Lamarcus Joyner breaks toe, plays anyway, shinesBy Alden Gonzalez
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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- It was early in the second quarter last Monday, in the season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, when Lamarcus Joyner's left foot suddenly fell asleep. The third-year cornerback finished the Los Angeles Rams' stand on defense, then walked gingerly toward the sideline and noticed that his second toe would not move.
He knew then that it was broken, but he also knew that no one else would.
"I didn’t really want to say anything to anyone because I knew the defense was depending on me," Joyner said. "We didn’t have anyone else that ran nickel throughout the week, so I knew I just had to be accountable for the defense. I just kept my mouth closed and kept playing."
Joyner finished that game, then played in the next one six days later, a 9-3 win over the Seattle Seahawks that was driven almost entirely by a supreme defensive effort. With a broken toe, the 5-foot-8, 184-pound Joyner matched up against the great Russell Wilson and was ultimately rated the best slot corner of Week 2 by Pro Football Focus. He spent 35 snaps in the slot, third-most in the NFL, and allowed only three catches for 18 yards on six targets.
Joyner didn't even bother with a splint.
"I just strapped on my cleats and I played, man," he said. "I knew that was an important game for us."
Joyner thought back to 2014, when the Rams moved up in the draft to select him 41st overall out of Florida State.
"All that kind of stuff just ran through my mind," Joyner said. "This organization made a lot of sacrifices for me so that I could fight through something like this if I'm able to still go."
Rams coach Jeff Fisher said Joyner's toughness was "why we drafted him." The pain, Joyner said, was "bad" throughout Sunday's game. But secondary coach Dennard Wilson talked him through it.
‘Every time he said, ‘We need you,’ it just gave me the strength," Joyner said. "It gave me the strength to fight through the pain."
Joyner plans to play again against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday. He'll be returning to his home state, 280 miles north of his hometown of Miami and 160 miles east of his college campus. Family will be there, but he doesn't anticipate spending much time with them.
"This is a business trip," he said.
Joyner has "no doubt" he will continue to play through his broken toe.
"It’s getting better," he said. "We have the best training staff, I think, out of all 32 teams. [Head athletic trainer Reggie Scott] and all those guys all do a good job of rehabbing it. I trust their words. Rehabbing has been going really good this last week and a half. I’m going to just do what I can until it’s all the way healed."
