A frightened Maurkice Pouncey thought his football career was over at age 26. It happened two years ago when a leg injury turned into a terrifying ordeal.
The fractured fibula and ankle sprain led to two different infections including staph, prompted eight surgeries, the insertion and removal of metal plates and canceled his entire season.
In the middle of the ordeal, it was not the 2015 season he was concerned about but the rest of his career.
"I thought football was done," Pouncey said at Steelers training camp. "Heck, yeah, it was serious. I was on two PICC lines, infectious disease medicine. It was pretty serious."
That Pouncey is back at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., for his eighth training camp attests to his recovery. That he made his fifth Pro Bowl in 2016 and came within one game of the Super Bowl with his teammates tells how well he bounced back.
He credited his doctors for the recovery and to line coach Mike Munchak for his continued success on the field.
"He saved my career," Pouncey said, describing blocking techniques Munchak showed him that would protect him more.
Then there is the matter of who saved his life, or at least turned it in a different direction from where it was going. Maturity, he said, did that.
No more big birthday bashes with twin brother Mike. No more partying that led to some notorious episodes such as the alleged fight at a Miami nightclub in 2014 that prompted a civil suit that was settled out of court in March. There was the infamous wearing of the "Free Hernandez" caps in 2013.
"I'm just more mature now," Pouncey said. "I don't have to go out and party all the time. I don't have to go out on the weekends and just drink until I can't think anymore.
"I have my kids now, I have a serious family thing going on. I just want to be more accountable. I was tired of being the guy every offseason coming here and having to explain myself and the things that happened in my life.
"You kind of do things and drop people off who shouldn't be in your life. You don't really see it at first because it comes so fast, all the glory and all the grace that everybody's telling you. You're just trying to live life. I see the bigger picture now. I don't need to have that much fun. I just need to play football and focus on my family."
Three days before he reported to training camp, Pouncey celebrated his 28th birthday. Quietly.
"This year, me and my girl went out to dinner and I was at the house when I texted coach Munch: I'm on the couch already."
Munchak, a Pro Football Hall of Fame guard with the Houston Oilers after he graduated from Penn State, joined the team in 2014 after the Tennessee Titans fired him as his coach. His linemen worship him and he has helped mold them into one of the best lines in the NFL.
Pouncey tore up a knee in the first game of the 2013 season, playing against Munchak's Titans. He missed the rest of the season. The following year, his new line coach showed him some new techniques to protect himself.
"I came back from blowing my knee out and the things he taught me to help me out being an offensive lineman and the techniques he used, seeing things differently during the game, I appreciate him more than anything," Pouncey said.
"After something like that happens, people always say you can't be the same player and I honestly felt that he did a lot to help me back and bounce back a lot quicker than normal."
Such as?
"Sitting back off the ball more, not trying to kill a guy on every single play _ running off the ball, you can shuffle and get the guy and still have the same kind of great block. Those are things he taught me."
Munchak said simply, "That's why I'm here."
"Not many guys have great ability like he has," Munchak said. "Sometimes you can get away with doing things at a high level without a lot of technique. Eventually your career, no matter who you are, you're going to have to rely on that technique because you're going to slow down or your game is going to change. So ultimately it comes down to technique."
Pouncey had three different line coaches in four seasons with the Steelers before Munchak arrived.
"Now, he already had some good technique," Munchak said, "but I got the opportunity to teach maybe some things he hadn't seen or done before. We just blended in really well right away."
Pouncey became the first center in NFL history to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first three seasons. After he missed virtually all of 2013, he made it again in 2014. He missed 2015, then earned his fifth Pro Bowl in 2016. In other words, every time he plays, he makes a Pro Bowl.
His success last season was special for him because he thought his playing days had ended. He could not walk normally until March 2016.
"It was really a dream come true," Pouncey said, "because when you think something is taken from you that you love so much, to be able to come back and have that same enjoyment and excitement with your teammates, it was awesome."
