Zach Miller on leg injury: ‘I just remember telling doc, “Save my leg, please.”‘

Chicago Bears tight end Zach Miller speaks for the first time since suffering his leg injury against the New Orleans Saints.

On Oct. 29, the Chicago Bears played the New Orleans Saints. In that game, Bears tight end Zach Miller suffered a gruesome leg injury that put him out for the remainder of the NFL season.  The injury occurred after Miller caught a 25-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter against the Saints.

The injury put Miller in the hospital for 23 days, while hospital staff worked on Miller’s injuries. He tore all four of the ligaments in his left knee and a dislocated patella. Miller gave his first candid interview on the injury and his insight into his thoughts during that night.

"Miller said he remembers the pop in his leg, the instinct to hold on to the football as long as he could after making the play in the end zone and then the realization something was terribly wrong. He tore the popliteal artery and needed urgent vascular surgery to save his leg.“I knew it was pretty severe,” Miller said. “But I wasn’t in pain. I was actually calm. When Nate (Breske), our head trainer, got there, I remember looking at him, I was grabbing my facemask, and I told him, I said, ‘My knee is gone, bro.’ I could tell something was different.”"

Miller also described the reaction he gave to the doctor on his leg status.

"“I just remember telling the doc, ‘Save my leg, please.'”"

Next: Top 25 Super Bowl moments of all-time

With the injury to Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier on the minds of many, Miller’s injury helps put health for football players at a premium  and in perspective. The fact that Miller had to plead for the doctor to save his leg, offers a scary reality for NFL players.