Speaking to reporters in the locker room Thursday with his right arm in a sling after having surgery Tuesday, Florence said he was in a lot of pain but the adrenaline of playing on Sunday night kicked in and helped him get through the last two quarters with a broken arm.
“I didn’t come here to sit on the bench and collect a check,” he said. “I came here to make a difference. If I can still walk then I can still play, that’s how I figured it.
“You know how you get a thigh bruise and it’s just a real deep bruise and you can’t really shake the pain? That’s how this felt. It felt like I got a knee to my forearm. I figured it would get better after the game. It just never went away.”
Florence was designated Reserve/Injured with the chance to return to game action after eight weeks. That would give the Lions a chance to have Florence back for the stretch run of the regular season.
“As soon as I woke up from surgery I called Martin (Mayhew) and let him know that everything's good and I’m ready to roll,” Florence said.
“I’m glad they changed that rule. It just worked out that nobody was already on it.”
Florence said a high ankle sprain was the most severe injury he's had in his career before the broken arm.
DELMAS STILL WEEK-TO-WEEK
Lions head coach Jim Schwartz was asked Thursday for an update of safety
While fans continue to wonder when they’ll have their playmaking safety back on the field, Schwartz said there’s nothing that's been unexpected with Delmas' recovery thus far.
“There hasn’t been any setbacks,” he said. “It’s just, we’re waiting for his knee to be better to get him back on the practice field and get him on the game field.
“I never said that we expected to have him back. I said that was the objective, but again, with injuries we never go into any injury whether it’s a guy with a pulled muscle or a guy with a knee injury or a guy with anything and say this is the timetable and he’s coming back right then.
"That’s one of the reasons I don’t talk very much about injuries because the only thing that’s going to determine whether a guy’s back on the field is whether he’s able to do his job on the field. That’s where we are with it.”
LESHOURE READY TO ROLL
Running back
Leshoure was asked Thursday after practice if he had any doubts about his talent coming off an Achilles tendon injury his rookie season and there being such a long layoff since he's last played meaningful football.
“No doubts,” he said.
“I’m pretty amped. I’m pretty excited. I’ve been in the NFL nearly two years now and this is going to be my first game. I’m ready to roll. Now it’s time to put it all together and get out there and play in a real game.”
