Mannelly plans on playing next season
Fourteen-year veteran long-snapper Patrick Mannelly will have surgery next week to repair the ruptured ACL in his left knee, but the 36-year-old is already looking forward to playing next season. “My goal is to be back for Day One of training camp,” he said. “My mind’s not done. We’ll see what my body says, but I don’t think my body’s done either.”
Mannelly, who was injured in Week 11 against the Chargers, had missed just three games in the previous 13 seasons, two with a sprained knee in 2002 and one with a sprained ankle in 2001.
“This is my first major injury,” he said. “I’m very lucky. One (positive) thing I can take out of this is that I’ve played as long as I have without missing a significant amount of time or going through something that I’m going to go through in the future.”
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound Mannelly’s only other experience with a major football injury came when he was a senior at Duke, and it was much more traumatic. He developed a painful hip injury in preseason camp that defied diagnosis. After some down time he tried to play in the third game of the season but couldn’t.
“I knew there was interest from the NFL about long-snapping,” Mannelly said. “They did everything possible to figure it out, (but) they couldn’t. That’s when I figured football was over, so that was way more difficult.”
Mannelly was given the choice of undergoing invasive, exploratory surgery or waiting and hoping.
“I said, ‘I don’t want to be cut open,’ so we just gave it some time,” Mannelly said. “About Thanksgiving is when I felt back to normal, and from then on I was good.”
He took a medical redshirt year, returned to play his senior season at Duke and was drafted in the sixth round by the Bears in 1998.
Still running:Former Bear Thomas Jones is still listed as the Chiefs#146; starting running back, although Jackie Battle and Dexter McCluster have been more effective running the ball.From 2004-06 Jones rushed for 3,493 yards in three seasons with the Bears. #147;He was great,#148; linebacker Brian Urlacher said. #147;I loved Thomas when he was here.#148;Urlacher and Jones were both drafted in 2000. Jones went seventh overall to the Cardinals, two spots ahead of Urlacher.#147;It#146;s good to see him still in the league doing well,#148; Urlacher said. #147;He was a great teammate. We had some great times when we went to the Super Bowl. He#146;s been doing well since he left, and he#146;s just a good guy, still talk to him here and there. I#146;ve never played against him in 12 years, so it#146;ll be fun.#148;In three years with the Jets (2007-09) after he left the Bears, Jones rushed for 3,833 yards and 28 touchdowns, but he#146;s averaging just 3.2 yards per carry this year for the offensively challenged Chiefs. He rushed for 896 yards last season, though, impressive for a running back who#146;s now 33 years old. But it#146;s not surprising considering Jones#146; fanatical approach to conditioning and his body-builder physique.#147;Just look at his body,#148; Urlacher said. #147;He works harder than anybody in the weight room, he takes care of himself, and he eats right. He used to always worry about taking care of himself and doing the right thing, so it doesn#146;t surprise me that he still looks and play like he does.#148;Familiar foe:Even if Tyler Palko starts at quarterback for the Chiefs, it won#146;t be a surprise to see former Bear Kyle Orton in relief, though he#146;s been with the team less than two weeks.#147;Kyle#146;s a good quarterback,#148; Brian Urlacher said. #147;He knows where to go with the football, and he knows our defense. It#146;ll be fun to play against him. I liked Kyle when he was here. I like him now; talk to him every once in a while.#148;