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14 years ago

Heart Scare Helped Propel Jets Punter 
By GREG BISHOP
Published: January 5, 2011

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. On Saturday night in Indianapolis, in another first-round playoff game, Steve Weatherford expects that excitement and emotion will elevate his heart rate. But not too much. Not like last season.

Steve Weatherford says a recent heart operation helped make him a more productive player by allowing him to work out longer.

[img_r]http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/01/06/sports/PUNTER/PUNTER-articleInline.jpg[/img_r]Sometimes, in quiet moments, Weatherford drifts back to Jan. 9, 2010. The Jets played Cincinnati that day, without Weatherford, their punter, whose heartbeat escalated during warm-ups. It climbed to more than 200 beats per minute, to 205, to 210, beyond a heart rate considered maximum for a man his age (then 27, now 28).

You could see it, Weatherford said Wednesday, and by it, he meant his heart. Your shoulder pads come down over your chest, and you could see my pads go like this, in and out, just quivering, all exaggerated. It was scary.

This season was Weatherfords most productive campaign in five years as an N.F.L. punter. He placed 42 punts inside the 20-yard line, tying a league record for one season. This did not happen in spite of his episode last season.

It happened, Weatherford said, because of it.

Weatherford felt fine as he jogged onto the field last January at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. He sailed several practice attempts into the sky. When he stopped, he suddenly felt dizzy, lightheaded, short of breath. He searched for the team doctor.

Trainers placed ice packs on his neck, and when that did not lower his heart rate, they fed him beta blockers. When that also failed, they hooked Weatherford up to a portable electrocardiograph machine. To Weatherford, the EKG reading resembled the scribblings of a madman, lines jutting this way and that. The episode lasted 90 minutes.

His wife, Laura, watched the playoff game on television. Early in the first quarter, the Bengals forced a punt. Jay Feely, the place kicker, trotted onto the field. His first attempt traveled a noble but meager 33 yards. Laura had received a call from a team official, but that left her confused. She wondered if her husband had been injured, or, because the official said he had an illness, and she was aware of his heart history, she wondered if it was worse.

Weatherford reacted instinctively. He begged the doctors to allow him to return. He said he would walk onto the field, punt and walk off. When they vetoed this plan, Weatherford ripped off the electrodes attached to his body, ripped the IV from his arm, sprinted onto the sideline and begged for reinstatement.

At halftime, still in uniform, he held on to hope. Eventually, resigned, he took it off. As his heartbeat slowed, he felt as if he had run a marathon.

Im sitting there in the locker room and I thought, you know, this might be the last game you ever suit up for, Weatherford said.

Upon arrival in New Jersey, Weatherford checked into Morristown Memorial Hospital. He received medication to regulate his heart rate. He even punted in the Jets final two playoff games, against San Diego and Indianapolis.

Weatherford first experienced an abnormal heart rate in his senior year of high school in Indiana. It elevated rarely but sharply, once during a high school basketball game and sometimes in college at Illinois. He had one operation after his sophomore season.

The second operation took place in March. It lasted four hours and was explained to Weatherford as minor, in as much as heart surgery can fit that description. Just before surgery, he signed a waiver that included a grim statistic: an 11 percent mortality rate.

Im like, so, if you flip a coin 10 times, one of those times Im going to die? Weatherford recalled.

The second operation allowed Weatherford to reach his potential as a punter, after uneven stints with New Orleans, Kansas City and Jacksonville.

Weatherford never lacked athleticism. He collected 13 varsity letters in high school, in football, basketball, soccer and track and field. He leapt 6 feet 10 inches in the high jump, sprang 24 feet in the long jump and sprinted the 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds. Nike even offered to sponsor him as a decathlete.

Weatherford met his wife on his college recruiting trip to Illinois. Her sister dated the punter who preceded Weatherford there. She had no idea of his athletic exploits, but she was attracted to his abdominal muscles. They have been together since.

She, too, watched at times when his heart beat out of his chest. She lived through the first surgery, and the second. This season, she said, feels like everything is falling into place hes worked so hard for so many years, and now were here, and its pretty awesome.

Teammates say he ranks among the Jets most athletic players, regardless of position. They described a confidence level that borders on the cocky swagger held more often by skill position players.

One year removed from the episode in Cincinnati, teammates even tease Weatherford about the day his heartbeat soared. According to wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery, they reference a scene in the movie Talladega Nights, reciting the line, Im all jacked up on Mountain Dew!

Despite the jokes, Weatherford called this his finest N.F.L. season. He credits the second operation for the improvement. It helped with his training in the off-season, allowing him to work out longer and recover faster. He entered the season stronger, more explosive. He sleeps better and wakes up more refreshed.

Against the Colts on Saturday, Weatherford believes he will start and finish the playoff game he missed last season. His teammates expect that, too. In detailing Weatherfords abilities, Cotchery unwittingly used a clich that fit Weatherfords story perfectly.

