Clark Wade/IndyStar
INDIANAPOLIS – The unrelenting back pain was one thing, but the throbbing in his extremities, and in places he couldn’t explain, was too much.
Nevertheless, Trent Cole kept his head down and suffered in silence. Pain and NFL football are inseparable. You cannot, he figured, have one without the other.
That is, until Cole reached the point at which he could no longer persevere. Out of options, the Colts outside linebacker had surgery to repair an intensely-painful bulging disc, accepting the potential negative outcomes associated with the decision.