Green Bay — Of the many cruelties ascribed to the torn anterior cruciate ligament that ended Jordy Nelson's season — that it happened in an exhibition game, that it was a non-contact injury, that it occurred on a catch-and-turn motion he has made "a gazillion times" in his career — perhaps the most difficult to acknowledge was the lack of searing pain.
He jumped, landed, turned, tore and jogged to the sideline. The pain simmered, and the Green Bay Packers receiver assumed he was more or less fine.
"If it was a regular season game, I felt like I would have walked it off and then would have tried running on the sideline to see what would happen," Nelson said.