiefs in Week 12, where they struggled to put pressure on Muhammad and gave up high school games. Vea’s size usually commands double teams, which frees Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul – who received 3.0 and 2.0 sacks from Rodgers last week, respectively, to reach the quarterback.
“Beef has a big impact,” Barrett said. “We certainly missed Vita. On the first bag, the defender tried to go where Vita was, but he couldn’t, because Vita was right there and threw it straight at me and it worked perfectly. , not even a defense for running – defense for running, he is a very important piece there – wherever Vita is, he will take the gap next to him on both sides and maybe another gap, so the safest we missed of him there. “
The Chiefs had to make a series of significant offensive lines this season, their latest failure being the loss of left-back Eric Fisher due to a broken Achilles tendon in the AFC championship game. They will also be without right-back Mitchell Schwartz, who is still recovering from a back injury, not to mention the loss of left-back Kelechi Osemele due to a torn tendon in both knees, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang have abandoned due to concerns about COVID-19.