There are so many awards. Awards for rookies. Awards for the most valuable. Comeback awards. Awards for specific positions. Awards for offense, defense and special teams.
The honor Nick Gates received this week is the curiously named Ed Block Courage Award. Ed Block was a longtime athletic trainer for the Colts also known for his humanitarian work. The award is given to one player on each NFL team “who exemplif[ies] commitments to the principles of sportsmanship and courage.’’ It is determined by a vote of each team’s players, so each recipient of the award has been elected by his teammates.
That Gates received the honor is a testament to the effort he made in returning from a horrific leg injury that required seven surgeries. Unable to play for 410 days before he made his return earlier this season, his comeback reached its final stage on Thanksgiving, when he moved in as the starting center for injured Jon Feliciano and played all 64 snaps in a 28-20 loss to the Cowboys.
That this award has the word “courage’’ attached to it is noteworthy.
