Runyan doesn't take pain sitting down

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071031/SPORTS02/710310417/1002/SPORTS

By GEOFF MOSHER, The News Journal

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Jon Runyan has started 167 straight regular-season games, including the past two despite a tailbone injury. At least one Eagles player probably didn't enjoy the flight back from Minnesota as much as the others.

For Jon Runyan, the return trip was just as lousy as the arrival. He stood up for the entire chartered three-hour flight -- each way.

"I've either got to stand or lay down," the Eagles right tackle said Sunday, moments after surviving a 23-16 win over the Vikings at the Metrodome. "There's no sitting."

Two Thursdays ago, the 6-foot-7, 330-pound Runyan slipped while entering the cold tub in the Eagles locker room. He fell hard on his backside and sustained a bruised tailbone that made him questionable for the Chicago game the following Sunday.

Regardless, the tumble left Runyan with -- literally -- an intense pain in the rear end.

He can't put weight on the bone, which means he can't sit. Imagine being unable to sit for more than a week. In Runyan's case, it's been longer.

"It will be a couple weeks, maybe a month," he said. "It felt a lot better [Sunday] than it did last week, but we'll see how it feels [Monday]."

On Monday, Reid said Runyan indeed felt "quite a bit of soreness" from the "glute contusion." Reid also said Runyan wouldn't be completely healed for another month, but all but guaranteed he would play Sunday night against Dallas.

Nothing short of death or dismemberment could keep him from playing against the Cowboys.

"That's him," Reid said. "You're not going to keep him out of the game."

Runyan said sitting out against Chicago and Minnesota -- and having his consecutive starts streak end at 165 -- never crossed his mind. No reason he would feel differently about this Sunday.

When asked when he decided he would be able to handle the pain, Runyan reversed the question.

"I think it was more deciding not to play, and that's never in my mind," he said. "It's never deciding [whether] to play."

That Runyan plays despite intense pain really is nothing new. You don't rack up 100-plus consecutive games in the NFL without spraining, stubbing or straining something. With 12 years in the league, Runyan's NFL comrades have come to appreciate his pain threshold.

In a recent interview with ESPN the Magazine, Chargers Pro Bowl linebacker Shawne Merriman was asked which offensive lineman is the game's toughest.

"Jon Runyan, on Philly," Merriman said. "He'll curse, spit, scratch, bite, anything. He's a nasty dude."

Which is why it bothers Runyan that an off-field stumble put him in this position -- off the practice field during the week, padded up on Sundays.

He can take a knee sprain or a broken leg, casualties of the trench warfare where Runyan prides himself on making a living. But slipping in a bathtub? That's just inconvenient.

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I caught this story as I was surfing the net so I thought I'd share it with the FanNation community abroad. Maybe it's just the sleep deprivation, but it just sounds hillarious to think that one of the nastier offensive lineman was taken out by a slip in the tub. It seemed even more amusing for Reid to call the injury a "Glute Contusion".

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around how you play with a fracture or injury of this nature. But I think this is why there had been rumors of Runyan 'sitting out' the game, all puns intended. Yet as I look at the injury report, there is no one listed save the players on the IR.

This is the other thing that stands out in this article. In a backhanded way Merriman was giving Runyan high praise for being one of the nastiest lineman out there. I guess that's why he's not on the injury list at all. He's playing through the pain. But oh what a pain in the..... you know the rest of the story. I wonder if Runyan will get endorsement deals for Preparation H?

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