A Jersey Guy: Is Justin Fields Tough or "Semi-tough''?
The scene was straight out of some of the iconic football movies of the 70's such as Semi Tough and North Dallas Forty.
The star quarterback suffers what is obviously a painful and potential serious injury in the first half of a playoff game, by taking a direct helmet to mid section tackle.
Trainers quickly come out and work on the quarterback, who slowly gets up and heads to the sideline.
But then, after a quick examination, the quarterback not only returns to the game, but throws another touchdown pass-with cameras focusing on a player in obvious pain as he again slowly walks off the field, where he goes into the "injury tent'' for a more complete evaluation.
Fast forward the action to the start of the second half.
The star quarterback is not only warming up, he is throwing the ball on the sideline, smiling with his teammates and comes back into the game, where he finishes a six touchdown pass performance which thrusts his teammates into the championship game.
This was not Hollywood or Netflix, and it was college football, not professional football, although the line between the two becomes hazier every day.
This was real. This was THE Ohio State University and quarterback Justin Fields in the New Year's Night CFP semifinal game against Clemson in the Sugar Bowl.
This was Fields who took a direct hit to the rib cage from Clemson linebacker James Skalski, which was so violent was tossed from the game for targeting.
This was truly Friday Night Lights in the national spotlight, with a national championship on the line in a billion dollar industry.
In the "real world'' the basics of the play and of the injury, would be to sit down and immediately take x-rays, and other tests to learn if there were any serious and perhaps even life threatening damage.
Ostensibly, the OSU medical staff did that almost immediately, but it was done through evaluation, not tests.
No x-rays were taken during the game, Fields was simply taken into the medical evaluation tent, asked a few questions and then according to Fields himself, given a FEW shots.
Ohio State, as expected, as put a Cone of Silence around Field, regarding the issue. He was not part of the championship game (against Alabama on Monday night) media conference on Monday.
OSU coach Ryan Day offered endorsements about his QB's toughness, but little else.
""Justin finished the game,'' said Day. ""It was remarkable. I thought that was one of the gutsiest performances I've ever seen in person.'''
Day said there wasn't really much of a decision to be made about Fields remaining in the game against Clemson.
""Justin is such a competitive guy,'' said Day. ""He wasn't going to come off the field and that's just the way he's wired. You were going to have to pull him off the field.''
How much Fields practices this week will remain unknown. Let's hope that the Buckeye medical staff at least privately did extensive tests, including x-rays and C-scans to find out what is going on.
But then who knows. This is not recreational or flag football. A national championship is at stake and the stakes are millions of dollars in future revenues.
In both Semi Tough and North Dallas Forty, the only question asked the players was how high their threshold of pain might be.
For one game, or one half, the magic potent of a shot would make everything normal again.
Day has he expects his QB to play against Alabama. ""Yeah, I definitely expect him to play, but we don't get into specifics on injuries,'' said Day. "We give our availability report at the end of the week and that's always been our policy.''
So we will wait and see, this week, on game day next week and beyond.
We hope that whatever which was ailing Justin Fields was minor in nature and that playing in a game will not put him into a more precarious medical situation.
Certainly, after a bumpy regular season at best, Field's NFL stock is once again souring and will be further evaluated at the NFL Combine next month.
But once again, the message is as loud and clear as it could possibly be: Big time college football is a bottom line, revenue driven business, which means the players are merely employees expected to help generate a profit.