FRISCO, Texas _ Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Tyrone Crawford didn't understand why he was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
He could move his fingers and toes. It was nothing serious, he thought. He had just been rolled out of AT&T Stadium on a spinal board after the second play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 23.
It was a scary reminder of how violent the game is and concerned teammates and coaches held their breath as they watched him wheeled off the field.
In the ambulance, Crawford asked paramedics why all the fuss. They quickly told him how potentially serious his injury could be.
"People don't think they broke their neck and as soon as they turn it a little bit," Crawford was told. "They have so much torque they can break it on the spot."
"That kind of scared me so I just shut up and watched the game," he said.
Crawford's wife was holding a device in front of his face so he could keep following the Cowboys while he was rushed to Baylor Medical Center.
Once there, after numerous tests, Crawford was cleared of any serious injury. It was a stinger, a painful injury he's had before. This one, however, was a little different.
"Usually, I just feel some shock down my arm into my fingers and stuff, but this one went down my back and I felt a lot of pain in my upper back, so that was the difference. And I heard a crack," he said. The sound is what scared him most. "I was scared because I heard a sound and obviously when something happens in your body you can hear it loud, but when I hit the O-lineman, the center, he said, 'Are you alright?' I was alike, 'OK, he heard it, too.'"
From his hospital bed, after being helped turned to his side, so he could view the television, Crawford saw Maliek Collins get a sack. When the game was over, Crawford video called his teammates to share in the NFC East-clinching win.
"I was just happy. Proud of them and proud of the fight that they put up," he said. "Proud of how they responded after I went down because I know if one of my brothers went down and I don't have any information, I would be worried and that would be one of the things in my head. They let it go well and they got the job done. I was just proud of them and happy for them. I told them to bring me my (division championship) hat. I know I've got to give it away, but bring me it."
Crawford missed the season finale but expects to play in the wild-card game Saturday night against the Seattle Seahawks.
"I'm just trying to get the best I can out of the practices with the tempo that we're going," he said. "Get as much as I can back to get out there. I plan on it getting to feeling real good and feeling back to normal once game time comes."
