Chiefs guard Nick Allegretti played a critical role, both in the AFC Championship and the Super Bowl. With Joe Thuney unable to play, the job fell to Allegretti.
Not only did he deliver in both games, but he also played more than half of the Super Bowl with a torn UCL in his elbow.
“I haven’t suffered an injury like that until then,” Allegretti told Jim Rome on Friday, via NFL.com. “I immediately knew. It was something that you heard a pop, you felt it, and knowing minimal about anatomy knew that something was wrong in my elbow. Because my elbow is not supposed to bend that way. Fortunately, we had the two-minute warning, and I had a couple seconds to gather myself, figure out that my arm still bent and I was able to go. It was a tough situation, but fortunate enough I was able to still play.”
The pain, per Allegretti, was significant but not overwhelming, on a scale of one to 10.
“So I was probably in that six or seven [range] right when it happened after I processed it,” Allegretti told Rome. “And then at halftime we were able to get the cream on it, massage it a little bit and then throw a brace on it. I was probably playing at about a five. It was one of those things that I could confidently use the arm knowing that most likely the UCL was already gone, so I wasn’t going to tear it any worse. So if I could deal with the pain, I could play. So it was one of those things.”
Allegretti also got some advice from a teammate who is neither a doctor nor plays one on TV.
“One of our backup offensive lineman, he has a masters in biology and [he] wanted to go be a doctor when he was done,” Allegretti said. “He told me, he goes, ‘Listen, you don’t need a UCL to play offensive line.’ I was like, alright, I don’t know what that means, but I don’t need it, I’m good.’ So I was able to go.”
And so Allegretti, a seventh-round pick in 2019, has won his third Super Bowl ring in five NFL seasons. He truly earned this one.