It won’t be easy for Demario Davis to watch this week’s New Orleans Saints game from the sidelines (or from the couch at home with his family). The five-time All-Pro linebacker’s 13-year streak of games played is coming to an end after he suffered a hamstring injury last week against the Philadelphia Eagles. So the Saints will kick off with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday without him for the first time since he signed with the team.
This will be the first game Davis has missed due to injury in his lengthy NFL career. He’s played 197 consecutive regular season games, starting the last 101 of them with the Saints. Sure, there’s a caveat — Davis was forced to sit out a 2021 game with the Miami Dolphins while in the league’s COVID-19 protocol — but he’s never been too injured to play before.
You have to wonder if Davis would be out there if it were up to him. But Saints head coach Dennis Allen said Friday the team wouldn’t risk turning something like a strained hamstring into something more severe by playing him.
“We’re not going to put anybody out there that we feel like we’re putting at risk of injuring themselves,” Allen said. “We had to do the same thing with Cam (Jordan) at one point in time. I think with all these things, you’re always just looking at, you know, what’s the proper thing to do, what’s the right thing to do for the player and for the team. That’s all that goes into any of those types of decision.”
So while it’s a shame Davis can’t play this Sunday, the hope is he can return sooner rather than later. In the meantime, Willie Gay Jr. is confident he can fill in at linebacker next to Pete Werner. The Saints need to learn to win without Davis eventually. He’s the NFL’s oldest linebacker and he won’t be around forever. Here’s a good opportunity for some guys he has mentored to show what they can do.
