RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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INDIANAPOLIS — Brian Mason understandably hasn’t been all that excited about the attention his left knee is getting this preseason.
Mason, the Colts ’ special teams coordinator, tore multiple ligaments in a sideline collision on the final play of the team’s preseason opener against the Patriots, forcing him to coach from the press box for the rest of the preseason.
He hasn’t missed a day of work yet. Mason was back on the field at the next Colts practice after the injury, and he has no plans to undergo surgery or miss any time in the future.
By the time the Colts open the regular season on Sept. 13 against Baltimore, Mason plans to be back in his familiar place on the sideline, knee pain be damned.
“Before New England, I was a coach with a really bad knee that will someday need a knee replacement,” Mason said. “After the New England game, I am a coach with a really bad knee that still someday needs a knee replacement.”
A “really bad knee” does not come close to describing the condition of Mason’s left knee.
Mason tore the ACL in his left knee twice as a running back at Zionsville, then tore it again twice in college at Denison. The second time he tore his ACL at Denison, a small college in Granville, Ohio, the doctors forced him to give up his playing career for good.
“I could no longer pass a physical,” Mason said.
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Mason spent the rest of his time at Denison as a student assistant, then embarked on a coaching career that briefly brought him back to the Indianapolis area in 2012. The stop doesn’t show up on his Colts biography; Mason accepted a job at Butler, but he left quickly because of an opportunity at Kent State.
Before he could take that job, Mason tore the ACL in his left knee, this time playing basketball.
“I was at Butler, I’m an Indy kid, you have an opportunity to play noon hoops at Hinkle Fieldhouse,” Mason said. “I should have said no, I didn’t. I blew out my knee again doing that.”
Nine years later, Mason, then the special teams coordinator at Cincinnati, suffered another serious injury to his left knee.
This time he was simply doing some landscaping.
He tries to take it easy with the landscaping now.
Mason will not take it easy as a special teams coordinator.
“In order to be a really successful special teams coordinator, you need to be on the sideline,” Mason said. “We don’t have coach-to-player communication. … I don’t have a long play sheet. I need to be able to quickly communicate with a lot of people.”
When the Colts have the ball deep in their own territory, Mason is often talking with Colts long snapper Luke Rhodes and punter Rigoberto Sanchez, trying to figure out which punt call they’ll need if the drive fails. Then he heads to the personal protector to talk about the snap count. Or the gunners, to talk about the look they might get from the punt return unit.
If Indianapolis picks up a couple first downs, Mason starts talking to the kickers, and when the Colts find themselves in a kickoff or kick return situation, he’s constantly moving and making adjustments.
“It’s really important to be in that huddle,” Mason said. “It’s all about providing energy, passion.”
Mason’s response to his latest knee injury has given the Colts a little bit of energy, even if he’d never admit it.
When defensive tackle DeForest Buckner was asked about Mason getting back on the field without missing a practice, a big smile spread across Buckner’s face, followed by a term of endearment that is one of the highest honors an individual can get in the modern NFL.
“Dawg,” Buckner said.
Mason, a man with critical battles at kicker and both return spots on his hands, isn’t exactly comfortable with all of the attention he’s gotten since the collision.
After all, his left knee was a problem before the entire NFL world saw him take a hit from two rolling players.
“For those in the crowd that are like, ‘Who cares about a coach being injured?,’ I agree,” Mason said. “Moving on.”
Unfortunately, Mason is used to dealing with significant pain in his left knee.
Even if the rest of the NFL world didn’t realize it until now.
Joel A. Erickson and Nathan Brown cover the Colts all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Colts Insider newsletter .
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why Brian Mason's still coaching on Colts sidelines after 7th knee injury
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