Chad Jones: The Inspiration

Eli Manning will not be the only Giant going back to his hometown on Monday night when the Giants square off against the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome. New York Giants safety Chad Jones was drafted in 2010 in the third round. He had a reputation for being a fighter, a big hitter, and a threatening punt returner at LSU.

Two weeks after Jones signed a four year contract with the Giants, he was in a very serious car accident. This was not a DUI, it was just an accident. Reports say that his femur and ankle were both visible. Doctors were close to amputating his foot to save his life. Fortunately by some miracle Jones was able to survive and not lose his foot. Needless to say Jones' football career was in serious jeopardy.

But Jones was stubborn. His father said that he does not accept failure. Jones refused to use a wheel chair after the accident. He would rather struggle with the crutches. It could have been easy for Jones to give up on his football career and say he was in a tragic accident. There is no doubt that the temptation to quit was there for him. But Chad Jones continued to fight, in the hopes that one day he might be ready to re-join the New York Giants.

Now, only a year and a half later Jones is benching 325 lbs and running a 4'8" 40 time. He will be on the sidelines for the game on Monday night. This will be his first official game with the team and it will be in the city of New Orleans where he was born and raised. Giants cornerback Corey Webster also went to LSU and is a friend of Chad Jones. He refers to Chad as his little brother. There is no doubt that Corey will be giving every thing he has on Monday night for his little brother.

In fact there is no doubt that this whole Giants team will be playing for Chad on Monday night. Sure, the Giants may be motivated to win because they've had two consecutive losses and they need a turn around game, but that will not be the primary motivation. TEAM is the primary motivation. Sometimes you have to forget about all the fluff going into the game as far as where you stand in the division and what the game means and just play for your brothers. Last week our starting middle linebacker was Mark Herzlich, a cancer survivor, and now this week Chad Jones will be on the sidelines after a near death experience where doctors said he would probably never play football again. Players like Chad and Mark gave it everything they had for a chance to be a New York Giant.

That's what footballs all about folks. Playing for your team. Chad Jones and Mark Herzlich are both walking proof that miracles do exist. And now they both want nothing more than to be a New York Giant and to help this team in any way possible. That really tells you something. It is a tremendous honor to be a New York Giant. The fire and determination inside players like Chad Jones and Mark Herzlich is enough motivation to make anybody want to run full speed into a brick wall.

So Giants fans, instead of complaining about the past couple of weeks, why don't we live in the now and look ahead. We are a team. The Giants have a choice to do one of two things. They can come together as a team and show the world that they're gonna fight, or they can roll over and collapse. Ironically this is a very similar situation that both Chad Jones and Mark Herzlich were in for their own individual careers. They could have rolled over and quit, and no one would have thought anything of it.

But that is not what true blue New York Giants do! Herzlich has fought his way onto the starting roster, and Jones has made an incredible comeback to the team in only a year and a half. It's time for the Giants to ask themselves the same question that Jones and Herzlich did.

Are you going to give up? Or are you going to give it every ounce of strength you have to fight.

I have a feeling it will be the second one. Lets go Big Blue. Never quit. Never.