Patriots linebacker Darius Fleming says he played in Saturday’s win over the Chiefs with stitches in his leg, thanks to an injury he suffered kicking in a window to pull a woman out of a burning car.
Although Fleming said nothing about it publicly, his agent confirmed the story after his alma mater, St. Rita High School in Chicago, posted about the incident on Facebook. According to the high school, Fleming needed 22 stitches in his leg on Thursday as a result of the accident.
Patriots defensive captain Devin McCourty said that when the team heard about the story, Fleming gave a full account.
“Darius was really quiet about it, but once the team got a hold of it, the guys on the team, we forced him to give a speech and everything,” McCourty said. “He explained it was very simple: He saw a woman’s car that looked like it was smoking, and he just jumped out of his car. He’ll admit there was probably an easier solution, but I think it was nice and dramatic -- kicked the window in and pulled her out.”
McCourty said the Patriots cheered Fleming for his actions.
“We got the hero’s speech. He gave us his account of what happened and a lot of cheers went out,” McCourty said.
That makes Fleming an easy player to cheer for.