When Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin went down in the second quarter last night, it was natural to jump to the conclusion.
With Maclin coming off a torn ACL, and going down without contact and clutching the same knee, even Eagles coach Chip Kelly “thought the worst.”
But moments later, Maclin was back on the field, disaster averted.
“If I was fine, I was going to play,” Maclin said, via John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly.com. “I got up fine. It wasn’t anything. I was excited to get back out there and play. I think God definitely had my back on that one. When I got up and I was walking, the initial shock kind of went away, and I was pretty good.”
After last year’s injury, Maclin has had to work through some soreness in his legs, but the bigger challenge was the mental one.
“It’s tough,” Maclin said. “You need a strong-minded person to get through stuff like this. I’ve always been in a good place mentally. Initially, when it first happened a year ago, I was emotional. I was upset. I think the thing that kind of helped me in rehab and kept me going was the fact that I was mentally tough. Now I’m excited about going forward.”
The Eagles are excited about getting Maclin on the field with Riley Cooper and Jordan Matthews, and for a moment last night, it appeared that plan was dashed.