He said Weatherford has heart.


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Fan Shout
Martha Careful (22h) : I have always admired the pluck of the man
Zero2Cool (1-Feb) : I remember thinking he was going to be something good.
Mucky Tundra (1-Feb) : The Dualing Banjo!
Zero2Cool (31-Jan) : Jets have named Chris Banjo as their special teams coordinator, Former Packers player
Zero2Cool (31-Jan) : Jaguars have hired Anthony Campanile as their DC. We lose coach
Zero2Cool (30-Jan) : QB coach Sean Mannion
Zero2Cool (30-Jan) : DL Coach DeMarcus Covington
dfosterf (30-Jan) : from ft Belvoir, Quantico and points south. Somber reminder of this tragedy at Reagan Nat Airport
dfosterf (30-Jan) : So eerily quiet here in Alexandria. I live in the flight path of commercial craft coming from the south and west, plus the military craft
dfosterf (30-Jan) : So eeri
Mucky Tundra (30-Jan) : Now that's a thought, maybe they're looking at the college ranks? Maybe not head coaches but DC/assistant DCs with league experience?
beast (30-Jan) : College Coaches wouldn't want that publicly, as it would hurt recruiting and they might not get the job.
beast (30-Jan) : I thought they were supposed to publicly announce them, at least the NFL ones. Hafley was from college, so I believe different rules.
Mucky Tundra (30-Jan) : Who knows who they're interviewing? I mean, nobody knew about Hafley and then out of nowhere he was hired
beast (30-Jan) : I wonder what's taking so long with hiring a DL coach, 2 of the 3 known to interview have already been hired elsewhere.
Zero2Cool (27-Jan) : Packers coach Matt LaFleur hires Luke Getsy as senior assistant, extends Rich Bisaccia's deal
Zero2Cool (27-Jan) : Chiefs again huh? I guess another Super Bowl I'll be finding something else to do.
Mucky Tundra (27-Jan) : Chiefs Eagles...again...sigh
dfosterf (27-Jan) : Happy Birthday Dave!
Mucky Tundra (27-Jan) : happy birthday dhazer
TheKanataThrilla (26-Jan) : Exactly buck...Washington came up with the ball. It is just a shitty coincidence one week later
buckeyepackfan (26-Jan) : I forgot, they corrected the call a week later. Lol btw HAPPY BIRTHDAY dhazer!
buckeyepackfan (26-Jan) : That brings up the question, why wasn't Nixon down by contact? I think that was the point Kanata was making.
buckeyepackfan (26-Jan) : Turnovers rule, win the turnover battle, win the game.
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : well, he was
TheKanataThrilla (26-Jan) : Eagles down by contact on the fumble....fuck you NFL
Mucky Tundra (26-Jan) : I think this games over
beast (26-Jan) : Eagles sure get a lot of fumbles on kickoffs
Mucky Tundra (26-Jan) : This game looks too big for Washington
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : that being said, The Ravens are the Browns
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : Browns, Dolphins have longest AFC Championship droughts
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : As of today, Cowboys have longest NFC Championship drought,
beast (26-Jan) : Someone pointed out, with Raiders hiring Carroll, the division games between Carroll and Jim Harbaugh are back on (who can whine more games)
beast (26-Jan) : I'm confused, Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer? When Todd Monken, Joe Brady, Kellen Moore, Kliff Kingsbury and Zac Robinson are availab
Zero2Cool (25-Jan) : Any reason I'm catching a shot here about my intelligence?
Martha Careful (25-Jan) : thank you Mucky for sticking up for me
Martha Careful (25-Jan) : some of those people are smarter than you zero. However Pete Carroll is not
Mucky Tundra (24-Jan) : Rude!
beast (24-Jan) : Martha? 😋
Zero2Cool (24-Jan) : Raiders hired someone from the elderly home.
dfosterf (24-Jan) : I'm going with a combination of the two.
beast (24-Jan) : Either the Cowboys have no idea what they're doing, or they're targeting their former OC, currently the Eagles OC
Zero2Cool (23-Jan) : Fake news. Cowboys say no
Zero2Cool (23-Jan) : Mystery candidate in the Cowboys head coaching search believed to be Packers ST Coordinator Rich Bisaccia.
beast (23-Jan) : Also why do both NYC teams have absolutely horrible OL for over a decade?
beast (23-Jan) : I wonder why the Jets always hire defensive coaches to be head coach
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Still HC positions available out there. I wonder if Hafley pops up for one
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Trent Baalke is out as the Jaguars GM.
dfosterf (22-Jan) : Jeff Hafley would have been a better choice, fortunately they don't know that. Someone will figure that out next off season
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Aaron Glenn Planning To Take Jets HC Job
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