TAMPA, Fla. – Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Vita Vea has never given up hope of returning this season despite breaking her ankle in Week 5.
The 12th overall draft of the 2018 draft was activated last week in the injured reserve and, after two days of training and one last week, played 32 snapshots in the NFC Championship, in which the defense went fire Aaron Rodgers five times.
Next: in front of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs at the Super Bowl LV in Tampa at Raymond James Stadium.
“Viouslybviament, that night I was going down and out, but I think that night I said to myself,‘ If you just push this, push rehabilitation, you might have a chance, ’” Vea said, speaking Friday for first time since suffering the injury on October 8th.
“They told me I could have a small chance to do it, so I took advantage of what they were saying and I had it very much in mind. That’s what I stayed for.”
He said the injury caused about 20 seconds, which was the result of being rolled up by a teammate. He was still in a good mood, except for having to adjust to the crutches.
“I knew at the end of the day, I would be back,” Vea said. “I kept saying to myself, ‘I’ll be back.’
Defensive attack Ndamukong Suh set Vea up with his personal chef so he could follow a healthy diet and maintain his weight up to 347 pounds. He worked with the strength staff six days a week to maintain his strength and endurance. He still attended all the defense meetings and defensive meetings to stay closed to the game and think positive.
The Bucs main office and coaching staff had not planned to activate him outside the injured reserve, but coach Bruce Arians began to watch his workouts. He started running about four weeks ago. Arians told him, “We’ll keep winning and you’ll keep working, and it’ll go well.”
“This is always uplifting when you hear someone tell you this and obviously when the head coach tells you,” Vea said. “I think that was like our little thing, every time we saw each other, we’d look at each other like, ‘Keep winning, I’ll show up.’ And I ended up playing last weekend, which was a big blessing for me.”
The Bucs did not have Vea in their 27-24 loss to Chiefs in Week 12, where they struggled to get pressure on Muhammad and gave up chunk plays in high school. Vea’s size usually commands double teams, which frees up Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul – who got sacks of Rodgers 3.0 and 2.0 last week, respectively – to reach the quarterback.
“Life has a big impact,” Barrett said. “No doubt we were missing Vita. In the first sack, the quarterback tried to go where Vita was, but he couldn’t because Vita was there and he took it to me, and it came out perfectly. Not even a running defense – running defense, it’s a really important piece wherever Vita is, it’s going to take the gap that’s on both sides, and maybe one more gap, so we’re definitely missing it. “
The Chiefs have had to make a major offensive mix this season, with their last setback in losing left-back Eric Fisher due to an Achilles tendon rupture in the AFC Championship. They will probably also be left without right-back Mitchell Schwartz, who is still recovering from a back injury, not to mention the loss of left guard Kelechi Osemele due to tendon fractures in both knees, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang have chosen not to participate year-round due to concerns about COVID-19.