Thomas Morstead tore cartilage in his ribs while making a tackle early in the first quarter. The Saints punter was in obvious pain on his final three punts, though he had kicks of 56 and 54 yards after the injury and a pain-killing injection.
“It was pretty simple in my mind: ‘This is either gonna be a really good punt or a really bad punt. Either way it’s gonna hurt like hell,’” Morstead said, via Mike Triplett of ESPN. “So I might as well try to make it as good as I could.
“My ego was shot a little bit when they said my ribs weren’t broken, which would have sounded cooler. But the doc was like, ‘Hey, don’t worry. It hurts just as bad.’”
Vikings fans apparently were impressed with Morstead’s gutsy performance. He said his “What You Give Will Grow” foundation received hundreds of donations from Minnesota.
“It’s very cool,” said Morstead, who joked, “I wish they were all bitter today because we had won. But it’s nice to see people doing nice things.”