Panthers’ Davis remains set to play in Super Bowl despite broken arm

There’s no counting how many times Thomas Davis has been asked about his broken forearm this week and his plans to play through the injury, but if there is one quality the Carolina Panthers’ veteran linebacker has embodied in his career it’s patience.

So the man who has come back from three – three – ACL tears in his career took the repetition in stride Thursday and answered the questions once more.

Yes, he says, he’s going to play Sunday when the Panthers meet the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50, and yes he’s going to be able to do that with a broken arm that was surgically repaired with a plate and screws less than two weeks ago.

“It’s still fine. It still feels good,” Davis said during the team’s final media session leading up to the game. “[There’s] definitely a mental aspect of it. You go through a lot when you’re coming back from a broken arm. I just had surgery less than two weeks ago, and it’s a pain threshold that you have to deal with and I’ve been dealing with it. When it comes down to being able to play versus not being able to play and it being a pain tolerance thing, I’m going to be in there every time.”

Davis, one of the leaders of the Panthers’ defense and locker room in general, broke his right arm during the second quarter of the team’s 49-15 win over Arizona in the NFC Championship Game two Sundays ago, sustaining the injury when he collided colliding with Cardinals tight end Darren Fells. He had surgery the following day.

It was a cringe-worthy sight for Carolina fans who know what Davis has already overcome in his career to have a chance at playing on the game’s biggest stage, but he was quick to let everyone know he was not going to miss the final round of this journey with his teammates.

“It was a struggle when I initially received the news, but when they told me that we could do surgery on it and you could come back, the emotions changed instantly,” Davis recalled Thursday. “It was, OK, bam, now I’ve got to center all my attention, all my focus on making sure that I’m rehabbing and I’m ready to go.”

Panthers coach Ron Rivera said earlier this week as Davis returned to the field that “he seems to be responding very nicely to it,” and was able to weather the challenge of delivering impact with the arm.

He punctuated that update by adding, “Again, like I said, I don’t doubt Thomas.”

In his update Thursday, Davis said he’s gone through full practices this week with no limitations.

“Everything that everybody else has been doing the last couple of days, I’ve been doing,” he said.

He’s been asked all week about comparisons to former Los Angeles Rams defensive end Jack Youngblood, who famously played through the entire 1979 playoffs and Super Bowl XIV with a fractured left fibula.

Youngblood finished out a Hall of Fame career, but decades later he is still best known for that gritty performance and as an answer to a good NFL trivia question. Davis doesn’t think this is the same deal.

“When you think about a guy that was able to go out and play a football game with a broken leg, that’s way different than playing with a broken arm. I feel [that’s] way harder,” Davis said.

Says the guy who has his own unparalleled story of toughness.

Davis first tore the ACL in his right knee during the 2009 season. He did it again during the offseason in 2010. And then a third time early in the 2011 season – all in the same knee.

Yet he’s still playing at 32-years-old, the only guy in NFL history to return from three ACL tears and resume his career.

So, no one within the Panthers locker room is surprised that a freshly repaired broken arm has been unable sideline Davis this week.

“He’s been one of the best guys for me since I got here. What he’s been through, what he’s going through right now, that’s who Thomas is – a guy that’s going to fight, he’s never going to quit,” fellow linebacker Luke Kuechly said. “He understands that the team is the most important thing and he takes a lot of pride in what he does, his toughness and his ability to come back. So it’s awesome and I have a ton of respect for him.”

Said Panthers offensive lineman Trai Turner: “That’s not a surprise; it’s Thomas-like. Thomas Davis is just an animal.”

Davis ranked second on the Panthers with 105 total tackles during the regular season, third with 5.5 sacks and led the team with four caused fumbles while earning first-team All-Pro honors for the first time in his career. It simply wouldn’t seem right if he wasn’t on the field Sunday as Carolina looks to close out a potential 18-1 season and win the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

But if this were the regular season how long would such an injury cost him?

“I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to say. I don’t know what the timetable would be for an injury like this because I didn’t even ask. I didn’t want to know,” Davis said. “It was just all about knowing that I had two weeks to get ready for this game. That was the whole mindset, to make sure I was ready to go in two weeks.”

So much of Davis’ story as a football player has been about overcoming injury with those three ACL tears, it seems cruelly coincidental that as he’s now under the biggest spotlight of career he’s spent the whole week talking about yet another serious injury.

That’s fine, though, he says.

“Hey, it’s going to only make the story that much better when it’s all said and done,” he said.

This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 8:15 PM with the headline "Panthers’ Davis remains set to play in Super Bowl despite broken arm."