The last time we saw Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson at Arrowhead Stadium was a wrenching spectacle:
He seemingly had spontaneously crumpled to the turf, untouched, in the 2014 season opener against Tennessee.
If it was a shock to see, nothing less than shock coursed through Johnson, whose face turned grim but stoic as he remembers feeling “just numb and quiet.”
“I wasn’t saying, ‘Aw, man,’ and just yelling or going crazy,” he said. “I just was like, ‘Wow, really, first game of the season?’ ”
Johnson instantly figured it was an Achilles tendon injury. But as he removed his helmet, on his back in agony waiting for medical attention, he could wiggle his foot.