Sam Shields: '100 percent' back from bizarre knee injury

GREEN BAY – Sam Shields is back to 100 percent, but the Green Bay Packers cornerback still isn’t quite sure what happened inside his left knee that caused damage to his patellar tendon.

In fact, he may never know.

Shields injured his knee during the Packers’ Oct. 12 victory at Miami, a game in which Shields had a first-half interception. But something felt strange in his knee before the second half started, and suddenly, he was lying on the turf before the Dolphins’ second drive of the third quarter even began. The injury caused Shields to miss the Packers’ Oct. 19 win over Carolina and their Oct. 26 pre-bye loss at New Orleans.

“I was coming out of halftime, and I did my usual warmup. Went out there, felt a pinch in my knee. I was like, this doesn’t feel right,” Shields recalled in the Packers’ locker room Thursday afternoon, when he pronounced himself ready to go for Sunday night’s game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. “I tried to take off again, and it was still there.”

Shields played through the awkward feeling on the opening series, but as he trotted out to his spot for Miami’s next possession and he felt the pinching in his knee again, he realized there might be something seriously wrong. After considering playing through it, he decided the smarter move was to go down before the Dolphins snapped the ball.

“I thought about that in that quick second. Like, ‘[Expletive] it.’ And then I said, ‘Nah,’” Shields said. “So I just went down.”

As odd as his knee felt that day, Shields says it now feels perfectly normal. The official diagnosis he received was of a strained patellar tendon, he said.

“I’m feeling goooood. No pain, no nothing,” he said. “It’s a good thing it wasn’t serious, like a surgery injury. It was good with the bye. That helped me a lot. Even before the bye, it was getting better.”

Shields worked out before the loss to the Saints, a game for which he was listed as doubtful. Had the Packers played last week, he might have been able to go.

“I was getting there. I just went out there pregame, got a little warmup, see where I was. And I actually felt good that day,” Shields said. “Going into the bye, they tested me and I ran good, and coming off getting that more rest, it definitely felt good. And now I feel really good.”


(espn.com)