‘Go out there and play’: Inside the phone call that convinced Michael Pittman Jr. to play

NASHVILLE – By the time Michael Pittman Jr. saw the ball leave Joe Flacco’s hands and float into the air on third down, he knew that what was about to come was the death wish he signed up for.

His lower back was without extension, having thrown it out in a loss to the Jaguars. But it was still attached to a 6-foot-4 frame, and that could still be a weapon against a 6-foot-1 cornerback positioned behind him.

So he left his feet early, extended his wing span, felt a tackle begin to form on his lower back and determined that the only way this manic pursuit could be anything short of insane was with a single outcome.

“I had to go up there and get it,” Pittman said.

As the brown leather greeted the white tips of his gloves, he felt L’Jarius Sneed’s shoulder pads drive into the stripped gears of his back.

All of his past training, those days of 1-on-1’s with his dad and brother in the park, the insults from kids on the playground and the psychotic energy he felt whenever he slipped into his football pads would have to turn a vicious hit into an antidote that makes him alive and whole.

Pittman swallowed the ball into his chest in the end zone like he was born to reel it in.

This would go on to be the game-winning touchdown in a 20-17 AFC South dogfight over the Titans. It’s a win that pulls these injury-riddled Colts to 3-3 and feeling a little like he did when that ball went into the air.

Like they’ve got a shot.

'One of the toughest players I've played with'

The week that tested everything Pittman has ever built in his life started in a cramped locker room in Jacksonville, when he stared down a defeat and a losing record and something potentially more concerning than that.

He needed an MRI. The back issue from earlier this season had flared up again, and this one felt worse than ever before.

The MRI confirmed those fears. His lower back was in rough shape, to the point where his high-volume, yards-after-catch style wasn’t going to be in the cards. Extending for a football was a challenge.

The Colts had 12 games to go, with no bye week until December.

By the middle of the week, the Colts were planning to play without him – not just against the Titans but for up to three more games after that. ESPN’s Adam Schefter was the first to report that Pittman was going to miss games, which IndyStar and others confirmed.

“I think part of him is probably trying to prove a point,” said quarterback Joe Flacco, a former Super Bowl MVP now in his 17 ^th season. “… He's got to be one of the toughest players I’ve played with.”

Pittman consulted many for advice, including one phone call to the man who has shaped his life and football career the most.

For an hour, Michael Pittman Jr. and Michael Pittman Sr. had what the father called a “heart to heart conversation.”

“First and foremost, as a father, I’m concerned for my son’s long-term health when it comes to his injuries. If it can affect his long-term health after he retires, I told him, ‘Son, I really think you should sit out,’” Pittman Sr. said.

The younger Pittman told him that wasn’t the concern. This injury was painful and debilitating in ways, but the risk of reaggravation wasn’t high.

The questions were about how to rehab it in order to reach the full extent of his 6-foot-4 frame and what it would feel like to go through a game in this shape.

“I told him, ‘Son, go out there and play,’” Pittman Sr. said. “'Your team needs you out there, and you can bring so much to the table.’”

The Colts needed an offensive playmaker with All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor out with a high ankle sprain. But they were also planning to hold Anthony Richardson back due to an oblique injury, despite his desire to play, because they feared what a young player in a compromised state would become.

Ultimately, this was about more than winning a game against the Titans.

This was about that Pittman name, the one Michael Sr. once gained from a father who spent 28 years as a Naval officer before he passed it to a son who so wanted to play football like his father that he raged when he had to move from running back to wide receiver.

It’s the name Pittman Jr. just passed to his own son this spring, shortly after he signed a three-year extension worth $70 million to create generational wealth for them.

He used to wait for that name to come sprinting out of a tunnel at Buccaneers games as his father played through a cracked sternum, an AC joint sprain, an ankle sprain and plenty more as a running back who lasted for 11 years in the NFL, or the entirety of Pittman Jr.’s elementary school life.

"He's been there and done that. He's played through a lot of things," Pittman Jr. said. "So I just took his advice."

One day back during his father's playing days, the two went fishing together, and a freak accident happened with the line. Pittman Sr. cut his finger so badly it began to gush with blood.

He wrapped it tightly in paper towel so he could keep on fishing with his son for the day.

The next day, he went into an NFL facility to get it stitched back up.

But as tough as the Pittmans can be with themselves and others, they, too, can have a moment when they can no longer ignore the fear.

'If Pitt can play, why can't I?'

Michael Pittman Sr. felt his heart drop to the floor.

It was nine games ago, in December of last season, when he was watching a game on TV between the Colts and the Steelers. His son laid his 6-foot-4 body out flat like a limo to reel in a pass from Gardner Minshew, only to collide into Damontae Kazee’s helmet like a race car plunging into a brick wall.

For the first time, Pittman Jr. took a hit he couldn’t get up from.

“My heart sunk to my stomach," Pittman Sr. said, "because I thought my child was paralyzed.

"Really, I had an out-of-body experience.”

That hit, which earned Kazee a suspension for the remainder of the season, brought forth the only game Pittman Jr. has missed the past four seasons. He suffered a brain injury with recurring symptoms and a neck issue so numbing that he couldn’t run or lift his right arm for the next week.

When the team plane landed in Atlanta and Pittman Jr. called his wife, Kianna, she told him he didn’t sound like himself.

Suddenly, the future of a family weighed in the balance, and that's when Pittman Jr. finally agreed to miss a game.

It is from that whiplash that a severe lower-back injury can be viewed in mere physical terms. This is the painful cost of admission to the dreams he built with his father and younger brother in a neighborhood park.

“Michael got a great new contract. Most players, not all, but most players would say, ‘No, this injury is too bad. I’m going to take the day off and allow myself to heal,’” Pittman Sr. said.

“He understands what it takes to be at the level he wants to be the captain of the team, a Pro Bowl type of player who takes his team to the playoffs. … I can’t be more proud of him. I really can’t.”

Pittman is still mortal, as last year’s hit from Kazee brought to light.

Nobody is quite sure how long he can keep this latest pursuit up.

He hasn't been himself physically this season, starting with a quad bruise on the first series of the year and the back issues that followed. Through six games, he's averaging 45.5 yards per game, just more than half of last season's average and his lowest in a season since his rookie year in 2018.

On Sunday, he had just one catch for nine yards entering the fourth quarter. His two third-down receptions came with more shots to a back he now has to manage every day.

With no bye week until December, a trip to injured reserve at some point is still on the table.

"I just feel like we have so much left that we're playing for," Pittman said. "As long as it's still out there, I'm going to keep going."

Through two catches on Sunday, Pittman Jr. helped deliver a divisional win and something else for a first-year captain.

“When you see what he’s willing to play through," wide receiver Josh Downs said, "it sends a message to everybody."

Downs was questioning whether he could play due to a toe injury after last week's loss in Jacksonville. After two practices off, he returned Friday and then caught seven passes for 66 yards and a touchdown against the Titans.

“You think, If Pitt can play, why can’t I?” Downs said.

His back is hurting he’s and turning himself into a meat shield. He's a shell of his normal self but still noticeably there, like a light flickering in the dark.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘Go out there and play’: Inside the phone call that convinced Michael Pittman Jr. to play