FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The feeling is coming back. It’s not there yet but it’s getting closer. Mark Herzlich can taste it.
Late in the fourth quarter of a game that won’t be remembered but Herzlich may never forget, the Giants’ second- and third-stringers were protecting an 18-17 lead and Herzlich was applying pressure, finally dropping Ryan Mallett for a nine-yard sack.
Herzlich may have downplayed the moment — “He fell into my lap” — but he knew after all he’s been through he’s getting back to what he once was.
Cancer and football don’t mix but to hell with that, Herzlich says, he’s beat one and won’t be denied the other.
“It’s starting to feel natural,” the rookie linebacker looking for a job with the Giants said last night. “For a while last season it was kind of like, ‘All right, my brain thinks I can get there but my body doesn’t feel like it.’ Now it’s all coming together.”
It’s also, if not a miracle, a story still getting written that can make the hardest hearts skip a beat because inspiration does that to one’s soul. Few if any undrafted free agents attract the sort of notice that Herzlich did, gaining national attention when the Giants picked him up. The reports didn’t vary much: Giants pick up cancer survivor.
“Obviously it’s well-documented, his illness,” general manager Jerry Reese said.
Well-documented, but worth repeating. Herzlich missed the entire 2009 season at Boston College after he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of cancer that attacks bones.
If he never plays a down in the NFL, last night represented a brilliant victory for Herzlich, who returned to his college roots as the Giants beat the Patriots in the preseason finale at Gillette Stadium. He celebrated his 24th birthday alive and healthy, and what could be better than that?
“Some of the guys know, wished me a happy birthday,” Herzlich said. “I’ll celebrate after I make the roster. Hopefully by Sunday I’ll still have New York Giants on my resume.”
Staying around won’t be easy. Another undrafted rookie linebacker, Spencer Paysinger, started as the Giants went exclusively with backups. Two other rookies, Greg Jones and Jacquian Williams, got on the field on defense before Herzlich; Williams was a terror with three sacks. In the cruel reality of football, Clint Sintim, went down in the third quarter with a season-ending right knee injury.
That roster spot might now belong to Herzlich, a sinister irony. When Herzlich was receiving cancer treatments, he often spoke with Sintim, then a linebacker at Virginia.
“I feel really badly for him,” Herzlich said. “I told him we’ve been through worse, man. It’s all about coming back and keeping your mind on the goal.”
No one knows comebacks better than Herzlich. He was such a force in 2008 as a junior that he was named ACC Defensive Player of the Year, a first-round pick in waiting.
Shortly after that season, though, Herzlich began experiencing pain in his left leg so severe that he would awaken screaming in agony. Tests in May 2009 revealed a malignant tumor in his left femur.
Doctors gave him a 70 percent chance of surviving; he was told his chances of ever playing again were zero percent.
Chemotherapy and radiation eradicated the tumor but not before inflicting severe damage. A 12-inch titanium rod was permanently inserted to stabilize the left leg.
After sitting out the 2009 season, Herzlich last year started 13 games. But he couldn’t be the player he was before, not so soon after such a physical trauma, perhaps not ever.
“He was basically a shell of himself,” said Reese, who admitted “It’s the human part of it. You root for the guy.”
Last night was Herzlich’s last chance to make an impression. Roster cut-down from 85 to 80 for the Giants comes today, from 80 to 53 tomorrow. He says the next day or so will be “nerve-wracking” and believes he should stick because “I think I can help them win, it’s as simple as that.”
Before the game, Reese said “Tonight is a big night for him. It’s a big night. It’s the Super Bowl for some guys.”
Mark Herzlich won his Super Bowl the day that last insidious cancer cell left his body. Whatever comes next is the easy part.