WESTFIELD — A couple of torn knee ligaments weren’t enough to keep Brian Mason away from the practice field.
The Colts special teams coordinator was on the field Saturday, coaching the special teams at practice, the first Indianapolis practice since he suffered multiple torn ligaments on the final play of the team’s preseason opener.
Mason did not even use crutches, a knee scooter or a golf cart at Saturday’s practice. When the Colts lined up to stretch at the start of Saturday’s practice, Mason was there, limping between the rows of players, a heavy brace covering his leg from thigh to shin.
Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, no stranger to playing through pain himself, had one word for his special teams coordinator.
“Dawg,” Buckner said with a smile.
Buckner pointed out that Mason already proved his toughness Thursday night.
Mason was clearly in pain when he went down on the sideline, and as the rest of the team headed for the locker room around him, the Colts special teams coordinator was offered an opportunity to get off the field and into the locker room easy.
“They brought the cart out for him,” Buckner said. “He got up and he was like, ‘No, I’m walking it off.’”
Mason, the team’s fourth-year coordinator, probably could have skipped Saturday’s practice, or at least watched it from the sideline with his foot propped up, resting his knee.
He stayed on his feet instead.
“Now he’s got some stuff he can talk about to the guys when they have meetings,” Buckner joked. “He can tell ‘em, ‘Oh, you’ve got a sore neck, a sore leg? Get up.’ … All jokes aside, I’m glad he’s OK.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Colts coordinator Brian Mason coaches days after tearing knee ligaments