LANDOVER, Md. – Respect? This wasn’t about respect.
Bobby Engram has been around far too long, and influenced far too many Seattle Seahawks teammates, to need to earn anyone else’s respect.
“It’s funny,” said one teammate, running back Shaun Alexander. “They brought Jerry Rice in here last year to show the young guys how to play. But after a while, we were like, ‘He’s just like Bobby.’ That’s the respect we all have for Bobby – whether the rest of the world knows it or not.”
So what was it then? What was it that drove Seattle’s most reliable receiver to play most of Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Washington Redskins with two broken ribs?
Because that’s just the way Bobby Engram is.
“Bobby’s a warrior,” said Grant Wistrom, another teammate. “He’s a leader on the offense, a leader on the team. He’s what football players should be.”
So when Engram finally succumbed to the injury, when his teammates, trainers and coaches convinced him to come out of the game, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Engram had, after all, caught a game-high nine passes for 106 yards while playing well into the second half.
“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “To see him fight and battle the way he did out there, that says a lot about him.”
Engram’s injury didn’t cost the Seahawks the game, but it certainly crippled their ability to run their full offense. Starting flanker Darrell Jackson was already hobbled by a sore knee, reserve D.J. Hackett was seeing his first significant playing time since suffering a training camp injury, and veteran Peter Warrick was wearing street clothes because of a groin injury he suffered the previous week. Tight end Jerramy Stevens also was hurting in Sunday’s loss with an undisclosed injury.
So the Seahawks’ hobbled receiving corps had to do what it could … with what it had.
“It was tough,” Hasselbeck said. “There were a couple drives where we didn’t have Bobby or Darrell or Jerramy. It was like, all hands on deck; who’ve we got? It shrunk some of the plays in the game plan. It makes it tough.”
Engram suffered the injury on Seattle’s first offensive play, a play that he has made look routine over the years. He caught a pass over the middle, got drilled by Redskins safety Ryan Clark, yet somehow hung onto the ball. Engram could tell something was wrong, but he refused to come out of the game.
“It hurt, but it wasn’t as bad at first,” Engram said after the game. “The thing that got me was I lost a little bit of my mobility. I started getting stiff. So instead of putting us at a disadvantage by being out there, (leaving the game late in the third quarter) was a decision that all of us came to.”
Engram is used to playing in pain, having gone through most of the 2004 season with a sprained ankle. While the injury severely limited his practice availability, he missed just three games all year.
“Bobby’s tough as nails,” Alexander said. “Everybody knows that.”
No timetable was set for Engram’s return, but broken ribs typically take a long time to heal.
“I’ll be back ASAP,” the 32-year-old receiver said. “I don’t really want to make a big story about it. It’s frustrating, and it is what it is, but it’s part of the game.”
Just like playing in pain is part of Engram’s game. It’s earned him respect over the years – so much so that his teammates have come to expect the unexpected.
“He does stuff that no one else will believe until after it’s over with,” Alexander said. “Bobby will have a bunch of catches, a bunch of yards, and everybody’s like: ‘That’s just Bobby.’ Bobby will play with cracked ribs: ‘That’s just Bobby.’
“He’s the man.”
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