In this testosterone driven sport, where separated shoulders and broken bones are the occupational equivalent of paper cuts, playing through pain is required. Surgical scars are a status symbol. The toe isn't. Calvin Hill knows. The former Cowboys' running back missed a total of six games over the course of his career with a separated sesamoid, the bony surface that strengthens the tendons of the big toe.
People minimize it because they say it's just a toe.
You start to get caught up in what other people say. They will say, 'It's just a toe. Then you doubt yourself. I was almost relieved when I found out it was fractured. Sanders echoes those feelings.