DeMarcus Lawrence: Playing with Broken Foot for Dallas Cowboys at Vikings?
DeMarcus Lawrence, the two-time Pro Bowler and Dallas Cowboys locker room leader, is a "football warrior'' who on multiple occasions has passed on the option to undergo in-season surgery to instead continue playing while badly injured.
In 2022, as the his Cowboys prepares to visit Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings on NFL Sunday Week 11, is that happening again?
"I got a little injury with the foot - both feet, actually - and my knees," said Lawrence this week at The Star. "It's just all about just trying to maintain what I have but also take care of me throughout the week, so I can be fresh to go out there on Sunday and do what I need to do."
But Tank slipped something else into the conversation regarding the specific nature of one of his ailments.
"Yeah, it does connect with last year's injury," he said, harkening back to his broken foot in 2021. "I just think over the season, just all the banging and stuff, fractured it a little bit more.''
So, wait - Lawrence is playing today, and presumably the rest of the season and, the Cowboys hope, into the playoffs, with a broken foot?!
"I got screws in it, so it's hard to say if it's fractured or not,'' Lawrence said. "I'll be alright.''
As always, the Cowboys medical staff wouldn't put him in harm's way here, so it seems likely that the injured foot is largely about having to deal with the pain of playing on it ... not to mention the other foot ... and the knees ...
"Right knee hurts worse than the feet,'' he said. "I'm dealing with so much right now. Just trying to stay focused on the task at hand."
That task is to help 6-3 Dallas try to beat 8-1 Minnesota while shoring up the Cowboys' woeful run defense. Lawrence has a fine reputation as a pass-rusher but is also a willing and able defender against the run ... and against the Vikings' Dalvin Cook, that's going to be a must.
There is certainly a juggling act in practice for the rest of the year; Lawrence will surely be taking plenty of days off. There might be a juggling act when it comes to snaps in a game, too, especially as Dallas plays again in five days against the visiting Giants on Thanksgiving.
But he's playing today,
"Of course," he said. "My Heavenly Father blessed me with hard times, so I know how to prepare through these times over the course of my career.''
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