SANTA CLARA — Charles Woodson understands what Brock Purdy is going through. The term “turf toe” may sound innocuous, but it can can be debilitating and painful.
According to the American Academy of Orthopedic surgeons, turf toe is “a sprain of the main joint of the big toe. The injury happens when the toe is forcibly bent up into hyperextension, such as when pushing off into a sprint and having the toe get stuck flat on the ground.”
Woodson just knew that it hurt but wasn’t overly concerned.
“We were playing Denver, and I went to plant and thought, `Aw, man, that’s different,’” Woodson said Friday in a phone interview. “I kind of hobbled around and did what I could to finish the game. I thought the same thing Brock probably thought — my toe would be fine.”
It wasn’t.
It was Woodson’s fourth season in what would be a 17-year Hall of Fame career for the Raiders and Green Bay Packers and it turned out to be an endless cycle of treatment and pain management. Woodson didn’t miss a game but was a spectator at practice.
It happened on Nov. 5 in a 38-28 win over Denver. Woodson played right to the bitter end, even forcing an infamous “incomplete pass” from Tom Brady in a driving snow in a 16-13 overtime loss to New England.
“It seemed like almost a year,” Woodson said. “Right up to the Tuck Rule game, to add insult to injury.”
Woodson, now a Fox Sports analyst, chose to play on Sundays with a pain-killing injection and then start the whole process of icing and electrical stimulation treatments over again until the following Sunday. He was often in a protective boot.
Charles Woodson was playing with turf toe when he knocked the ball from Tom Brady in the `Tuck Rule’ Game . A.P. Photo
Purdy will miss his fourth straight game and fifth overall in hopes of healing completely rather than making it a painful weekly ordeal with minimal practice time.
“The only thing that could heal it was time,” Woodson said. “And during the season I didn’t have any time. I guess I’m kind of more old school and it was like, ‘Man, I can’t miss the game because my toe hurts.’ I thought people would look at me crazy. So I just took the shot and the pain for that 3 ½ hours. I never really had a thought of not playing.”
As a quarterback, Purdy needs to practice, which he has been doing in a limited fashion.
“For him being the captain of the ship and running the offense, you need to have timing with your receivers and your play-fakes and stuff down,” Woodson said. “That makes it more difficult.”
Purdy was injured originally in a 17-13 win over Seattle on Sept. 7. Mac Jones played the next two games, and Purdy went wire-to-wire in a 26-21 loss to Jacksonville on Sept. 28. He threw two interceptions and some of his passes sailed high. Purdy said afterward he couldn’t be sure if the injury to his right big toe — on his drive leg — was the reason.
Regardless, it was too much, too soon. A calculated risk gone wrong. Purdy woke up the next morning in pain and hasn’t played since, with Jones making his fourth consecutive start Sunday when the 49ers (5-2) visit the Houston Texans (2-4).
If the 49ers had known it would take this long, Purdy would have been put on injured reserve with a minimum four-game absence. Instead, he’s remained on the roster throughout. He’s walking fine and hasn’t been seen in a boot.
The good news is it isn’t as serious as the case of turf toe sustained by Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow, who required surgery and will be out until mid-December.
Purdy last spoke to the media on Sept. 30, although he did have a conversation with NBC sideline reporter Melissa Stark when the 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons. Stark reported Purdy called the injury “annoying” and that he’d never dealt with an injury that lingered so long.
Former 49ers quarterback Steve Young outlined his concern during his weekly spot on KNBR-680.
“The fact that it’s just dragging on has us all pretty worried,” Young said. “Because it’s just one of those things that even if it starts to feel better and then you go out again, then it becomes a chronic thing. Because the problem is once you don’t heal it the first time the body wants it to heal and get healthy. You hurt it again. The ability to get the body to heal appropriately kind of gets diminished.”
Coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have remained tight-lipped and expressed optimism that Purdy is improving steadily. He’s even making the trip to Houston after being left behind for an Oct. 12 date in Tampa Bay.
“I understand what Steve’s saying, that it’s worrisome,” Lynch said. “What I can tell you is that we’ve gotten so many opinions on this thing and it’s been pretty consistent. So he’s doing a really good job. We’re taking the appropriate measures. And what I can tell you is it gets better each week, each day. I do think we’re getting closer to him returning, but a hard timeline, because it’s kind of a feel thing so it’s still (to be determined). This last week in particular I think we made some progress.”
Brock Purdy (13) needs to be able to scramble and throw on the run to be an effective quarterback for the 49ers. Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group
With mobility a big part of Purdy’s game, the 49ers are holding out for something approaching 100 percent before putting him back on the field. Both the Houston and New York Giants game on Nov. 2 are on artificial surface, which is less forgiving than grass, although both Purdy and Shanahan have said that will play no part in the decision to put him in a game.
“I think Brock knows he plays a certain way, and you can’t change the way you play, and he’s got to be right to play that way,” Lynch said. “We’re trusting Brock, we’re trusting the doctors. We’ll make a good decision on it and that’s why it’s taken some time.”
Tight end George Kittle said this week on the “No Contest” wrestling podcast there’s little sense in Purdy playing if he’s not at full strength.
“I just don’t want him to come back too soon, and then the same thing happens like when he played against Jacksonville, and then he’s out for a couple more weeks, because Brock’s a phenomenal football player that is the best orchestrator of this offense that I’ve ever seen,” Kittle said. “I just want him to be at 100 percent before he tries to take the field again. And I think he’s aware of that, and I think he’s going to do a good job with his recovery, and he’ll come back when he feels like he’s ready.”
If Purdy is getting overly frustrated, he’s not letting it show according to Jones.
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“I don’t see him being a guy that changes a lot,” Jones said. “Just comes to work and does his thing and he’s been a great help to me.”
If anything, Purdy’s condition sheds some light on the seriousness of turf toe.
“It involves the ligaments, it involves the joint, and when you walk, the last thing that’s going to come off the ground are your big toes,” Woodson said. “It doesn’t sound like much, but when that pain is shooting through every time you plant, it’s going to affect you. When you have it, trust me, you know it.”
