Zach Miller tore his plantar fascia on third play of Sunday’s game

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After the Seahawks’ first offensive series of the game, tight end Zach Miller left the field and went to get his foot checked out by the team’s medical staff.

His return was called questionable a short time later, but Miller didn’t miss more than a handful of snaps before he was back on the field catching passes from Russell Wilson. He proved to be one of the team’s most effective weapons on the day, catching eight passes for 142 yards to help the Seahawks come back before finally losing 30-28 to the Falcons.

The production is impressive under any circumstances, but all the more so given the severity of Miller’s injury. Danny O’Neil of the Seattle Times reports that Miller tore his plantar fascia when he was hurt in the first quarter. Miller took a painkilling injection in the bottom of his foot to return to the field and will start the offseason rehabbing the injury.

Miller should be healthy enough to be part of the team’s offseason program. Miller had 38 catches for the Seahawks in the regular season and 12 over their two playoff games.

34 responses to “Zach Miller tore his plantar fascia on third play of Sunday’s game

  1. Zach Miller is a warrior. So is Russell Wilson passing to him. With only 31 seconds left, the loss was heartbreaking but they will both be back next year. Super Bowl, baby!

  2. As a season ticket holder of the 49ers, I want to extend a sincere congratulations to the Seahawks on their special year. Wilson is exciting, dangerous, fun to watch, and extremely polished in interviews while the D is tough. In my opinion, the two most complete and dangerous teams in the league reside in the NFC West. With what the Seahawks will build on from this year, the Niners present and future with around 13 draft picks in this draft, and the Rams coach and high round draft picks in this draft, this division is going to be amazing to be a part of in the near future. Again congrats on a successful season.

  3. Kudos to him because that is an injury is painful. You can correct it with surgery but that is rare. It’s mostly keep it immobile, rest and rehab. Good luck to you Miller and I have new respect for you. Gates played a whole year with that.

  4. I tore my plantar fascia two years ago. I fell to the ground like I’d been shot, and basically crawled to my car from my work out where it happened. The drive home was excrutiating.

    The idea that he got shot up and went and played a whole game is equal parts amazing and disturbing.

  5. “As a season ticket holder of the 49ers, I want to extend a sincere congratulations to the Seahawks on their special year.”

    Appreciated, and back at you. I think you guys are a year ahead of us on the winning curve. And now that we both seem to have found good young QB’s, it should be a great rivalry to watch twice a year for the next bunch of seasons.

    Can you lend us Aldon Smith?

  6. Zach Miller has been a true pro since coming here. Our o-line was young and they had him in as an extra blocker (which is is excellent at run/pass) nearly his whole first year. The start of this year you could see he was catching everything thrown his way. So many big third down conversions and big plays when needed the most. Playing through that pain and having a game like he did is amazing. I hope that they utilize him and target him more next year, Zach Miller has earned it.

  7. Zach Miller will always be a Raider. Wish we could have had more success, but it’s great to see him play in his first post season and tear it up like he did.

  8. Look everyone skinskg9 is still sore and is ….sort of trying to be funny. Listen kid Miller wasn’t trying to escape a shoddy oline on a well documented poorly conditioned field that had been neglected ALL season. He did it while helping his team try to win. Sort of the opposite of what the ‘Skins front office and coaching staff where doing when the let the field stand as it was and let the future of the franchise , which Miller is not, play on a injured knee on.

  9. @pdway

    Haha…yeah that was a good draft. Aldon Smith in the 1st round and Kaepernick in the 2nd round. From an opposing fan, I feel the Seahawks number 1 need is wide receiver in the draft or free agency. Am I off? Or is it DE with the uncertainty of Clemons?

  10. That injury had me down for 2 years. I can’t believe he played on that foot, even with pain killers. Hats are off to you Zach. Wish you were still in S&B.

  11. I would think if you numbed up that tendon so you could keep running on it that it would tear even more and just rip – I dont get it.

  12. “Haha…yeah that was a good draft. Aldon Smith in the 1st round and Kaepernick in the 2nd round. From an opposing fan, I feel the Seahawks number 1 need is wide receiver in the draft or free agency. Am I off? Or is it DE with the uncertainty of Clemons?”

    Even with a healthy Clemons, the #1 need of the Seahawks is pass rushers. Irvin wasn’t horrible this year, but wasn’t a game changer by any stretch as you would hope a first rounder to be. I don’t think the Seahawks had one sack yesterday and only had pressure on a small handful of plays. It was somewhat offset by a great secondary, but the lack of a pass rush is the biggest hole the Seahawks have.

  13. Got love that the medical staff signed off on letting him play w/ a torn muscle. But to spew ‘player safety’, fine players & suspend players for hitting; then letting doctors off scott free is BULL!!

    The problem the NFL has is not players or rules, its the commish and his hypocritical ideologies.

  14. “From an opposing fan, I feel the Seahawks number 1 need is wide receiver in the draft or free agency. Am I off? Or is it DE with the uncertainty of Clemons?”

    D-line for sure (DE & DT). Seemed to be a strength early on, but became a weak link as the season went on. Run defense faltered, and then as you saw against Atlanta, we really couldn’t get to the passer, esp without Clemons. Maybe if we had someone in his face, Ryan doesn’t complete those two passes that broke our hearts yesterday.

  15. rbanks51 says: Jan 14, 2013 6:25 PM

    A Warrior? are you guys freaking serious?

    He took a pain killing injection to play a game for a ton of money.
    ______________________________________

    While I agree with you in loathing the word “warrior” to describe an athlete, I once had an injury to my Plantar it is like stepping on a very large knife with each step. No pain killer in the world would get most men out there.

  16. @rbanks51: Yes, Miller is a warrior.
    Another very good player drafted by the late, Great Al Davis, only to move on to find success with another team.
    Can’t blame a guy for taking the money and hoping to win for a change.

  17. Google the article that Dan Le Batard wrote concerning Jason Taylor and you will understand why Zach Miller tore his plantar fascia. It is certainly a worthwhile read and I’m surprised more NFL players don’t suffer this injury. It is all tied in with the pain killer Toradol.

  18. Oh for the LOVE OF GOD! RG3 makes a heroic playoff performance, gutting out an injury, and you call for the coaches head and place some blame on RG3 as well.

    Zach Miller plays hurt and you say how impressive it is and everyone goes on to say how this is what football is all about: playing hurt, being tough for your teammates.

    How about some consistency? What, you gonna say “well, Miller was still productive with his injury”?
    So, if a guy plays hurt and racks up some stats, no matter what that = good

    If a guy plays hurt, but is not productive, even though he is still likely the best player at that position on the team, THAT = bad

    Or maybe it’s just if a guy on a team you don’t like does ANYTHING, you spin it to be bad

  19. As a Hawks fan its fun to hate the Niners ,but now were out of it so I honestly can say I do you want you guys to win it. Show Atlanta how the world works would ya please. I hope you guys get the Ravens in the SB, sick of the Pats.

  20. Zach Miller did not tear a muscle. The plantar fascia is a ligament. I have torn both of mine and to say that it hurt was an understatement.

  21. Is the NFLPA going to be requesting an inquiry into the team’s handling of this injury and request copies of the approval of field conditions?

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