Carolina Panthers kicker Graham Gano was experiencing some pain in the heel of his plant foot after last week’s win over the San Diego Chargers, and the medical staff had a look. We suspect the diagnosis wasn’t what Gano expected to hear.
“They termed [the injury] as a ‘ballerina thing,’” said Panthers head coach, getting a good laugh out of it, per the Charlotte Observer. “From the ballerinas, you know, they use their plant foot. Graham is gonna kill me for having said that. But when I asked what happened, that’s the description I got.”
Make all the jokes you want about kickers being real football players, but this sounds like a painful thing. But if it hurt Gano during Sunday’s 28-16 win at San Diego, it didn’t show — he was 4-for-4 on FG tries, including a 45-yarder.
Gano actually wasn’t that upset with his coach’s description and found the humor in it — and he apparently plans to kick on Monday night against the Washington Redskins, lest anyone questions his toughness.
For those that have followed the NFL for the past decade, this is likely the first time you’ve heard the term. And with fantasy football playoffs going on now, we wanted to pass on this rather bizarre-sounding injury.