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INDIANAPOLIS — Darius Leonard was in a dark place late last season, as what had been a promising Indianapolis Colts season was collapsing around the linebacker and the rest of the organization.
An ankle injury that bothered him nonstop. Family members dealing with health issues. COVID-19 hitting key members of the team, including himself. And to cap things off, the Colts’ playoff aspirations came to a screeching halt with a Week 18 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished with the league’s worst record despite the win. That season-ending loss had owner Jim Irsay fuming during the game, on the plane ride home and inside the team facility when he returned.
Some four-plus months later, Leonard, who often tries to keep his best game face on in front of the camera, acknowledged things weren’t right with him last season.
“I fell out of love with the game,” Leonard said. “I wasn’t enjoying it anymore.”
That’s something nobody would have ever imagined coming out of Leonard’s mouth. Not the same Darius Leonard who uses every kind of negativity as a motivation when he was making countless tackles, intercepting passes or attacking like Mike Tyson when he punches the ball out of opponents’ hands for a forced fumble.
But that’s how Leonard felt after the Colts couldn’t beat the Jaguars in a game in which the defense had no answers for rookie Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville’s offense in Week 18.
“The first month, I didn’t wanna go home, didn’t wanna be around anybody, didn’t wanna face it yet,” Leonard said. “Because the question was gonna come: What the hell happened in Jacksonville? And in that moment, I really didn’t know what happened.”
Leonard never thought he would need to step away — not when there was a point in the season when…
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Source : espn
