MintBaconDrivel
11 years ago

GREEN BAY — Jerry Fontenot isn't a doctor, nor does he play one in the hallway outside the Green Bay Packers locker room. What the Packers tight ends coach is, however, is a father, Jermichael Finley's position coach and a guy who played 16 NFL seasons and can remember two other instances like the one he saw on Sunday, when Finley suffered a neck injury during the Packers' victory over the Cleveland Browns and left Lambeau Field in an ambulance.

"Unfortunately those are kind of images that stick with you," Fontenot said Thursday, the same day that Finley was able to go home from a local hospital. "In my draft class in '89, there were two guys that had neck injuries. One of them, Dennis Byrd, was playing with the Jets. The other one was Mike Utley, an offensive lineman in Detroit. Unfortunately, you get visions of injuries like that occurring and it's always tough to see. Whenever it's one of the guys in your family, it's really hard."

Fontenot, who had previously coached from upstairs in the coaches' box but moved down to the field this season, didn't realize the severity of Finley's injury initially, saying he instead saw Finley catch the ball, get hit and then saw the ball come out.

"That's kind of what caught my focus was the ball trickling out at the very end," said Fontenot, who is preparing Andrew Quarless, Brandon Bostick and Jake Stoneburner for Sunday's game at Minnesota. "The next thing I noticed was Andrew over there next to him, and I could tell something was wrong. Obviously from there, it was a little bit surreal.

"I went out on to the field at some point to see how he was, and by that point they had already taken off his facemask, so I knew it probably wasn't good. Again, I just tried to console him as best I could in that moment. Anybody that knows Jermichael, he's very competitive and extremely enthusiastic person, and he was a little shaken by the whole thing."

Fontenot said he simply watched as the medical staff tended to Finley and evaluated him. He and head coach Mike McCarthy went to see Finley in the hospital with other Packers staffers while Finley was still in the intensive care unit.

"I drove over because I live not far from there, (and) I just happened to bump into Mike when I was walking up. And then there were some other people in the organization that had gone there with his wife, Courtney, and were kind of holding her hand through the process as well," Fontenot said. "Whenever you have an injury of that sort, the first thing you really care about is the person being able to live a long and healthy life, because (you don't know) the severity of it (when) it happened. I think after that, after we get the information at least, we know what we're dealing with and then we can start to move forward.

"I think we're in a good place now. We're supporting him all the best that we can. Meanwhile, we're going to go out there, do our best for him (on Sunday night against the Vikings), and if and when he's ready to come back, we'll be ready to take him back in."

Quarless and Bostick both said after visiting Finley in the hospital that Finley is hoping to play football again. Finley let his fans know that he was home from the hospital in a Tweet on Thursday afternoon.

Jason Wilde  wrote:


Fan Shout
Zero2Cool (5h) : 49ers might be down their QB, DL, TE and LT?
packerfanoutwest (19h) : Jaire Alexander says he has a torn PCL
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : Even with the context it's ... what?
Mucky Tundra (20-Nov) : Matt LaFleur without context: “I don’t wanna pat you on the butt and you poop in my hand.”
beast (20-Nov) : We brought in a former Packers OL coach to help evaluate OL as a scout
beast (20-Nov) : Jets have been pretty good at picking DL
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : He landed good players thanks to high draft slot. He isn't good.
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : He can shove his knowledge up his ass. He knows nothing.
beast (20-Nov) : More knowledge, just like bring in the Jets head coach
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : What? Why? Huh?
beast (19-Nov) : I wonder if the Packers might to try to bring Douglas in through Milt Hendrickson/Ravens connections
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : The Jets fired Joe Douglas, per sources
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : Jets are a mess......
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Pretty sure Jets fired their scouting staff and just pluck former Packers.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Jets sign Anders Carlson to their 53.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : When you cycle the weeks, the total over remains for season. But you get your W/L for that selected week. Confusing.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the total and percentage are the same as the previous weeks
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the total and percentage are the same as the previous weeks
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the totals are accurate..nrvrtmind
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : I don't follow what you are saying. The totals are not the same as last week.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : ok so then wht are the totals the same as last week?
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : NFL Pick'em is auto updated when NFL Scores tab is clicked
Martha Careful (19-Nov) : The offense was OK. Let's not forget the Bear defense is very very good.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : Who updates the leaderboard on NFLPickem?
beast (19-Nov) : Has the Packers offense been worse since the former Jets coach joined the Packers?
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Offense gets his ass in gear, this could be good.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Backup QB helped with three wins. Special Teams contributed to three wins.
bboystyle (18-Nov) : Lions played outside thats why. They scored 16 and 17 in the only 2 outside games this year
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : The rest of the NFL is catching up to Packers ... kicking is an issue throughout league
packerfanoutwest (18-Nov) : Packers DL Kenny Clark: We knew 'we were going to block' Bears' game-winning field goal attempt
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : Lions seem to be throttling everyone, but only (only) got 24 lol maybe the rain is why
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : Packers vs Lions game doesn't seem so bad.
beast (18-Nov) : Dennis Green "They are what we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!"
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : comment of the day Z2Cool "Bears better than we want to admit. Packers worse than we think. It's facts."
Mucky Tundra (17-Nov) : my worst case scenario: Bears fix their oline and get a coach like Johnson from the Lions and his scheme
Zero2Cool (17-Nov) : Bears get OL fixed amd we might have a problem
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : Pretty sure they already have scouting reports on guys who aren't even starting for their college team. The future is now for me.
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : I tend to let Gute and Co. Worry about the future.
beast (17-Nov) : That's great news and Packers need to keep upgrading their OL, DL and DBs this off-season, so missing one guy doesn't kill them
beast (17-Nov) : That's great news and Packers need to keep upgrading their OL, DL and DBs this off-season, so missing one guy doesn't kill them
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : Jaire and Evans Williams are both ACTIVE! Good news.
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : The badgers really need to change the whole offensive scheme. No draws no screens plus the quarterback is marginal
Cheesey (17-Nov) : If the Badgers had a decent QB, they would have won. The guy can't hit a wide open receiver
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : chop block
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : there was a very questionable job Block call that upon viewing replay was very borderline
beast (17-Nov) : How so? (I didn't watch)
Zero2Cool (17-Nov) : Badgers got hosed vs Oregon
packerfanoutwest (16-Nov) : damn,he hasn't played since week 2
Mucky Tundra (15-Nov) : poor guy can't catch a break
wpr (15-Nov) : wow. That three different things for the kid.
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